what do you think of my characters? feedback please!

[saracita]

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

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

[teow]

Hi!

To be blunt, I don't think any of the characters are "cute." I think they appear to be strange oddities, which kind of take away from what you are going for. Therefore, it wouldn't appeal to your targeted age group.

My suggestion is to possibly make it more cartoony whilst improving the aesthetic look of the character.

[saracita]

thanks for your comment... almost everyone I've shown them to had that reaction.

I worked a little more on them, 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

[Black_phoenix]

Hi i have looked at both of them (swf's) and they could be much cuter i would have a look around at some illustrations of cats puppies teddy bears etc then spend some time reworking them

http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/bambi/

here are some cute examples, i would aim for something like thumper (the rabbit)

now that is cute

hope this helps

[saracita]

thanks for comments, here's some more tries...

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

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

The goal is cute, like you want to hang out with it, but not TOO cute, i.e. no Bambi stuff! The characters have to look cool, have an edge to them and appeal to teenagers 13 to 18, both guys and girls. Thanks for any feedback!

sarah

[jcsco0]

The best stuff so far is in that guy.swf. I checked them all out. I'd say chop the strange blue mouse, the red flame hair dude is alright, get rid of the lavender one, pink blob rocks, the brown thing looks somewhat wrong, the stoned hot pink blob does alright, that sassy looking green fella is quite good and i do like the rectangle cow, even though it looks sad.

The other tokidokistyle swf's arent as good as the guy swf one.

Short list:
Red flame hair dude
Pink blob
Stoned hot pink blob
Sassy looking green fella
Rectangle cow

Me, personally, i would choose rectangle cow... cause you would have to make him a happy cow. But thats just me. moo.

[saracita]

Thanks for your comments, especially jsc - thanks for the specific comments about which ones you liked.

We're going to keep working on them and will post the next round soon...

Sarah

[saracita]

new round.... comments please!

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


sarah

[jcsco0]

Ok...

Number1
Its the pink blob evolved! Gotten better, and the angry face works well.

Number2
Doesn't look as though its all there... the general look of it isnt the greatest.

Number3
Not too bad. Work with number 3 a bit, cause this critter has potential. The star is a nice feature. Maybe a little too hyperactive looking.

Number4
Only the absolute bottom left of number 4 is worth working on. the rest look too strange. The bottom left one is really happy. I like happy.

Number5
I like number 5. The 2 different eye sizes are a good touch. And the smile is nice too.

Number6
Bit too strange. The hair and eyes makes him look a bit insane.

Number7
Bit of a multicolour freak... If the colours aren't so clashy, then maybe it would work. Maybe...

Shortlist
Number1
Number3
Number5

Keep going!!!

[FrequeNC]

Constructive criticism - I would agree with teow, they will not reach your targeted age group- not the upper limit anyways. The guy.swf was the best I saw, but they still need a lot. Use shadows and highlights on your characters. And you don't need to go with traditional character types. Especially with the younger generation of today - think a little more abstract - you don't need arms, just hands and feet, simple more stick figure like characters with shadowing maybe - just a few ideas thrown out there...

good luck.

FrequeNC

[saracita]

thanks again for all the comments... really appreciate that you all took the time to answer.

The "final" list is here, some new some old stuff... Cast your vote!


http://www.saracita.com/figures.jpg



I have to start animating the final character tomorrow!

sarah

[FrequeNC]

Number 5. I think simple is better. It will be easier to animate as well.

FrequeNC

[jcsco0]

Number 5. I'd go with that one.

where did rectangle cow go?