Week 4: Synthesis: What It Is and How to Use It-Click Here to return to Term 6 Character Design and Development

Substitution

Modification

Project 1: Mythological Character

Mephistopheles

 Mephistopheles is a name and a character that has come down through the ages. According to some religious beliefs he is a demon in servitude to Satan. The silent file Faust (and remakes or parodies of it) stars the demon and his trickery. My character remake focuses on many of these aspects as well as the 1983 issue of Dragon Magazine which featured Mephistopheles and the Hells as defined by Dungeons and Dragons role playing game. I customized this character to fit in a story for a possible game I have started as a side project.

 Mephistopheles is a 15’ tall arch-devil or Duke of Hell. With massive leathery wings, a pointed tail and his signature pitch fork, he is a formidable opponent. He is the blackest of black in skin tone. With no mouth, ears or eyes, his sight and sound is handled via his skin absorbing sound and light waves. He senses any vibration, including the vibrations of the universe and everything in it at a distance or 666 miles. Of the 9 planes of hell’s existence, Mephisto is the ruler of the 8^th plane. He is second only to Asmodeus who is the ruler of the 9^th plane of the 9 hells making him supreme ruler over all the Hells.

Mephisto exists in two main forms. One is the endlessly morphing form he can take of anything in existence while he is traveling outside of the Hells and the other is his natural form which he can only use while in the hells. Mephisto is most powerful and most vulnerable while in the Hells. He is invincible when traveling outside of his home plane; meaning, he cannot be killed. He can be defeated outside of his home which simply results in him being sent back. Mephisto can be killed only while he occupies his home castle. He can only be brought back by Asmodeus if Asmodeus so wills it. He wields his signature pitch fork; forged in the shape of an “M”, to rip the souls of his victims from their fleshy shells and send them straight to Hell

Mephisto goes by many names and can be seen in many forms; he is a shape changer. He is the Lord of No Mercy and the deceiver of all. His specialty is to trick people in to contracts that win over their souls. The term; “Be careful what you wish for...”, originated because of Mephisto’s cunning. His full capabilities are unknown; his most common abilities are as follows; ability to fly, shape change at will, beguile the week of mind, teleportation, telepathy and telekinesis.  Mephisto has single single goal; to over throw Asmodeus and take control of the 9 Hells himself. This means building a massive army and for this he needs human souls. His greatest weakness is that he cannot claim a soul outside of a contract written in the victim’s blood. This has lead to his perfecting the art of deception. Being the Lord of No Mercy, he has no ethics of which to hinder his creativity.

Mephisto will typically appear human to humans directly. He can take the form of any organic material or creature when spying on earth. He remains in his natural form when on the 9^th plane of hell otherwise known as Caina. Caina is an icy wasteland, formed from the very coldness within Mephisto’s heart, the ice is as black as Mephisto himself. The entire plane of Caina is solid ice with the exception of Mephisto’s castle and the many feet of snow that covers the rocky mountains and open plains. Mephisto’s castle is constructed of Obsidian, the blackest of black stone, magically hardened to withstand the icy coating that encases it and to support the weight of a castle.

Project Reflection

 I wasn’t sure what to expect from this project. I found I had to treat is separate from my weekly assignments. Our weekly assignments feel like a ton of drawing to get done. I struggle with the amount of time needed to produce quality results because I don’t have much time to play with. Looking at the details of this project made me very unsure of myself.

 I read the entire project description, timelines and deliverables to get a general idea of how this was going to work. I came up with the ingenious that I would not look at it all, and I would simply take it one day at a time and one week at a time. Each Monday I would review what my regular assignment was and then take a look at the project due dates to schedule when I would be able to work on each. 

 For my report, I wanted to take a bird’s eye view at the process. I could have done this without research but I wanted to see it from the industry stand point, so I had to do the research. Basically, after taking in what I read from our textbook and several dozen websites, I had a pretty good idea of what I needed to communicate about the important stages involved with character design and development. I had to go over everything several times. The hardest part was keeping it 2-4 pages. Planning is the most important and time consuming part of the entire process. It incorporates everything we’ve covered in this class up to now and more. So I gave that topic the most page space.

 Many of the individual assignments supported the project nicely and really gave me the opportunity to put a lot of thought in to the project while completing regular assignments. I began to create a flow from one to the other. I started feeling comfortable with it around the middle of week 3. Choosing a mythological character from my childhood; to incorporate in to a game idea I’ve had for a while, really excited me. My mind was racing with design ideas based on my weekly lessons.

 I had to struggle with not using my weekly assignments drawing choices to be influenced by project one. I really wanted to try and keep them separate. Throughout my courses, I’ve kept a common theme about a hypothetical game for many of my assignments. My weekly tasks were based on the same thing so typically I found a lot of supporting materials for my projects simply by practicing during my regular coursework. I didn’t want to do that this term because the prospect of character design is so adventurous; I felt it necessary to take that journey separately from my project.

 I’m happy with the way it came out. I am excited about all the new terms and techniques I’ve learned. It really is making for some interesting sketches. This project really helped me understand some of the deeper aspects in character design. Even the most subtle changes can dramatically change a character. I’ve picked up some great ideas to add to my toolbox. Now it’s time to review project 2 to see what’s up ahead. It would be nice if it let us take project 1 a step further.

[Previous Week 3]                                                                                                                                            [Next Week 5]