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Thread: what do you think of these characters?

  1. #1
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    what do you think of these characters?

    hey there!

    for a new project at work we are trying to design a
    downloadable character who will "live" on your
    desktop. The user will have to take care of the
    creature, sort of like a tamagotchi, and in return the
    user will get tips about Health. The whole thing is
    part of a public service project to teach teenagers
    about health.

    Right now we are hard at work designing how this
    character will look. Here is a link to some sketches.


    http://195.54.121.89/html/tokidokistyle.swf

    http://www.saracita.com/guy.swf

    http://www.saracita.com/tokidokistyle3.swf


    I would love any feedback you have...

    do you think the are cute? (too cute?)
    which character do you like the best?
    will they appeal to teens aged 13 to 18?


    Thanks!

    Sarah
    Last edited by saracita; 01-31-2003 at 01:35 PM.

  2. #2
    poet and narcisist argonauta's Avatar
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    they look too scary for me

    although i'm already 23 and i don't understand youth nowadays, i'm too old for that

    For real, i don't like those freaky little monsters, but maybe teenagers do.
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  3. #3
    Tell me about it cartoon guy's Avatar
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    WoW! they look scary to me too man.

    They don't look healthy too.

    do you think the are cute? (too cute?)
    Is this some kinda joke?

  4. #4
    Doesn't the name say it all?
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    Yeah, you are just going to have to go in a completley different direction with that... Tip: The teeth are the scariest... I would just loose them (unless theyre needed for oral hygene or something...)

  5. #5
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    thanks for your replies, even though they were so negative. But I do appreciate the honesty. And to answer your question, no, it's not a joke.

    Ok, i have made another attempt, and added a little more animation:

    http://195.54.121.89/html/tokidokistyle2.swf

    Ultimately the character will be animated, right now though we are trying to nail down how it will look like.

    It would be great if you could give feedback on the specific characters, what you like and don't like. I have numbered them so that it's easier to identify them.

    thanks!

    sarah
    Last edited by saracita; 01-31-2003 at 06:48 AM.

  6. #6
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    What I learnt in animation school( not a very good place ) was that for kids there should not be any sharp edges ( most of the time) something like that dinosaur that came for a dentil hygiene series . well…that was a long time ago I think but still worth a try.
    Oooh ya n fuzzy they got to be fuzzy…
    Hope it helps.

  7. #7
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    Ok, made some more characters... take a look!

    http://www.saracita.com/tokidokistyle3.swf

    http://www.saracita.com/guy.swf

    By the way, these are to appeal to teenagers, not kids, so I don't want to make too cutesy. The characters are supposed to have a bit of attitude to them, especially since they need to appeal to both guys and girls. thanks for anymore feedback!

    Sarah

  8. #8
    FK's Official A&A Addict
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    well it was a bit better then first... but not really in the pokemon league by a long shot...

  9. #9
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    Thanks for your feedback ... But again, kids (who have been the most avid fans of Pokemon) are not my target age group. Any women out there have any comments?

  10. #10
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    hey! your r getting the attitude part in..i like the ones with the big heads..i think they need a little work on the bodys..

    Where is the world??

  11. #11
    NZ nizamm's Avatar
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    For some reason, these characters look to flat. The gradient does'nt seem to help. Maybe you would like to make similar characters in orisinal.com..they look great since they're well colored........
    What's that? You haven't seen my site yet?? Here you go - Click Me!

  12. #12
    Doesn't the name say it all?
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    Yeah, I like the ones with the big heads too, the other ones just looked fat and unattractive... And don't worry about the cutesy thing so much, you seem to be keeping them all right... And big heads aren't the only cuteness factor so it's safe to go that way...

    As for coloring, You might want to go with cell-style shading instead of gradients. I beleive it would take away the pastel-kiddy look, and give them a solid-punk-teenager look! If you can make it there! You won't have to worry about "too much cuteness"!

  13. #13
    Indefatigable JohnnySix's Avatar
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    The hair is cool!

    I dunno, they're cute in a Jhonen Vasquez way, they're lovable but disturbing at the same time.

    I think it's to do with the eyes, or more specifically, the proportions.

    Here's an article that might interest you : http://tlc.discovery.com/convergence...cles/mask.html

    There was a doccumentary early last year that covered the work by Dr. Stephen Marquardt. Basically he went about measuring the physical traits that made people beautiful or ugly.

    In the documentary it mentioned a bit about how babies proportions, particularly how the head is large and the features of the face are packed closely together that creates protective instincts.

    Worth checking out anyway.

    Then again, stitch was cute, even if his eyes were on different sides of his head.

    Cheers

    John
    . . . .

  14. #14
    Character Animator The_e-Tahn's Avatar
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    yeah... actually, I'd make the characters (the kids) more... well more teenager like... perhaps actual people, if not that, then make some varieties in clothing/accessories, ex. chain neclaces, cute bows in hair, etc... well you kinda did achieve that... honestly, I'm 14, and they're in a style that doesn't appeal to me too much, but it would probably appeal to other people. whoo those limbs turning on the animals scared me-- perhaps you can do something else, like make it when you roll over the right arm it waves and the face smiles, when you roll over the left it pours a glass of tea or something, some really sketchy ideas... I'm working on a thing for creatures too on my new website. (except mine are supposed to be rather viscious, hehe) but taking off the spikes on them helped... I like how you can roll over the hair A LOT. it almost gives it the "petting a pet" feel, well you know, the fur moves, whatever.

    the make good progress over time. keep at it!

  15. #15
    Senior Member tongue of colicab's Avatar
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    hmmm

    hi, im 16 years old and the charachters look too much like freakin pokemon to me. mabey, since this should be a tamachosi kinda thing, and it should kids teach about health, mabey you should make some kind of dude wich looks a bit scray with alot of black/dark colers in it, and if you are good for him he turns into some kind of 'happy' dude with alot of flash colors and stuff like that. I includeded a drawed picture of wes borland (ex-limpbizkit, and now eat the day guitarist) mabey some of you think this is too scary, but I think since its for 'older' kids using pokemon look-a-like graphics would only make kids laugh instead of thinking and learning about there health.

    Just my thoughts though... but im in the age group.

    MzZl
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  16. #16
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    Thanks again people... I really appreciate all your comments. We will continue working, but it's going to be a challenge to make something that everyone will like! I'll send the next round soon.

    sarah

  17. #17
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    ok, what about these? I went back to one of the older ideas from the beginning and reworked it... Still too scary?

    http://www.saracita.com/duck.swf

    My favorite is the pink one. comments?

  18. #18
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    hey...long time any newer versions yet??
    Where is the world??

  19. #19
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    hey again,

    we decided on one of the characters and have begun animating with it... so no more suggestions/disses/comments please! It's too late to change the character's design.

    But if anyone would like to see the next phase, here are some animations:

    http://www.saracita.com/gotchi/animated_char4.swf


    Click on the bottom righthand triangle to page through the animations.

    It's for a SWedish website, that's why some of the texts are in swedish.

    Would love to hear any comments!

    Sarah

  20. #20
    FK's Official A&A Addict
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    still think their scary... try puting somewhat more uhm deepnes in the color, more shades of bleu perhaps etc.. like make it livelike, it's so flat... and loose that red hair!!!

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