Week 5 - Story Idea and References

STORY IDEA

As a reminder, I'll need the following items on your written story idea proposal next week:

Synopsis - A brief and clear description of what the story is about, who the characters are, what their goals are, and so forth. What are the themes and plot?

Location and time period - Must be [based on] a specific place that exists! For example, your story may take place during 1820s in London. What matters is that it is referencing a believable place and time even if the time and place in the story is completely fictional. We wanna know the specifics of the culture, economy, type of landscape, weather, the architecture, the fashion, and so forth of the location and time period. Avoid mashing multiple timelines and locations together, try to keep it simple if you can. Be as clear as possible on your location and time period.

Cast - Describe the characteristics and personalities of your cast members. I am looking for a cast with a variety of age, gender, and size distinctions. I will need the following characters:

1. "Hero" - the main character, how old is this character,hat is his/her goals, overall look, etc. Flesh out your character physically and emotionally.
   
2. "Villian" - antagonist, source of conflict, pretty the same things as above. However, you should consider contrasting this character with the hero.
3. For the third character, you may choose any from the following: the maiden, damsel in distress, wise-man, mentor, guardian, spirit, fool, trickster, or sidekick. Whichever character you decide on, make sure you consider their goals and personalities.
4. + 5. The last 2 characters I'll need are background characters. These characters will serve as general populace. Their only purpose is to be part of the scenery. These are meant to be plain characters, but they will essentially bring life into your world. Please note that they should not be too interesting because we do not want them to compete for attention with the main characters. I will need one male and one female for the background characters.
   

REFERENCE & RESEARCH

Aside from finding reference photos and artists, do some research on other aspects your project. Maybe you'll want to read up on the location during a particular time period. Maybe you'll want to research the fashion, the cultural style of that era. If you're character is going to have props, make sure you look up reference for that as well. For our line of work and purposes, always design from real life. Whatever it is that you decide to design, make sure it has some incorporation of something that exists. The problem that most students run into issues early on is by not utilizing their references to help them design.

Pick a couple reference artists, preferable whose work and style is similar to your project. This way you can turn to the artist's work to help you solve design problems that you may encounter. The goal here is that you find someone who's already have a solid and established style to reference from. When you pick your artists, try reference artists that show strong use of the principles we've discussed in class.

Some artists I recommend are: Carter Goodrich, Chris Sanders, Claire Wendling, Peter De Seve, Nico Marlet, Bruce Timm, Glen Keane, Jin Kim

Good Luck!