Visual Language - Captain Character - Brother bear - Creature Design

I decided to research in the character design process for the animated movie Brother Bear because of how different and detailed the characters were and also how the managed to capture the natural movements of the bears.

the scene with Koda's mum is probably one of the most significant and detailed animated scenes in the feature. The swift movement of the wobbly facial features create a sense of realism to the character. The character looks a little different from the other characters in the film because the eyes are more realistic, and the face is a lot more detailed.





Here, are intricate and detailed studies of a bears feet. These studies resonate in the animated feature. It is obvious that the key elements of the bears body were kept but simplified down in order to fit with the typical animated, Disney design. This is a perfect example of how important visual studies into the elements of what make up a character are. When developing any sort of character, it is clear that creating various observational drawings help create a believable character. Working from detailed drawings of anatomy to build a character is helpful in developing a believable






Here, you can tell how researching into bear anatomy paid off. The bears hands resemble the observational drawings from the early visual research. The body shape and bone structure is shown on the body throughout the character. The shoulder blades ... The body fat of the bears are drawn in downward motions to create drag and emphasise a sense of gravity and weight to the creature. The bears heads have a circular ground work that is built on top of with the facial features.





Anatomical studies are helpful in understanding how an animal moves, and where muscles and weight are in order to successfully capture their movements. De-constructing their physique can help character designers understand what parts of the body have the most weight in order to create a sense of realism even in animation. Focusing on the skeletal structure helps to define body parts and creates groundwork for animators and characters design developers create shapes to draw on top of so the character can be anatomically correct.




Drawing images such as this one, where an animal is in action, focussing on the anatomy can determine where the tension in the muscle will be in order to exaggerate and clearly depict the action of the scene between two characters. You can clearly see where the tension is in the characters body due to the muscle study that has been built on top of.

From researching into these character design sheets, I have learnt that drawing from life is the most effective way to create realistic looking images. Using skeletal structures as a base also make for a more anatomically defined character.