Sunday, 17 November 2019

Study Task 6 - Practical Approaches

For this task I need to write a proposal for what I intend to create alongside my essay.


I am intending on investigating how the designs of female characters in animation has evolved over the last several decades as more women begin to speak up about representation and diversity. Based on the areas I have researched so far for my essay, I have began to create practical outcomes that break my question down and help me visualise the differences.

The practical side of this module is going to consist of me analysing the evolution of women in animation over the last four decades. For each decade, I have studied the silhouettes of iconic characters from that decade and then on the opposite page, I have sketched, outlined and painted my own character designs based on shows from the same decade. This way, I can see the evolution for myself by picking apart the trends such as: body types, clothing, hairstyles, and face shapes, as well as how diverse the characters are.

My initial idea for the final outcome was to focus on the best aspects of the designs from each decade and then create a character turn around sheet showcasing a unique design. However, I wanted the practical outcome to be more symbiotic and as my essay focuses on the evolution, I didn't feel like this would translate very well. So I considered going in a different direction.

From here, I am planning on designing a female character using the common elements I found from each decade. I will then create a survey with all four designs of the same character and will ask the audience to rank the designs from most appealing to least. This way, the evolution should be more clear.

I will also be attending the Manchester Animation Festival halfway through this module so I am planning on finding primary research here.

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