Character Design Influences 3

Dreamworks is where I learned how to design multiple characters so that they complimented or played off each other. Mostly, Miguel and Tulio from The Road To El Dorado, my favourite movie as a child.

Tulio is tall, dark haired and thin, while Miguel is short, Blonde and has broader shoulders. There is also the fact that Tulio wears blue, while Miguel wears red. Blue is seen as a calm colour, and Tulio is the calmer, more calculating of the two. Miguel, on the other hand, wears red, a colour associated with emotion and passion. He is the more emotional and enthusiastic of the two.

This is Toothless and Hiccup, from How To Train Your Dragon, my current favourite animated movie.  Hiccup is small and wiry, while Toothless is large and intimidating. Most of Toothless' design is to make him threatening, give him a strong presence. On the other hand, Hiccup is small, designed to vanish into the background a bit, with the natural colours in his clothes. Where Toothless is big, Hiccup is small, with a fur vest that is far too big to make him look smaller still.