Character Analysis

A character is “the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.” (Dictionary, 2012). What can define the difference between people other than their physical appearance are their personalities and their character. In this module, I am going to research different types of villain character to help me gain a feel on what traits are required to make children’s villain characters look like “baddies”.

I have created a mind map combined with a mood board below:

As you can see from the images, although my characters of selection look very different, they have similar traits to make them look evil. The first and probably one of the more obvious traits is that the eyebrows tend to be quite pronounced and angular. This is to make the character look angry or menacing. In the samples I have taken, the mouth area is also very important. Whilst some have more pronounced mouths such as the Joker and Cruella De Vil, others also have pronounced teeth, for example Jafar from Aladdin and Ursula. Eyes tend to be either quite scarily wide or squinting. The scarily wide eyes are usually seen in characters with a bigger personality. They tend to be more out there whilst the other kinds of villains who have squinty eyes are usually more cunning. Some characters also have “props” which people relate to being evil. This especially applies to Sid out of Toy Story, who is easily recognisable by the braces on his teeth and by his black and white skull t-shirt. Captain Hook has the hooked hand as a weapon and Cruella De Vil has the coat made out of real animal fur.

The image below shows an example character analysis diagram:

Basically, it picks apart the character of Cruella De Vil and exposes the key features which make her so recognisable as a villain. Before I start designing my character physically, I will start considering what traits I can carry over from the research I have already conducted/I am going to conduct.

As part of my research, I have also looked into another two characters and created analysis diagrams for them as well (see below):

Scar from the Lion King

The Joker from Batman

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References 

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