Designing and Refining My Protagonist Characters

While I have figured out the basics of my storyline, I will likely be making changes before I write the final script and will post about it then. However, it is definite that the story will revolve around a small team of 4 differently coloured robots (to allow them to be told apart easily) but will all use the same basic model that will be textured differently to save on time as well as allowing them to use the same basic rules for displaying emotion and character. Therefore, only one of them needs to be designed. There will in fact be another kind of robot, but he has yet to be designed. So far, I have been through a number of different designs before settling on the final one, but the basic concept remains the same; a group of tiny robots that can be folded up into small boxes. (please also note that the two sad foods in the bottom right are part of the design of my notebook and are not relevant to my designs)

First Design

The basic concept if these robots being small was the starting point of these designs, and originally I did not plan for them to fold up at all. As shown in the first design (I have labelled the different designs Mark 1 - 3 (shortened to MK to to lack of space) to allow for easier telling of the separate designs). In this first design, the idea was that he would have long arms allowing for a large range of mobility and movement, allowing him to hold objects in a way that would not block his face or eyes. He had a flash light on his front for any scenes that were too dark to be lit up logically. He also had tracks that allowed him to traverse terrain, allowing for better range of freedom with the environment design (flowers have been drawn for scale before the heights were listed, so in the other designs these details are absent due to them not being needed).

The Design's Flaws

The issue with this design is that it was far too large and bulky, and it was hard to convey the concept of the robot being incredibly tiny (heights listed next to the front on views of the designs) with such bulk,. and it therefore didn't work. in addition to this, it made it hard for him to convey emotion because he did not have enough points of movement (basically none besides his arms and the tracks). the exhausts on his body also made him look to powerful and strong for my liking, and did not look as though a team of them would be required for performing tasks. the largest issue however was the arms, as they were far too long and ad a set length that couldn't be changed. this made them get in the way as they had nowhere to go when they weren't being used and would easily compromise a scene.

Second Design

For the second design, it was decided that The robot needed much more range of movement in order to convey emotion, along with the need for it to be less bulky in order to look as though the group had to work together and relied on each other. this design therefore folded up into a box with a storage space in his front through two doors that would lead to some storage shelves. the arms would fold up into the sides allowing them to be put away and the tracks were moved to the inside of the bottom, where the robot could elevate and descend on them to better convey character. This version still had a flash light, but it was much smaller and was in the top right of the front panel. It was also decided that they should have a number on the side to imply that they were once part of something bigger, but now are the only ones left.

The Design's Flaws

This design is largely close to the final one, but it does still have major differences. The biggest issue was once again the arms, but this time the opposite issue occurred. in order for them to fold onto the body while looking natural, they had to be a certain length. This has resulted in the arms being basically useless, as they cannot reach anything. While this does help connote the idea that they need to work in a group to accomplish tasks, it conveys this point too well, to the point where no tasks could be accomplished, at all, despite how many there are. The other issue is the storage doors on the front, which look out of place, and serve no real purpose to the story, making them pretty useless as well. The final issue is that the robot, while having better range of movement, is still fairly solid and cannot really convey any character due to it's fixed unblinking eyes and unmoving body.

Final Design

The final design, while it may not look much different, actually has a large amount of refinements over the other designs. The tracks have been replaced by wheels with tires and their frame has been changed, the arms have been altered to fit better with the body while allowing more movement, the storage shelf has been changed to act as a mouth of sorts should it be required to show shock or awe, but by far the biggest change is the smallest in size; the robot now has eye movement and eyelids! I am happy about this because it is something I was working on but couldn't quite figure out a way to add in without it looking unnatural. The eyes move on a ball pivot allowing the robot to look around without moving his entire body, and two semi-circular metal covers have been added to the eyepiece, acting as the eyelids, with pivots on the side.

However, due to the eyes being on a ball pivot, they can be rotated to act as eyebrows to convey both anger and sadness, along with other emotions. The arms now also extend, allowing the robot to carry things which he previously couldn't, however they still do not look strong and are relatively thin, making them look like they need help from the other robots to accomplish tasks. The new bottom frame for the wheels allows a better range of movement then just up and down, going forward, backward and side to side, allowing him to lean around corners and look over ledges, as well as tilt back to look at higher up objects.

Final Thoughts

I am pleased with this design and will begin working on the model for it as soon as I can. while there may be subtle changes due to the model just not working in ways that I may nor have foreseen, hopefully the basic design will remain relatively unaltered. I am looking forward to this creation as I cannot wait to have a play around with the range of emotion that this design should offer!