Tuesday 14 November 2017

My WINNING SELECTION for the Character Design Challenge!

Guys, it has been so wonderful to look through all your incredible work in my role as this month's guest judge on the amazing CHARACTER DESIGN CHALLENGE.

I could see that every one of you had put time and effort and most importantly thought into your designs, and their execution. The range of ideas on display was incredible, reinforcing my core belief that your imagination, and how you express it, is the truest form of individuality. No two designs were the same, no two styles were the same, all of your personalities shone through in your illustrations, so THANK YOU!

I chose Flora Dreer as my winning entry, because her design had style, attitude, personality, and humour, as well as being executed in a bold, confident, expressive style. Despite the seeming simplicity of the design, she's used props and detailing to give context and story - it's impossible to look at her character without beginning to imagine voice, movement, character etc. This is the FUNDAMENTAL function of character design - to tell a story though your concept. Well done, Flora, beautiful work!

I also want to give an honourable mention to three more designs that I loved, and which I feel deserve a special shoutout:
  • Arnaud de Vivies's beautiful linestyle and fluid motion absolutely blew me away.
  • Julien Juh Girardy had the most eye-wateringly classy use of colour in his beautifully composed piece.
  • And finally, Tom Hänni showed deft use of shape and storytelling devices to conjure a tiny world within just two characters in three-colour wonder.