Your next project will involve creating (and then animating) a character in silhouette. First we'll concentrate on creating the silhouettes, and then we'll worry about posing them so that their emotions "read" to the viewer, and then finally we'll bring them to life by moving them through a series of poses.
But first -- just worry about the silhouettes themselves. I want you to create two silhouettes, each with a distinct "essential character" or personality. These are the types of qualities that define their identity. This is the realm of stereotype, and of course you can ultimately play against what the "essential character" of your silhouette appears to be. Regardless, an audience will make assumptions about characters based on that first visual cue of what they look like. So -- for example -- you could make a character that seems mean, and a character that seems nice. Or a character that seems pious, and a character that seems devilish. Vain and charitable. Wimpy and belligerent. And so on -- but you only have to pick two.
Eventually, you will have to separate out the various pieces of your character, so that they can exist on independent layers in flash. Think of them as pieces of a jointed paper doll. The pieces should include: head, neck, torso, pelvis, upper arms, lower arms, hands, upper legs, lower legs, feet. Don't worry about separating out the fingers and toes. As you are designing your character, keep in mind that at some point the pieces of your character will have to exist as separate symbols.
In Wednesday's class, you'll execute these characters in Flash. But before the start of class, I want to see a sketch of your two characters in your sketchbook.
Here's Lotte Reininger's silhouette animation from "The Adventures of Prince Achmed," which I showed in class:
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