Minor Project: Character Influences

Here are three influence maps for the three bogeymen that I would like to focus on for this project:

Fig 1: Mr Plimsoll's Influence Map

For Mr. Plimsoll I first looked at examples of old men in 1930's cartoon, such as the titular character from the Betty Boop animated short "The Old Man of the Mountain" and Miser from "Little Dutch Mill". From there I looked at examples of both old men and long legs from other sources. As one of the key features of Mr. Plimsoll is his long legs and large feet I look at birds such as cranes and the shoebill stork. This was because they have the delicate long legs that look creepy as well as the ratio of body to leg is what I am trying to achieve with the character. As well as this I looked at snapping turtles as well for the way they extend there neck is similar to a person with a hunched back, which fits into the description I was given about Mr Plimsolls. In general what I was looking for as influence for this character was a lanky build,  which is why characters like Olive Oyl and Jack Skellington as examples, as well as old characters or extreme facial expressions that fit with who Mr Plimsolls is as a Bogeyman character.

Fig 2: O'Barney's Influence Map

O'Barney's influences are mainly revolving around large characters with big torsos and small legs. As the one thing I got from his story was the fact that he was violent and did a number of violent acts such as punch through a front door i felt that it was appropriate to assume that his arms would be big, like a gorilla. There are quite a lot of examples of large characters present in early cartoons including Pete from "Steam Boat Willie", Fearless Fred from the Betty Boop series of animations, Bluto from the Popeye series and others. I didn't so rely on other sources for O'Barney due to the this type of character being rather prevalent in this period of animation however I did have a look into later examples such as the genie boss, Dijimmi the Great, and the pirate boss, Captain Brineybeard from the 2017 game Cuphead, a game that is heavily influence by this style of animation. As well as that example I also looked at big animals such as bears and gorilla for influence on how to exaggerate O'Barney's features.  

Fig 3: Mr Polo's Influence Map

The Influences for Mr Polo mainly revolved around him looking round and soft like a baby despite being an adult. Looking at 1930s cartoons, I was trying to find characters that had a bald circular design, such as Grampy from Betty Boop, The Goon and Wimpy from The Popeye Series of animations, Porky Pig from Looney Tunes was also featured for his circular childish characteristic and also Dr Dekapan from Osomatsu-kun was included for his body shape. Also due to his affiliation with plants in his description I also looked at plants and mushrooms that have a dome like appearance. I looked into aquatic creatures like the blobfish and jellyfish for a similar reason. I also looked at Wooden and China Dolls because I want to give Mr Polo a sense of the uncanny and I feel like Dolls allow for that.