The next stage in my project was to design my colour character avatars to give their personality more of a real feel. To do this, I wanted to stick to the design style of my practice flat character illustrations. Particularly this example:
I started the design of the face with the exact same method. This gave me a base to build all of the following characters from. To make my colour characters, I worked from my mood boards where I used outfit examples.
Here are my final Colour Character avatars:
The Yellow Character
The main thing I wanted to capture with the yellow character was that they are kind and optimistic. They are the gentlest of the personality types. To enhance this appearance I made her a wide smile, and made sure her eyebrows were positioned somewhat graciously. Then for the clothes, I knew I wanted to make her dungarees as I think these are a really cute outfit choice, linked to innocence as a lot of us wore them as children. I also decided that each type should actually be the colour that their character is. I think this also means that no skin tone of users would be in danger of being excluded.
The Pink Character
With the pink character, they are seen as feminine 'it girls'. They are bubbly, and sometimes a bit ditsy. I wanted to make the avatar a classic representation of this as seen in pop culture, so I went for blond long hair. I also wanted to make sure the facial expression represented bubbly, so I made her smile a lot bigger than the yellow characters. For the clothes, I wanted a 'girly' sense, so I added some pearls, and made her a dainty cardigan over a strapless top. I think she represents her personality type well.
The Orange Character
The orange character is energetic, witty and extroverted. I wanted to express this with every aspect of the avatar. I made her accessories that were more out there and different, as well as a more adventurous hair style. I designed her eyes to be open to try to represent a more energetic sense. I also feel that the orange character is one of the less feminine personality types as they have a rebellious streak in them and can often be tomboy, so I tried to make a more unisex jumper for her to wear. I also tried to make the coloured bubble in the background the most wavy, to reflect a more chaotic energy. I really love how this one turned out.
The Purple Character
To start my design of the purple character, I wanted her to look more peaceful than the other characters. So, while the other characters look extremely smiley with their eyes shut, I flipped the strokes so her closed eyes had a softer appearance. I also accesorised her with moon shaped earrings as the purple character is in tune with the universe around her. They are often spiritual characters. Their fashion sense is probably a little bit grungy and down to earth, so I made her a plain looking jumper. in real life, I would have liked this jumper to be a little raggedy, with loose knitting. However, this was hard to represent in flat illustration so I left it. But I am happy with how this avatar reflects the personality type of the purple character.
The Red Character
The red character is confident and strong, so with this illustration I adjusted the eyebrows to make her look more self assured and authoritative. I also made her hair darker and sharper to reflect her boldness. For the clothes, I wanted to put her in a leather jacket, as I feel this is associated with danger- for example motorcyclists wear a lot of leather. However, I still wanted her to look feminine, so I used a reference image of a women's leather jacket that I liked and created this jacket. Again, the collar on the jacket has pointy corners to represent the sharpness of the character. I am really happy with this one.
The Blue Character
I struggled slightly with the blue character. I think the blue character is often down to earth, and above all intelligent. I tried to imagine what a reserved, compassionate, intelligent, and helpful character would wear. I felt like they might wear a sweatshirt, but found this difficult to represent in flat illustration so made her a hoodie. I accessorised her with a hair clip to give her an innocent feel. The blue character is a good friend and makes a good leader, however they are more reserved than the red character. I think at their core they are purely good, so I wanted to reflect this. I am happy with where this avatar ended up, but feel like it may be the weakest of all the avatars.
The Green Character
I think the green character shares the sharpness of the red character, but maybe seems less approachable. They keep to themselves slightly more, and often have a cunning streak in them. For this avatar I wanted to give her a leather jacket as well, but adjusted it so it didn't look the same as the red's. I also originally gave her shorter hair that was less wavy, but needed to make her look more different to the red character. I also adjusted her eyebrows to be lower down to give her a glimmer of that cunning streak. I really like this avatar as I think it does reflect a character that would be sarcastic and maybe slightly judgmental.
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