CHARACTER DESIGN
A lot of my work, including my own projects, require character design. Below are some examples of previous projects, some of which are own animation projects.
Dré and Diskus are two inventors. Dré, the smaller one, tries to solve real-world problems, while Diskus invents completely illogical things (which usually backfire). As an ode to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, they were created without eyes or pupils. To prevent losing the ability to animate clear emotions, the expressions were mapped in the glasses, which gave them a great look.
The baby is actually an ancestor of Diskus.
The mix of 2D graphics and photography always works for me. On one hand, you get the cartoony feel that leaves room for both a nostalgic feeling, as well as a humouristic approach. But by adding textures, the designs get more depth, they become a little richer and a little more realistic.
The turtle and hare were created using this principle. Though they were initially drawn and coloured, both were then overlayed with textures taken from their living counterparts.
Watch the video here.
When I imagined the animation for Kapitein Winokio's music video 'Walging' ('Disgust'), I wanted it to be around the little spoiled kid who hates everything. He just stands behind a conveyor belt where he observes numerous offerings to his name, and nothing that passes him is able to please him anymore.
Because the entire animation is composed as one shot, the character had to be able to withstand such a long and static approach. He had to be both a little disgusting, spoiled and lovable at the same time. While on the other hand, his facial expressions had to be versatile. D-He dislikes everything, but something trigger disgust, toher trigger boredom and some must even trigger loathing.
Originaly invisioned as a little pig (as a reference to Animal Farm), he quicly became a less then attractive bald kid with big glasses, a Little Rascal hat and a rattle (That last one is courtesy of Laura Huysmans.)
Though in Dutch, this animation speaks the universal language of disgust. Watch it here.
A kid robot who’s shy, helpful and naive.He's is the sweetest kid on the block, always trying to be of assistance, but he'll do so using the same insight a young child has.
This mock-up animation was created after a young girl was bullied and beaten at a tram stop.
Pester (14) schopt en slaat klasgenote aan tramhalte (HLN)
iKid wants to help the little girl, although he himself is afraid of the bully. The design of the bully was real fun, it had all the great clichés: the unibrow, crooked teeth, a ponytail with some shaved hair and a pink tutu (because she is convinced she is a princess).
I refer to the main character of my own webseries 'It's hard being a bug' as Buggy, because it was the most generic name I could think of. And that's exactly what he is about. Buggy believes he's a insect, though he hasn't quite figured out what kind of insect yet. All he knows is that he's destined to be small, that his life is tragic and that his fate is that of certain doom.
Because Buggy is a generic bug, he was designed in a white costume. Something that doesn't reveal to much, it doesn't specify, and when compared to its peers, the rich, colourful and beautiful microverse, it looks a little sad and without identity.
A character that appears alongside two other monsters in the Vikid motion graphic. He's inspired by the Eastern Island Heads. In the first draft he held a lit match. But the pyromaniac-weirdo-routine felt like a cliché. Just. Don't. Touch. His. Apple.
An entire animation around the lettre A.
For this job I designed an enitre A-world, with A shaped rollercoasters, animals that started with the lettre A and A-shaped characters.
Though I did not want the characters to be too obvious. So 'the A's' in the video are a little more subtile.
The craziest monster I ever designed was for the one-shot animation Bob's cheeky tongue extravaganza
Bob is a creature with a face like buttocks and buttocks like a face. Meaning he 'speaks in farts and farts in speech.' This great talent is shown when he tells a joke.
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