Chris Sasaki Talk Part 2

Still uses stuff from learning animation and storyboards, needed to use a lot more of that than expected. Need to have a foundation of everything and focus at the end. Hurt portfolio by putting things in that were less confident about. Also talks to costume designers a lot - textures and movement are v important in 3d art. Gives suggestions for colour but that designs are often then passed over to the colour department. Hs like 12/15 artists on each film including char des, environment, lighting/shading. Works together, see what they are all working on, keeping world consistent but they only do work for their own department. Design is secondary to story. Second assignment ever was a silhouette assignment; automatically learned at college etc. Chaplin and Mr Bean, great considerations for readable silhouettes and acting. Check shape/silhouette of characters.  Method acting. Find the key frame that shows who the character is. If you were to sculpt them, what pose shows who they are? Study film and performances. Make some chars off of chars w/great acting. Helpful when they have VAs in mind - design can complement voice. Might even think about a voice actor himself and influence design from that. Film name often isn't decided until some part in the middle of the film development. 

Taking some time off work to work on own short stories and book. Personal projects help keep you sane. Keep pushing yourself as an artist. Getting your own stories told.

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I found this talk very interesting and helpful. The part about finding the key frame that shows who your character is is great advice, and something that I think I need to keep in mind when creating characters. The advice about work you are not too confident with hurting your portfolio is also good to remember, especially when making my portfolio soon. I feel like quite a few of his experiences may be different than working in a studio designing for 2D, but many of his points will apply to both. It was nice to hear from someone working specifically in character design, since we don't often get that and now I have a few more things to work on and thinking about.