Case Study

for this case study i had to choose a character artist that inspired me into doing character designs, I had many people to choose from. All of these character artists are very unique and different to one another for example Nicolas marlet character designs are very sketched out and even suit the style of which movie it would be portrayed an example like for how to train your Dragon the way he drew his character designs for the Dragon themselves looked like the style that the author would have used in her books.

When it came to choosing someone to do a case study on I went with someone who has influenced me through my years, this character artist is Andy Bialk. the first time i saw his work was on a show called dexter's laboratory, this show started in 1996 and along with other cartoons that came out in the 90s the art styles were very unique to the shows themselves all of which used a strong, sharp, dark outline to there characters as well as a "line of action" which gave all the characters a feel of motion. its from this art style that Andy Bialk work shows the most.


(picture of Andy Bialk) 

Thought out Andy Bialk work you see his sharp lines and lines of motion, in the character sheet below (from Madagascar 2) you can see how he shows the character reacting, never showing a picture with the character not in a feel of motion. this is something I have always enjoyed about his characters, as the character is not just showing motion but give a sense of what kind of person the character may be (in this sheet I see a kind yet strong character).

    (madagascar 2)   

but not all of his work is strong outlines he also works with other materials like painting. in the paintings below you see his rough sketch of the character. As seen in the sketch there are lines of motion which like his character sheet give the character a sense of motion but in the painting to the side he shows a very detailed, tonal and bright design to his character designs. the paintings just give the characters live and leave the eye to look at all the parts of the character to the hat in his paw to the pads on his feet. 

(madagascar 3)   

But like most all character designers Andy Bialk also does character development and from his development sheets you really see his creativity. From his work you really get a sense of how his ideas work from the picture below you can see just how many designs he comes up with for one character alone, as he designs a news reporter. There are many alternative designs some that look like caricatures to others, which look closer to comic book style of the character, but all trying to betray a strong, smart character that looks to me like a character willing to do whatever it takes to get her story. Although his character development sheets are different to his character sheets themselves you can still see his style within his rough work while still working on the main focus which is trying to make the character have the stereotypes that most people would think to see in the character.

(Megamind)

From all this what I like the most about Andy Bialk work is the design of his characters, most of his characters have unique shape to them whether the character has sharp angles to the face or more softer rounder lines all the characters are uniquely distinct from one another even though they're all drawn in the same style. Another part of why I like his work is his characters are not all in proportion, I always liked characters who take on a different look to the real proportions that we see in our day-to-day lives and to me making the characters look more like characters gives a sense of the fantasy and un-realism that makes me like watching the characters react on TV.

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pictures and research

Andy Bialk blog

Andy Bialk on IMDb

info of Andy Bialk