Character Design / Shapes

For the design of Icarus I began with shapes and blocking out silhouettes. I wanted to keep it simple to start with and not add to much detail. I took ideas and shapes from my mood board taking influence from the geometric shapes of the Cycladic dolls.

I progressed to this character. This the design really didn’t take much from the mood board but more from my own style nor did it have a Greek design. What I needed to do was combine this with everything else.

I started again from the ground up and concentrated on added more youth to the character. I shortened the legs and made the shoulder width smaller. I refined down a simple triangle shape, which gives Icarus boy like features big on bottom and small on top. I took the shape and added more triangles within it till I was happy to turn it into a character. I introduced Greek accessories and added some curvature to reference the traditional Greek style.

I wanted to make Icarus seem even smaller by making the wings 3-4 times the size of his body. Also it kind gives the idea from the begging his bitten off more than he can chew. I've played with the idea of having enlarged feathers as well giving a more dramatic effect when the eventually fall away.