Building Best Friends: An Exercise in Animated Character Design

Professor Kate Raney, Ohio University

This in-class activity asks students to analyze character design in existing animated works and then imaginatively and thoughtfully design their own characters with strong attention to the meanings of animated representation. Materials include a PowerPoint file outlining the activity and questions for students to consider as they create their own designs. The activity could easily be adapted into a more formal and extended assignment, but the activity is designed as scaffolding for thinking through questions of representations in more developed projects.

PowerPoint file: CharacterDesignExercise

Questions for students: CharacterDesign

Keywords: animation, design, in-class, representation