video game character design
This lesson is an involved one, it requires forethought and some writing. Students are to consider their favorite character ever (from anything) and why they have an affinity to them. Then students are to brainstorm the perfect character. Mind mapping works well here, I had my students generate ideas about characters physical attributes, personality traits, motivations and fears.
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This lesson took inspiration from the artist Shigeru Miyamoto, a Japanese video game designer. He works for Nintendo and focuses on character design. He was useful in speaking on the design of 8-bit (pixel) graphic games as those where the characters we eventually created.
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Finally students were given free reign on the website Pixil Art. It has similar toolbars as many websites we have been using. It was an easy adjustment and therefore allowed for more focus on content rather than creation.
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artist inspiration
Shigeru Miyamoto
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He is a video game designer, producer and director for the company Nintendo. He began in the 1970's! This means that he was a video game designer before that was really even a job, he's a career pioneer. He is credited with creating a lot of games that might sound familiar - Space Invaders, Mario, Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong.
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Miyamoto puts a lot of focus on character design specifically. He values that over complex graphics. This fact makes him great for this lesson, he designed mainly pixel characters with a focus on design.
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student samples
Learning standards
C.9 : Be aware of creative processes to better understand artwork
success criteria
You will know this is complete when you done your preliminary mind map, created a character is Pixil Art and then submitted it along with your analysis worksheet.
big idea and learning objectives
This lesson connects pop culture to artistic ideas. It also uses a professional artist to inform students about artistic job options.
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students will use their own knowledge of characters in any form of media to develop an original character design that they could envision in a video game.
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Students will analyze the work of Shigeru Miyamoto to understand the value of the character design process and to imagine it as a future job option.
analysis worksheet
students should complete mind maps because they will be expected to answer the following questions about their character.
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