Week 12 final character

Inspiration so far

The miner in the yellow hat is the most complete design so far . Although the idea was based on the average blue collar man his stance is to upright top be convincing  His puffed chest and sculpted arms suggest he is in much better shape then the average. This also little's the characters persona and gives him less relate-able characteristics.  The character looks more aggressive then confidant and his beard and chest are largely exaggerated in thickness.

The second character has a more casual but confidant stance. His proportions give him a tough but mobile look, and give him a pleasant and relate-able vibe. Props or signifires  that are of  basket ball nature need to be incorporated to tie to the sport. The character has an out of proportion upper body from swinging the pick axe all his life, but has a fairy youthful appearance. Experimentation with weathering or aging could make for the  character to in compass more believable appearances of a working man.
The lack of the helmet in the design also brings the character to be closer to the average man.

The silhouettes beneath the characters could also be interesting directions to take the illustration. Although the one holding the lamp isn't in an overly confident pose and looks more as through he is seeking or being cautious.The more heroic looking pose would work with the characters proportions, but may display unnecessary or unwanted brand associations, with destruction or being better then everyone else (maybe seen as ironic).
The hand spinning the ball is a clever way to incorporate sport association , but is only seen in other teams logos, as well as a ball dribbling. Shooting maybe an option to explore, or holding out of the ball as an offering or call to join the fan base or get behind the team.  

Ball holding positions

Calm, relaxed, sitting down doesn't show confidence or determination. 

agility, skill

Explosiveness, power

hard to show expressions or features from this angle , but it would be original.

In game stance, suggests movement, that the character is mobile. 

casual, relaxed

ball is in focus but not whole focus. Ball is an offering.

Confident, calm , phressh.

Suggests the ball is at the heart of the character /team, balk is the focus instead of the theme of mining. 

presenting ball as an offering

presenting ball 

Add caption

Leg positions, because an image should look right from both directions

face exploration

Face exploration, faces inspired by existing Characters.

Final head design from the side, with an aggressive expression.. 

Silhouette development.

Final Character from side,front, and back

Character expression, happy, angry, surprised/concerned, tired/ yawming

Rational

I wanted the character to represent a blue collar man.  This is to allow the average Nuggets fan to see part of them self’s within the design allowing them to emotionally invest in the persona of the brand. The character has a large upper body exaggeratedly out of proportion with his legs as a result of him swinging a pick axe and working hard as a working class man. The character is large but rounded to show he has strength but doesn’t have any defined muscles to reflect the physic of most physical labourers. His narrow length also give him an athletic look. The pick axe on his shoulder shows he is a miner reflecting the theme already existing within the Nuggets franchise. The character is also wearing a basketball uniform to reflect and tie in to the sport. He is bearded as it is a common association with mining, and the cold region of Denver and mountain men. However, he has rather well presented hair on the top of his head to show he isn’t of any extremes, but rather a reflection of the average man.

WEEK 11

WEEK 10

 Development Direction 

I have chosen to go forward with the idea of the mining man due to all the associated imagery with in the Nuggets franchise.

kenneth faried - Current Nuggets player 

Things to consider 

• Positioning pick over shoulder to avoid association to Celtics logo.
• Character having an athletic appearance.
• Illustrating character in shared style of other NBA team logos.
• Character embodying confidence and determination and other desired traits.
• Distinguishing between mining men and mountain or hunting men.
• Tying the character to the sport.   

Through reflecting on unsuccessful ideas from week 8 and the mining research seen in the earlier week, it can be seen all the successful designs incorporate characters with the strength and athletic ability to partake in the sport, whilst reflecting props significant to the sport.

Incorporating these ideals is essential in the success of my design. 

Inspiring imagery

Minnesota Timber wolves team logo

• Timber wolf
• No association to basket ball.

New Orleans hornets team logo

• Hornet
• Basket ball shoes
• Basket ball

Boston Celtics team logo

• leprechaun - luck of the Irish
• basket ball on finger
• leprechaun attire 

Memphis Grizzles team logo

• Grizzly bear
• No association to basket ball

Nuggets 2015 game outfit

Charlotte Bob cats team logo

• Bob cat 
• Cats head in shape of basket ball.

Toronto Raptors team logo

• Basket ball out fit
• Basket ball
• Raptor

The above logos capture the style used in the NBA
With thick black outlines and solid colour in a cartoon manner.

FURTHER RESEARCH

Cartoon Balers

shoe research

retro and current short research

Week 10 concepts
- exploration of the baling miner

Initial idea. Character is a little to top heavy for basket ball player, due to the sport being dominated by  athleticism.

This second design depicts a man who looks very standard, with no real defining properties and little persona. This design needs more emphasis on certain features or exaggeration to add more personality. 

This design depicts a bearded man dribbling a ball down the court in a confidant aggressive stance. His exaggerated beard and slender frame give him personality.  However there is no imagery depicting his mining back ground. 

In the above design a miner is in the action of dribbling a basket ball in a fashion that is both aggressive and in control. Although the use of the mining hat doesn't have the same impacting bran association as the Nuggets pick axe. The nose in this design is also to pronounced, and while the point adds to the aggression  I feel it is ill suited to a miner. 

 

The above designs show slight exploration of noses. However, there are only subtle differences with no real embodying of persona. I need to take more risks with design and push the boundaries to allow the design to be distinct yet still distinguishable.

The above character takes the form of a tall athletic man surrounded by many props reflecting the theme of mining, and wearing a Nuggets influenced uniform. the design inst overly threatening and again much like the initial designs looks like a representation of a rather average bloke. the design doesn't overflow with persona and has no distinguishable features. 

These concepts show slight exploration in  to the idea of the ball being the personality. This would definitely have strong ties to the sport. Although,  make it rather  difficult for the fans to relate to the character. 

Through the above iteration I explored the idea of the character having a more blue collar feel. Something the average Denver fan could relate to in order to encourage emotional investment. In order to achieve this I gave the character a large rounded figure. This is to show he has spent many years enduring hard physical work such as mining, yet he doesnt have overly large or defined muscles.
I then initially gave the character chunky legs to suggest similar connotations, whilst also experimenting with a more athletic look to reflect the sport, as seen in the concept depicting the character wearing basket ball shorts and shoes.
I then looked in to a more stylistic approach based on an earlier concept in order to enforce the blue collar theme. This gives the character distinction and uniqueness.   The legs having only roundness and no defining shape  adds to the effect of them being average legs of an average person, the blue collar man. the little legs are also a strong contrast to the large upper body emphasizing the connotations embodied with in it.

In this further development of the blue collar man, I have created a character with shapeless stylized legs and another alongside the first  with exaggerated musculus shape in a common form. I feel there is to much small detail these characters and it would be ill fitted to the already existing style of the other NBA logos. This can be improved through having larger areas of solid space with more emphasis on the connotations of form rather then detail.

WEEK 9 - further development

The above images are my initial sketches for week 9.
I began by taking the design that looks heavy like the Celtics logo and removing the pick to minimize the resemblance. The new design allows the viewer to still see slight hints he is a mountain man such as his hat and furry coat .
I also explored the character holding a pick in a slightly different manner, However, this is not the appropriate way to hold a pick and makes the character look slightly less manly.

The look of the first character on the left in the second row is dominated by his belly. this takes to much away from the face, His skinny legs and arms also do not tie in with his swollen gut, and bellies do not naturally sit in such a way naturally.

The 2nd character on the second row looks far to feminine to be associated with mining.

The 3rd is a small man jumping for joy. however it is hard to distinguish that he is a dwarf rather then say a leprechaun .
The figure is jumping for joy and clapping his heals together with similar enthusiasm to the 1976 Nuggets logo.

the final character of the second row is a small old man with a determined aggressive stance. this connotes determination and stubbornness these ideas may suite the brand, however, a short elderly man doesn't connote strength, and basket balers are not small in stature.  

The final design is of a tall strong man, his height and strength are similar to those who play the sport. We can also see he is a mountain man from his beard and back pack, However who would wear a back pack and a basket ball uniform.?! His uniform also isn't overly convincing.  

Dwarf research

The above image shows my experimentation with the idea of dwarfs. I took inspiration from grumpy off snow white and liquefied his features to exaggerate his nose and make him chubby.  The pose in the image is the pose in the original, However, i decide to draw it as practice as i wish to possibly have a similar pose in my final. The silhouette above Grumpys is taken from Dwellin from the hobbit and inspired by a cartoon I came across in my research. I began by tracing the silhouette of the cartoon to practice using my tablet as i am still very new to it. I then iterated it slightly leading towards the right of the screen,  by trying varying beards and rounding of the shoulders.

The charter is in a staunch pose, with the scale of the pick axe being the only indicator of his true size.

I then tried the liquefied Grumpy face on the above body. The first head is far to large for the body. While this creates an interesting character, It doesn't fit in with the rest of the NBA's style. His face is also much to grumpy to capture the desired persona of the brand. The second head  is smaller and meaner. Although, the angle in which it is placed doesn't suite the body.
Over all the compositions art to similar to their real designs but it served as good practice. 

These  next images were inspired by the chubby bodies of the charters in Snow white and the seven dwarfs. In the top corner I have looked in to the stance I preferred  for the designs by tracing the movement lines of Glion. I then sketched the head of Dwelin from a sourced photograph and traced the head of mr Happy  for practice drawing dwarfish features.
I then drew my desired stance and body and trialed the respective heads. the heads of Dwelin made for quite a serious character, to serious perhaps for the other mascots or logos in the league. The face inspired by Grumpys suited the style well which was expected. I made the character have big broad shoulders to show strength . However, the large gut my not well represent a team for a very athletic, high intensity sport.

i tehn trailed swapping the pick axe for the Nuggets team name, to keep the pose but remove the pick axe as it associates with the Celtics logo. However I soon realized that with out the pick there is no way to tell he is a mining man.  

    

The above images from there will be blood were then used to inspire the designs below along side th Golden Buggets man..

The first image shows a tall character with a slight gut supporting the Golden Nugget mans face. In this design I also trialed the look of the arms crossed. This stance suggest he is relaxed and confidence. I then altered his facial features and changed the stance. The new stance suggests the same connotations. However his clothing is based on the costuming from Snow White and doesn't suite.

Over all the character is bland and shows very little persona.

The lower line begins with an attempt at a sketch of Daniel Day Lewis's face. I then liquefied it and sketched it again also taking both separate sides and reflecting them to make two further faces. These faces look sad and in pain, not ideal for the brand identity. This is a result of the narrow eyes, big cheeks and plump nose.
All Things i need to avoid for the future.

I was struggling to envisage how my characters were to interact with their respective props such as the pick.
Therefore, I researched the many positions and stances the movements of the pick  induce, and drew there movement lines or silhouettes to help guide my understanding.

Render practice, although character looks like a mountain man holding a pick axe rather then a miner. 

Eye rendering practice