I finally started designing my character. Firstly I did several sketches on my sketchbook to register initial ideas and after mounted them on an A1 sheet.
This stage went really really good and it was relatively fast. Once I started drawing my bird doing human gestures everything became clear. I also chose to adapt “lago’s” fingers on my character. (The Evil bird from Aladin). Having a different and contrast colour on the tip of the hands (feathers) gives a feeling of fingers. I also studied the different expressions of my character, I focused mainly on the beak and the eyes.
I am thrilled with this sheet. The final character looks different from what I had in mind but the final outcome turned out to be much better. I applied all my observational skills on this character and it paid off. The character looks confident, happy, friendly and respectful. I can not wait to animate it!
After making this sheet I did some tiny studies with Balsa and wire, which I found around the studio accidentally.
It is simply twisted wire on balsa. I never worked with balsa so it was good to get to know the materials.
My project is flowing smoothly. Though I am frankly worried about the time I am working on a good pace. So far I am loving to do this project and that makes it so much easier. Still a lot of work ahead but the further I go the more excited I get.
Next step is to do armature and plasticine trials. I have to come up with an armature mechanism. For that, I quickly researched on a material list from a book I am looking at.
I ordered the plasticine and some of it already arrived. I am waiting for the rest of it, for the sculpting tools and the plier. I won’t use the M4 nuts on my puppet. Timewise, I’ll keep as simple as I can.