Character Design

22/4/2026 - 24/7/2026/ (Week 1 - Week 14)

An Hongzheng / 0378415

Character Design / GCD61704

Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

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TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Instruction

2. Weekly Progress
3. Task 1: Personification

4. Task 2: Concept Development
5. Task 3: Splash Art
6. Task 4: Combination

7. Exercise
8. Reflection

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INSTRUCTIONS

Figure 1.1: Module Information

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Weekly Progress

Week 1

- At the very beginning of the task, I didn't understand the entire workflow. I just fumbled around and drew ten poses, as well as different costume designs.

- Afterwards, I received feedback from Ms. Ayunie that the focus of task 1 should not be on poses. It would be best to follow the same approach as the anatomy and sculpting course, starting with poses similar to A-poses and focusing on the design of the outfit.

Week 2

- I felt my initial design was very rough, so I looked for more high-quality references and created a new design according to the requirements.

Week 3

- Continue with more designs.

Week 4

-After confirming and adjusting the final design with Ms. Ayunie, the final turnaround was drawn.

Week 5

- Learning from my experience with Task 1, I first looked for high-quality references with clearly defined design points.

Week 6

- DLC based on race car drivers was designed.

- Five weapons were designed, and turnaround diagrams were created.

Week 7

- The final design of the DLC outfit was confirmed and adjusted, and a turnaround was drawn.

- Colored and rendered simply.

- I conceived and drew the expressions for the original skins of ten characters.

Week 8

- Multiple color schemes were experimented with for the original skin.

- Colored and rendered simply.

Week 9

- I referenced the art book for Marvel Rivals when designing the animations, and a key feature is that a series of designs are interconnected.

Week 10

- After receiving feedback from Ms. Ayunie, I redrawn ten more independent poses suitable for splash art.

Week 11

- To fit the character's design, three of the previous ten poses were selected, and three more splash art composition sketches were drawn.

- Based on the selected composition, the line art was redrawn, and the basic colors were applied.

Week 12

- More detailed rendering

Week 13 - 14

- First, I downloaded commonly used backgrounds from Marvel Rivals online, and then used graphic tools and the lasso tool in Photoshop to create designs for some of the most frequently used elements

- I added the previous artwork, adjusted its position and proportions, and made some blurring adjustments.

- For the in-game interface design, we first utilized the existing UI design and made some adjustments. The splash art background was removed and placed in an appropriate location.

- The background of the simplified Marvel Rivals in-game interface has been redrawn.

- After taking screenshots of the in-game gameplay from the hero selection screen, I placed the characters in appropriate positions. I also redrawn the graphics myself using graphic tools and added fonts.

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Task 1

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Task 2

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Task 3

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Task 4

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Exercise

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REFLECTION

Throughout this semester, I developed a complete character design project based on my original character, Fu Heng. The project began with research into his narrative background, personality, combat role and visual direction. The initial concept presented him as a controller combining an Eastern Taoist identity with a modern exorcist theme, supported by symbolic magic, formations and structured battlefield control. His background was also used to explain the contrast between his former disciplined personality and his later, more independent attitude.

As the project progressed, I realised that the original ability system was too complicated and difficult to communicate visually. I therefore simplified his powers into Taoist techniques and talisman-based magic. This helped create a clearer relationship between the character’s appearance, weapon and combat identity. I also refined the costume by combining traditional Chinese clothing structures with exaggerated proportions, asymmetrical armour and decorative motifs suitable for a stylised hero-based game.

The practical development included costume exploration, silhouette studies, a full turnaround, facial expressions, weapon design, colour variations and action poses. Producing the turnaround taught me the importance of maintaining consistent proportions and construction details from different angles. The expression sheet helped define his personality beyond the costume, while the weapon and action-pose studies showed how props, body language and fabric movement could support the character’s identity.

I also designed an F1-inspired DLC skin, which required translating the same character into a very different visual theme. Rather than simply changing the clothing, I explored how racing graphics, protective structures and vehicle-inspired forms could be integrated while preserving his face, proportions and recognisable silhouette. Finally, I created a splash-art composition and presentation layout influenced by Marvel Rivals, focusing on dynamic perspective, strong shape language and clear visual hierarchy.

Overall, this module improved my understanding of character design as a complete production process rather than a single illustration. I learned to simplify unclear concepts, maintain consistency across multiple design sheets and ensure that narrative, costume, colour, weapon and presentation all support the same character identity.