Protagonist Character Development

Protagonist Mood Board

Based on this mood board, the protagonist has had various depictions in each version. He has been depicted wearing a naval uniform. Other variations depict him with a worn shirt, braces and trousers.

Character Iterations 

To reflect the short story, I looked at how he began as a merchant officer. Therefore I looked at merchant officer for the 1910s. this was helpful as it allowed for me to include additional detail to the final design. 

Head Iterations

I went through a series of head iterations. I planned to have the protagonist beginning in as a sophisticated naval officer. However, over the course of the story, his spirit and appearance begins to deteriorate. This was conveyed through the character worn out attire and  growth of facial hair.

Before and After Incident

This mock up of a model sheet depict the character with his various facial expressions and attire.

The three attires the protagonist wears throughout the the story

Colour Choice

Colour was also used to highlight the character’s personalities. The protagonist’s red shirt was affiliated with warmth and comfort as it suggests attachment to his past. The blue trousers suggests a sense of loss and detachment (Pardew 2008) which was demonstrated through his troubled times. It was decided that the protagonist would be incorporated in the page’s chosen visual style whereas the antagonist emits a green/blue glow and is not restricted to the page’s established colouring style. Maintaining the original story was a key motivation for this project. This was challenging as some ideas were hard to convey visually. Also as it had a historical setting, this restricted the level of creativity. The artefact’s characters reflected the story’s setting and wore appropriate outfits to reflect their roles.

Final Model Sheet of Character

The consistency of the protagonist’s appearance was challenging and various character designs could have benefitted from revision and reiteration as their figures and colour scheme did not stand out as expected. This was the result of focusing on the comic pages rather than the preproduction documentation.