Extended Practice First Ancient Character Development: Research, Design, Bio and Character Turnarounds

I then moved onto creating the designs and doing research for the first Ancient character that we were going to be creating. The first character is going to be from China, and a protector of Chinese history and relics so I wanted to first look into a bit of Chinese history by watching some documentaries and reading up about key events that happened in there history to be able to come up with a suitable back story for her to be able to look at how she is as a character. I found a really informative website that I got the following information from and then used the information on the website to look at some other facts below.

'The history of China reaches back over 4,000 years. In that time, China has created a culture rich in philosophy and the arts. China has seen the invention of amazing technologies such as silk, paper, gunpowder, and many other products. Over the millennium, China has fought hundreds of wars. It has conquered its neighbors, and been conquered by them in turn. Early Chinese explorers such as Admiral Zheng He sailed all the way to Africa; today, China's space program continues this tradition of exploration.'

Key Facts:
- The capital is Beijing
- Power in the People's Republic is divided between the National People's Congress (NPC), the President, and the State Council.

- The official language is Mandarin
- It has the largest population on Earth with over 1.35 billion
- The size of China is about 9.5 to 9.8 million square kilometers
- As a result of its large area and various landforms, China includes climate zones from subarctic to tropical.

I then looked at a range of different outfits that are both traditional to current China and also more into Ancient Chinese outfits and found these beautiful images of how they depict what the clothing looked like, and it provides some brilliant inspiration for my first character. 

Name: Cheng Ling
Age: 21
Human Age: 93
Date of Birth: 02/11/1993
Ethnicity: Han Chinese
M/F: Female
Profession: Ancient Protector of the Wonders
Education: She trained as a martial artist when she was growing up and taught that to children and adults for many years before joining the elders.

Hobbies/Interests: In her space time she enjoys reading history on her country, even though she has read pretty much everything there is to know. She enjoys reading literature in general and also still practicing martial arts but at a slower pace.

Political/Religious Beliefs: She has no religious or political beliefs, she only believes in Peace around the world.

Disposition/Personality: She is generally very quiet and keeps herself to herself but does enjoy the company of others on occasion. She loves being with the other Ancients and loves to share in everyone's knowledge and wisdom and aims to live up to the reputation of the Chinese Ancient who came before her, her great-grandfather.

Weaknesses/Faults: She can have a fiery temper and when she first joined she had to learn to control it, but the others believed she could do it and allowed her to stay. Over the years she has calmed down and is a quiet and pensive character but when situations anger her, she can be hurt easily.

Pet Peeves: She likes things to be in order in her living quarters and when they are moved or touched she gets annoyed and her temper flares.

Fears: She fears not being able to find someone she trusts to take up her role as an Ancient and fears that who she picks may turn out to be completely wrong.

Guilty Pleasures: She enjoys lighting all of the candle she can find and placing them around her room and relaxing with soft and calming music. She enjoys the peace and the pure bliss feeling of being in pure relaxation.

Prized Possession: An ancient Chinese relic that she keeps under her pillow in her bedroom. It has been passed down for 13 generations in her family and she was entrusted to keep it safe until the time comes to pass it on.

Proudest Achievements: Being a member of the Ancients, it had always been her dream and she didn't think he great grandfather would ever pick her over her other family members.

Secret Talents: She was once a master in martial arts and although since getting older could still perform most of the moves.

Clothing/Appearance: She wears traditional Chinese clothing that have been passed onto her from her family and she always looks the part. She dresses to impress and doesn't like to be seen not looking her best. She is not very practical in her dress sense and will always opt for tradition over comfort.
Dialogue/Interactions: She is fluent in all Chinese languages and can speak some English in order to communicate with the other Ancients as this is the language most of them know best. She is on the quiet side though and prefers to be in calm situations without disturbances.

Relationship with the Other Koalas: She gets along extremely well with the other Ancients despite her quiet disposition, she is kind and generous and will do anything to help the others but does prefer he own space. She likes their company in small doses and does get involved whenever needed.
Wants: Peace and quiet in the world so she can lead a quiet life and learn all she can about the history of her country.
Needs: To find someone who can take up her role as an Ancient when the time comes for her to move on.
The single thing the character wants the most: For the world to be at peace with one another

I then moved onto designing her outfit that she would wear throughout the game. This was a fairly easy process as I had already looked at a range of different koala looks for Keith, and decided that it would just be quicker to pick a face and body from there instead of designing her from scratch. This felt like the best decision to go with and as I had already looked at a Chinese costume for Keith, again all I had to do was adapt this into a different design to suit her personality.

I then moved onto drawing out the character turn arounds so that I could use then to eventually model from later on in the process. The whole design I feel is great and really captures the country that I was designing it for. I again did one turnaround in colour and then one in black and white so that I could use the black and white one for the modelling and then the colour one to use as reference for the colours I'm supposed to be using.