Every story needs a protagonist of some kind. The type of protagonist and what they look like, dress, accessories they wear, everything contributes to a kind of messaging on what it is you want the character to be. With Project Koto being the first title that would have a protagonist it was hard to figure out what exactly I was trying to convey and to what degree? I’m not much of an artist, but I spent some time as a cartoonist trying my best to make people laugh back in college.

This wouldn’t cut it for Project Koto though. The very talented Shoko Takahata-san agreed to help on character design and concept art. She’s worked on a lot of popular anime, and getting to know and work with her has been a joy. She really approaches the character process with a lot of thoughtfulness, considering multiple styles and aspects when I myself am not entirely clear on what I want. Takahata-san will quickly sketch out a dozen styles and give us a starting point to discuss.

(Early concept art designs by Shoko Takahata)

It also usually results in us talking about things I knew intrinsically, but had never actually verbalized or discussed out-loud. We would discuss things we liked from a character sheet, and she would have another dozen or so characters ready to go in a very short time. This worked in a kind of iterative process that gave solid footing to the things I “knew”. There’s a major difference between a very fashionable JoJo character whose dress and presentation give you an immediate sense of the character, vs the subtly of a George R.R. Martin novel where the characters are a bit gray, and have a secret that is betrayed by a single piece of clothing or accessory if you happened to know in advance before the big reveal occurs.

(Early concept art designs by Shoko Takahata)

This kind of subtly in character design and ambiguity gives us a lot of freedom and flexibility. The character will have a subtly to them that will allow them to participate in a variety of scenarios freely. Its my hope you’ll find aspects to the character to identify with as you get to know them. Well back to it, next blog will be about Unreal Blueprints and Game design. Thank you for reading, see you next time.

~Chaos