Gonzo – Finalised Character

The finalised character of Gonzo that I have chosen is similar to the original style that I came up with. However, going back and breaking down Gonzo’s features, allowed me make changes that benefited the character and add something extra.

The main changes made were the addition of the front legs, making it easier for me to draw Gonzo from side angles, the ears, where I added an extended left ear of the character, and the introduction of a tail, making it more realistic and adding to the character. I also made Gonzo a couple of shades lighter, after experimenting with different browns.

 

Gonzo Food Inspiration

Messing around with different ideas led me to taking inspiration from different foods for my main character. I initially made the observation that Gonzo’s chosen body shape resembled an onion, which gave me the idea to illustrate an onion-styled Gonzo in Adobe Illustrator. Again, this gave me more opportunity to mess around with colour ideas.

 

I then continued to represent Gonzo as different fruits, purely for experimentation and visualisation reasons!

Colouring Gonzo

I then began to mess around with some colours for Gonzo. Although creating Gonzo with the use of bright greens, blues and oranges, I felt that keeping Gonzo as a brown or grey shade is important.

I also had in my head that I will possibly be developing the character of Clancy cat in a grey shade, so I decided that brown would be the better option.

 

Gonzo’s illustrated angles

The next step was to introduce my sketched angles of Gonzo into Adobe Illustrator and roughly give myself a better idea on how the character would look. This was exciting to do as I felt as though the character was brought to life in a sense from a digital approach.

Gonzo’s sketches angles

The next thing for me to do, once I decided on Gonzos shape, was to capture this shape from different angles that he is bound to appear in throughout the book. I sketched these angles out roughly first and then traced them again onto a fresh page with smooth edges. I then continued to add some shading to his character.

Gonzo – Arts & Crafts

Sometimes getting creative helps me to visualise a character better. With the use of some black and white felt paper, a black pastel and a4 page, I created a silhouette style design of the type of shape I want Gonzo to be.

Combining Features

I combined two of my favourite head shapes with my favourite body shape. I ended up deciding to use most of the original body shape I chose, with changes made to the legs and ears of Gonzo. I did really like the idea of a square head on Gonzo, but I thought there was too much contrast between that and a roundish body, which turned me off the idea.

The ears I decided to go for was one normal sized ear and one much longer one. It adds to the odd shape of Gonzo and I think it also creates a more friendly and goofy feel to the dog.

The changes I made to the legs meant he would look better in drawings from side angles. It also gave him a slightly more realistic look and feel.

Gonzo’s body shapes

The body shape I wanted to achieve for Gonzo is what I have described from the outset as big, ginormous, round and curvy. Throughout the story I have described Gonzo as a dog who people fear as the ‘the biggest dog you ever will see’, while also describing him as a fearful dog. I want the reader to like Gonzo and relate to him.

I sketched several different body shapes that came to mind that relate to that big friendly dog look. Again, I didn’t pay attention to the other details that I want to develop separately.

Rough Sketches

Sketching is such a valuable aspect of design! For developing designs for children, it is particularly important! It is obvious to most that the first idea is very rarely anyones favourite or best one. Sketching and doodling forces me to constantly generate new ideas. I started to sketch different ideas for my characters as they came to me. I find this to usually be the best way to go about firstly designing a character. I have attached below some of my initial character sketches before I brought them into illustrator. They vary from specific guard dogs to random sketches that came to me.

 

 

Getting to know Gonzo

I want to completely get to know the Gonzo in my mind before I completed my story. This required creating certain headings so that I could develop the character more.

 

Communication Style

Gonzo speaks in what could be described as a goofy tone. He sounds breathy when speaking with loud breathing noises. His voice is often quite wobbly at times, going up and down, usually when he is frightened, not confident or going to cry. When Gonzo gets a fright he often uses the word ‘Yikes!’, and jumps back abruptly. Gonzo has a very unique style of communication.

History

In human years, Gonzo is 8 years old and is considered a senior dog of 61 in dog years. Before Gonzo’s owners bought him, he was living in a shelter for 2 years, after being found on the roadside, which is why he gets scared easily. Gonzo doesn’t know where his real family is currently. Since he began living with his owners, he’s had six very happy years with them.

Appearance

Gonzo is a funky version of a Chow Chow. His owners bought him because Chow Chows are known to be good guard dogs and they wanted a dog to protect them at night. However, Gonzo’s appearance is very deceiving as he is humungous and large, but he is almost afraid of his own shadow! Gonzo has a very friendly face with big eyes and wide smile and a tongue that hangs out of his mouth, but people get scared of him when they see his mighty size and overlook his friendly features. His appearance is a very important ingredient to make him who he is.

Relationships

Gonzo hasn’t got many friends. He has a loving relationship with his owners but he feels like they don’t know who he really is. He often feels that if they knew he was no use to them as a guard dog he questions would they still love him. The other animals in the garden where Gonzo lives often laugh at him and mock him and call him goofy. The most important person to Gonzo is Ruby the Robin who lives in the tree in the garden at home. Ruby knows Gonzo extremely well and she knows when he is distressed. She has always been there to help him. Ruby is Gonzo’s best friend and they have both been very loyal to each other for many years.

Ambition

Gonzo has always had one main ambition in life, and that is to live up to his title of a ‘guard-dog’. He wants to be the brave dog that his owners think he is. He strongly dislikes how little confidence he has and craves for the day he is able to stand up for himself.

Character Defect

Gonzo’s main defect is again his lack of confidence. This is not always a bad trait in people, but it is a part of Gonzo that he really wants to improve.
Thoughts

Gonzo’s internal and external voice is very different. He often thinks sad thoughts of how he hasn’t got many friends and gets annoyed at himself that he is letting his owners down and deceiving them. However on the outside, Gonzo is quiet and reserved, unless he is with Ruby the Robin, whom he can be himself with.

Association

Gonzo is a very relatable character. Everyone has things that they feel less confident about. He is a character that people can read about and think of a time where they felt how he is feeling. Ideally, I want the child to finish the book with the concept of how facing your fears is a productive thing in which everyone should try to do.

Restrictions

My overall goal in relation to Gonzo is really to make the children who read it feel something for him. The more they care about him, the more emotion they’ll invest in the story. The end of the story shows how Gonzo faces his fears in order to protect his friend. He is overcome with pride and realises that he had nothing to worry about all along, that he is well able to stand up for himself and all it took was doing it once to prove this to himself.