Drafts

I made a few drafts, some better than others, trying out a normal sort of athletic build for the first set. It didn't really click, I sort of had my heart set on drawing a slightly overweight explorer.

The left hand man to me appears the most organised of the three, the middle being cool, relaxed, maybe almost lazy and the right hand man somewhat rushed and busied with transport. So to me the fact he's the most reliable and self-reliant makes him a better candidate for an explorer role.

The guy on the left seems a bit too sterile, his jacket almost makes me think of a scientist, this one didn't really work out as intended. The middle guy is my favourite however his top is quite like a pirate's which is pretty cool but it makes him seem more hostile than I really want him to appear. The right hand man has some nice elements, he's the most militaristic of the three but the head-scarf hiding the face certainly detracts from them being personable.

I'm combining some of the elements from the larger set together for my final character.

My character will be a combination of the boisterous and reliable tropes, as well as being motivated by excitement and wealth. He'll venture into distant lands to find the most precious goods, survive on his existing wealth from previous exploits and from his wealth of experience from a lifetime of exploration be thoroughly capable and often heavy-handed.
Although not enjoying the task at hand his curiosity and profit motive keep him plodding onward, the alternative would be a life regret and what-could-have-beens.

Stories and their construction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth

The heros journey is a set of actions that help to guide a story along, they can be altered to fit any culture which is why it's been so successful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWKKRbw-e4U

Extra credits sums up the core of the heros journey and acknowledges and explains it's place in the game Journey.
The general idea is that the structure or formula for creating this myth or story can be applied to any culture as it encompasses things everyone can appreciate and understand.

http://www.dreamworksanimation.com/insidedwa/productionprocess

Dreamworks give a rough overview of the entire process of creating their movies, from script to final render.

http://www.pixar.com/behind_the_scenes/Character-Design#/node/3833

In this short clip Ricky Nierva explains how his studio selects the character drafts he makes for the film Mosters Inc.

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/05/how-pixar-and-psychology-helped-facebook-design-its-emoticons/

Pixar's illustrator Matt Jones together with psychologist Dacher Keltner worked on creating the new emoticons for Facebook that improve the way people can convey emotion through status updates which are normally entirely text-based.

Character build/clothing/weapons

I've made a few mood boards to help with my character drafting.

I think Tony Soprano from the Sopranos / Scott Shelby from Heavy Rain (Sam Douglas) / Jeff Garlin from most notably Curb Your Enthusiasm, have a build which can enable a fairly warm and light hearted personality while maintaining an appearance of being capable but disadvantaged. I don't think a plain sailing explorer makes for a very interesting character.

17th-20th century clothing and gear. I'll pick and choose individual garments I feel as though express an essence of exploration as well as something more civilian so as not to make the character too lawful, more on the chaotic side of the spectrum.

My explorer character

I think that because of the collection and exhibition that went on in the 18 hundreds that was culturally significant at the time would make my explorer appear to both be a more genuine and grounded explorer. By taking advantage of the existing image of explorers from that time you can make someone instantly recognisable as a person who explores foreign lands.

I'll use some notable figures from the time like Charles Darwin the famous zoologist who birthed the idea of natural selection as an explanation for evolution, and Joseph Nicollet, the French explorer who mapped the Mississippi.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CharlesDarwin

Zebulon Pike - American - early 19th Louisiana Purchase (United States) 
Meriwether Lewis - American - 18th/19th - western United States 
William Clark American - early 19th - western United States
Joseph Nicollet - French/American - 19th - Mississippi and Missouri Rivers 
Jim Bridger American 19th Western United States 
Alexander Forbes British 19th California 
John C. Frémont American 19th Oregon Trail, Sierra Nevada 
John Franklin - British - 19th - Northwest Passage 
David Thompson British 18th/19th Western Canada, Pacific Northwest 
Thomas Coulter Irish 19th Mexico, Alta California 
William Lewis Herndon - American -19th - Amazonia 
Henry Walter Bates British 19th Amazonia 
Juan Galindo mixed 19th Mesoamerica (Mayan remains) 
Alexander von Humboldt German 19th Latin America, Siberia 
Archibald Menzies - British - 18th/19th - Pacific Ocean, circumnavigation
Matthew Flinders British 18th/19th Australia, Tasmania 
Robert O'Hara Burke Irish 19th Australia 
David Livingstone British 19th southern and eastern Africa 
Pierre Savorgan de Brazza Italian/French 19th Congo
Hermenegildo de Brito Capelo Portuguese 19th African continent 
Adrien de Gerlache Belgian 19th/20th Antarctica, Arctic 
Francis Garnier French 19th Mekong River

It's not uncommon for the explorers of the time to be military personnel. The fact they're exploring unknown teritories almost demands that they know how to handle themselves and others in combat, better to be safe than sorry.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/1700.shtml
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/1800.shtml


As of late though David Attenborough is widely known for his voice-over work and documentaries, appearing in some of the best nature-documenteries ever made. He is thought to have inspired the character Nigel Thornberry in the cartoon series The Wild Thornberrys
His overall apperance is inoffensive  white hair and laid back attire like a loose collared shirt, usually light coloured clothing.

Nigel Thornberry wears traditional colonial clothing worn in the Middle East or Africa, most notably his pith helmet.

http://www.qub.ac.uk/imperial/key-concepts/Exoticism.htm

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BoisterousBruiser
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BoldExplorer
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AdventurerOutfit
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheReliableOne

http://www.whalingmuseum.org/learn/research-topics/overview-of-north-american-whaling/american-whaling

http://www.cavetocanvas.com/page/3 fur trappers

http://osborneradloff.blogspot.co.uk colonial

Adventurer/Explorer gear

Lara Croft often sports a tool-belt, backpack and a couple of gun-holsters strapped to her legs. She wears clothing that allows for relative ease of athletic movements.Often just a pair of shorts, but she wears tight leather trousers or swim-wear when needed. Her platted pony-tail has become her iconic visual feature setting her apart from other female characters.

Nathan Drake wears a dirtied collarless shirt with rolled up sleeves, baggy khaki jeans and a light leather satchel, or bullet sling, sometimes he'll wear a scarf or a cross-backed holster. What sticks out to me is his rather wide watch strap,

Desmond wears a head-scarf as well as leather bound leggings and a metallic off-hand claw. Fingerless gloves as well as sleeveless garments give a degree of protection with unparalleled freedom of movement.

In Bastion, The Kid wears leather almost exclusively, he's adorned with some metallic shielding on his back, left shoulder and left wrist, there's a little metallic rim on his boots too. The addition of his red scarf makes me think of boy scouts and illustrates his age. It helps emphasise the skill and braveness the character has earned at such a young age.

-

These types of clothing offer longevity and flexibility, they're also very traditional materials making them easily recognisable. The low-tech nature of the adventurer/explorer roles typically make them seem more relate-able and plausible. A person of wealth is less likely to go out of their way and risk life and limb for small fortunes without a more meaningful incentive like pursuing a passion of archaeology in the case of Lara Croft.

Body modification in games

http://brink.wikia.com/wiki/Customization

Brink is one of the few games in which your body type can actually affect gameplay.

Controlling the health, mobility and what weapons are available to a character. There are 3 different Body Types to choose from:

Light

  Health: Low (120)

  Speed / Agility: High (Run 170, Sprint 270)

  SMART Abilities: Wall Hop, Mantle and Vaulting

  Primary Weapon Selection: Light

  Secondary Weapon Selection: Handguns

  Unlocked at level 7

Medium

  Health: Moderate (140)

  Speed/Agility: Moderate (Run 150, Sprint 230)

  SMART Abilities: Mantle and Vaulting

  Primary Weapon Selection: Medium and Light

  Secondary Weapon Selection: Light and Handguns

  Unlocked at level 1

Heavy

  Health: High (180)

  Speed/Agility: Low (Run 120, Sprint 200)

  SMART Abilities: Vaulting only

  Primary Weapon Selection: Heavy, Medium and Light

  Secondary Weapon Selection: Medium, Light and Handguns

  Unlocked at level 5

Any other change in the character's appearance is essentially meaningless in terms of game play but it allows for the players to express themselves and make their avatar unique to them which is often a quality very much sought after in western MMOs.

The importance and entertainment value of character creation is evident from people like http://www.youtube.com/user/marcusgarlick who've made countless in-game representations of celebrities and characters in games that allow for very detailed customisation.

Games like APB Reloaded, The Saints Row series, Tony Hawk series and Aion are pretty good examples of games that allow for very good character creation. It doesn't affect gameplay in anyway, so you are at no disadvantage from other players.

Brink's character creation is less important for the player as it's an FPS, they rarely see their avatar so using the 3 body types for different attributes allows other players to easily recognise their role in the game making team work much easier from a glance.

http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Bibbly/deus-ex-human-revolution-serif-industries-what--201670.phtml
Deus ex had lots of upgrades you could spec into, it'd change how your character could move or dispatch enemies or give you special abilities like increased health/armor/radar.
The character's appearance wouldn't physically change to any noticeable degree but he was already very much augmented to begin with.

The role of body modification in that game was an entire political issue with people on both sides of the debate and your own character who was essentially saved by the technology without consent.

WWE Smackdown has some good customisation tools, you can make as bizarre a character as you can imagine almost. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4-WUQtLukw As you can see some individual limbs can be entirely blown out of realistic proportion.

A lot of sports games have very good character customisation, especially the golf games as you're one of the two only characters you'll see in any one match.


Skyrim is probably the most popular adventure RPG at the moment. The game's attracted countless modders which has made the game far more customisable and complete. Character customisation which mods is essentially unlimited, however if we just consider the base game, it's fairly good, you have a selection of several races, a mixture of fictional races along with humans. You have control over some basic appearances like skin tone and general facial structure however you can edit that with more control later on in the customisation screen.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Races_(Skyrim)

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120117052718AAen4Hy

Your choice of race determines some innate abilities which can affect gameplay to a degree at early game, your race choice isn't a huge commitment to what ever skills those races are specialised at.

Each race however does have a unique power which might be worth considering playing one race over another if you know your playstyle might demand some sort of power up or ability it might otherwise lack.

The new Skyrim MMO will make race choices important as it determines which of the three factions you can play as.

Adventueres/Explorers

I'll be taking a look at some of the most prevalent adventurer/explorer characters as well as some daring individuals in reality.

Characters like Indiana Jones and Lara Croft are incredibly famous and their intentions as characters are clear and distinct which is what makes them so familiar and their physical abilities make them entertaining to both watch and play as.

We've got the Assassins creed series and the Prince of Persia which also offer similar puzzle solving gameplay the Tomb Raider series introduced. Ontop of that though, the Assassins creed added a fairly decent element of plot for the player to explore and figure out. When you play as Altair or Ezio you're thrust into the same position as the main character, who knows about as much as you do about themselves and their role in the facility. The revelations help the player to both sympathise with the character and immerse themselves in the story as they're learning along side Desmond.

Desmond's character isn't actually all that interesting but the role he plays makes the game worth playing. He's the captured victim attempting to uncover the truth while with-holding information from his captors.

In Prince of Persia you play a nameless man who's goal it is to escape the dungeon he's been locked in as well as rescue the princess from a marriage she's been forced into under threat of execution. An apparition of your character hinders progress.

In the 2008 version the main character is much more light hearted and plays a more interesting role in the story, his actions are apparently morally questionably at first as he reacts on gut instinct, but upon playing further the situation resolve for the better.
This doubt of whether what you're doing is good or not makes the game and character more interesting.

http://www.creativeuncut.com/art_uncharted-drakes-fortune_d.html

Nathan Drake from Uncharted, is based on Harrison Ford's and Johnny Knoxville's appearances, as well as the heroes of pulp magazines, novels and films. To make him relatable, the character was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and given an everyman persona; he is strong-willed, and often jokes and quips. The designers focused on giving him realistic reactions to his environment; for example, he stumbles while running, barely clears objects during leaps, and recognizes the absurdity of the situations in which he finds himself.

Nathan Drake has been called the mascot of the PlayStation 3 game console, and is increasingly identified with the platform. His design and personality have drawn comparisons to other video game and film characters, such as Lara Croft and Indiana Jones. Many reviewers have called Drake a likeable and believable character, and have noted that he is a rare example of a physically attractive character who is not over-masculinized.

http://www.creativeuncut.com/art_ratchet-and-clank-future-a-crack-in-time_a.html

Ratchet and Clank play a similar role to the cartoon characters Pinky and the Brain, Clank is the competent one and Ratchet the klutz who occasionally redeems himself with miraculous performance.

One thing I've noticed about all of these characters is they all wear leather straps of some kind as well as having an overall rugged appearance. The small remarks they make about the situation they're in lets us know what kind of person they are. In Assassins Creed which ever ancestor you play as, you'll always say RIP in their native tongue upon relevant objective kills which indicates that you are a respectful character doing what's necessary despite not enjoying the task in the moment.
Nathan Drake makes light hearted puns about the things going on around him aswell as often remarking on how poor he is at making them. This helps us appreciate that he's a friendly likeable character caught up in a problem that isn't entirely his fault.

http://www.creativeuncut.com/art_jak-3_a.html

Body modification in real life

Body modification isn't something i'd commit to, the thought i might later regret what ever work i got done makes the whole thing an entirely undesirable activity.

Things like piercings and tattoos are the most common body modifications in the west along with make up and hair dye being the most popular.

Plastic surgery once conceived was very popular amongst women but men have begun to show just as much interest of late.

In the documentary "Body Modification" by national geographic a man was not satisfied with the appearance of his posterior. He likened plastic surgery to car maintenance, "You would go out and re-service your car, you would change the oil to keep it up for maintenance, so why wouldn't you on your body."

One man got chest implants despite being in incredible shape and hired as a model. His operation caused quite a stir, he was totally unaware that chest implants for men is a taboo.

http://www.cracked.com/article_16853_the-8-most-horrifying-body-modifications.html

These are considered rather extreme in the western world but only because they aren't popular.
Plastic surgery is just as invasive and require you to be entirely anaesthetised which is arguably a much more extreme length to go for beauty and fulfilment.

In other cultures people wear neck rings which significantly distort the positioning of the shoulders, it's not been proven as to whether this is harmful but there are stories of women being short of breath and even becoming light headed once removed. I think this sort of body modification is best to steer clear from as it's not medically proven to be safe.

http://www.iamdann.com/2012/03/21/my-magnet-implant-body-modification
http://www.iamdann.com/2013/02/15/magnet-implants-can-actually-be-pretty-annoying

Magnet implants are more of a fun gimmicky body mod, it'll give you paper clip levitating powers, however engineers can make good use of them by easily being able to detect live wires. The magnetic field will make the magnet under their skin exert some force so they'll literally feel whether or not a wire is live or not.
At first magnet implants were not entirely safe and could corrode and leed to infection, newer technology has given the implants a much more robust outer shell so they don't easily corrode under the skin.

One problem with magnetic implants is that an MRI scan is out of the question without having it removed. Aswell as that it can cause discomfort if a powerful enough magnet is passed over it, the polarity might switch and leave you needing to massage the magnet back into the correct position.

The initial procedure is quite quick, only taking around 20 minutes however the healing stage takes much longer, it can be left swollen and numb during the several weeks of healing. The tissue must be seperated from the muscle so that the magnet can be inserted, this inevitably reduces the sensitivity of that part of the skin, nerves will have to be re-routed through the adjacent skin instead of directly down into the tissue.

The magnet loses it's potency over time and the effects will be reduced.

http://kpsurgery.tumblr.com/

In South Korea plastic surgery is a social norm for women, the discrimination they face in job and tertiary education applications demands that they get the surgery to progress in their career.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1147874.stm

This girl dreamt of becoming a flight attendant and ontop of that was worried that her height would be disadvantageous and maybe even prevent her from driving, so she had leg extension carried out to alleviate that anxiety and pressure. As a result she can now live her life not worrying about her height and she has a very real chance of being hired as a flight attendant. Had she not had the operation her dream career wouldn't be possible as anyone under 5 foot 3 is declined for safety reasons.

http://tattoo.about.com/od/piercingsgeneralinfo/a/Finding-A-Job-When-You-Have-Tattoos-Piercings-And-Or-Body-Modifications_2.htm

Body modification or body art can severely restrict where you can be potentially employed as it is still very much an undesirable trait. There are however a few companies who have expressed their body-art-friendly hiring policies.

Personality

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_major_determinants_of_personality
http://archive.org/stream/physicalappearan00knig/physicalappearan00knig_djvu.txt

Gollum's appearance is very much up in the air concerning what was actually written about him, this article demonstrates the variety of interpretations people have made over the world.

The character Gollum was described as a few rather strikingly different things in LOTR, as he was only really seen in dim lighting conditions it left alot to the imagination. The strong overall theme however is that Gollum is described as being slimy and dark as darkness, with long thin fingers, big lamp-like eyes and six teeth. He has pockets or at some point in the past has pockets.There are only small allusions to Gollum living outside of the cave and even smaller ones to him previously being a hobbit.

http://www.carsonellis.com/blog/2010/01/10/gollums-from-around-the-world/

Rankin/Bass's Gollum

Ralph Bakshi's Gollum

Peter Jackson's Gollum

http://www.charlottedillon.com/CharacterChart.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEERJ1a2rsU
Extracreditz talks about how more can be revealed through clever use of game mechanics and visual clues that books and TV shows don't utilise as often as they don't have the same sort of restriction on expositional text or narration that might otherwise feel forced in a videogame.

Video games allow for more to be revealed without as much being directly explicated to the audience through narration. You've the physical appearance of the character, the way they're animated and the environment they live in. What they do, how they do it and facial expressions as well as dress. All of these sorts of things can combine to give a fairly thorough idea of what a character is like much quicker than any book can. Particular exaggerations of their behaviour or appearance can assist with this. The fact it's in a video game allows for these sorts of exaggerations to be much more apparent in ways not possible in live action.

http://simine.com/docs/Naumann_et_al_PSPB_2009.pdf
In this article on Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, it reveals how simply seeing a persons face and overall physical appearance can give you accurate insight into their personality.

likability, self-esteem, loneliness, religiosity, and political orientation are the big fice characteristics people are tested for being able to detect in a variety of different tests.
Some studies use face shots and other use full body shots which are arguably more reliable since it's believed that the body can convey this sort of information as well as the face.
still image vs film vs no audio vs full audio, the more information available to participants the more accurate they were. Everything about you appearance and how you behave contributes to how people interpret your personality and characteristics.

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/why_we_judge_personalities_appearance_it_works-92940

http://pubpages.unh.edu/~rmw/Warner_Sugarman_JPSP_1986.pdf

This article and paper respectively support the idea that you can ascertain some elements of a personality from physical appearance alone with some degree of accuracy.

http://www.qub.ac.uk/imperial/key-concepts/Exoticism.htm

Exoticism is the quintissential goal/past time for explorers. Seeking the exotic or foreign cultures or objects that are attractive or remarkable. Plants, minerals and people excited a feeling in the West and the rest of the world and reinforced the actual and metaphorical wealth of Western empires.

The exotic was often on display in such places as Kew gardens, which greatly expanded between 1841 and 1885 as a result of scientific research and travel, where plants and minerals from outside Europe could be viewed by the public safely in a domestic environment.   The Gardens became essential to developing the British Empire by supplying seed, crops and horticultural advice to the colonies.   The Great Exhibition of 1851 was the most famous display of imperial power and wealth, with items from each of the colonies on show to visitors.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3402717/