Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today about meaning and symbolism in art through drawing and painting.

We're going to do lots of thinking, talking and exploring together in this lesson.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to design a character that uses symbols and colours to show meaning for your own story.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are mood, character design, and sketch.

I'm gonna say those again and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Mood, character design, sketch.

Good job.

Now let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean by taking a look at their definitions.

A mood is the feeling or atmosphere an artwork creates.

Character design is the process of creating the look and personality of a character.

And sketch, this is making quick and simple drawings to show ideas or the things we see.

Pause the video here to make a note of these key words, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

Imagining symbolic characters and designing characters for a story.

In this first learning cycle we're going to explore imagining symbolic characters.

How might a character communicate mood and personality even without using words? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? How might a character communicate mood and personality? Well, symbolism means using images, objects or colours to represent ideas or feelings.

Artists often choose symbols carefully so their work tells a more meaningful story.

By using symbols, it helps viewers understand more about a character, scene or mood.

It's like a secret code or hidden message that can make an artwork more meaningful and interesting.

Character design is the process of creating the look and personality of a character.

Symbols can be used to represent ideas, feelings, moods, and personalities, and so they play a large role in creating effective character designs.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Using imagery in art to represent and express ideas is known as abstraction, impressionism, realism, or symbolism? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about which of these words finishes this sentence and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said symbolism, you're absolutely right.

Using imagery and art to represent and express ideas is known as symbolism.

In character design, symbolism helps show personality, powers, emotions, or backstory without needing to explain everything with words.

Let's look at an example of character design.

What can we notice about the character's colours, clothing, and objects, and how do these choices help tell us about the character? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Taking a look at this character here, what do you notice? Well, Izzy says their white coat makes me think of scientists.

Despite it raining, they are smiling under a yellow umbrella, so they must be in a good mood.

What did you think? Did you think anything similar? Did you think about scientists when you looked at the white coat? Well, artists choose symbols for their character designs that match their character's story.

A red cape might show bravery and heroism.

A staff or wand might mean magic and wisdom.

Sofia, Alex and Jacob are thinking of a simple story that could inspire their character design.

Sofia says, my story is about a normal girl who wakes up one day with super speed and strength and is amazing at sports.

Alex says, I'm going to take inspiration from a book that I love, which is about wizards and witches.

And Jacob, he says, I am choosing a classic villain and superhero story.

I need to think of a problem or disaster so they can save the day.

So based on their stories, Sofia says, my character will enjoy sports, so they could wear running clothes and have rackets, footballs, and a whistle.

And Alex says, my character is going to be a wizard.

So we'll have a magic staff, wizard hat and starry ropes.

And Jacob says, I'm going to design a superhero character who will wear a cape and a mask for a disguise.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Colours can be used to express a range of moods and emotions.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that's true, you're absolutely right.

But can you explain why that's true? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

Try to explain why this statement is true and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you discuss? Perhaps you said something similar to colour conveys mood and emotion.

Red might be used to show anger while blue might be used to express calm.

Well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to complete the table, considering a character, their personality and symbols which could connect to a story.

So here's the table here.

Fill this in with the story, character, personality, and the symbols.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at this and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So you might have said that the story is a girl who reads a book about witches and wizards and magically enters their world and becomes a wizard herself.

So the character is a wizard and the personality is magic, creative, calm and quiet, but powerful and strong.

And the symbols for this character might be a staff, a wizard hat and robes with stars and moons on and magic spell sparks at their fingertips.

So well done for having a go at imagining your character through a story, working out their personality and their symbols.

This brings us to the second part of our lesson.

We're going to be designing characters for a story.

Let's start developing our character designs.

Think about the story, personality and mood you want to tell and how your choices will show that meaning.

An example of a character here, and they are smiling and waving.

We've got these flowers and stars here surrounding, so it shows what this character's mood is like.

Artists often start designs with sketches, and sketches are quick and rough drawings that help us to plan and test ideas without worrying about mistakes.

Sketches are a place to think explorative and creatively.

Here's an example of a character design sketching process.

Use light pencil strokes as you will use an eraser to remove these lines later on.

You can start with a basic stick figure with simple proportions.

Take a look at this example here.

Then you use simple shapes like ovals and cylinders to make the form look more three dimensional.

Can you see how this body is coming together? Now, you might use a small wooden mannequin or ask a friend to strike a pose to help you sketch the right proportions and position for your character.

Then you can add those symbolic details, clothing, objects and colours to develop that character design.

Now, while you sketch, ask yourself, who is my character? What mood do I want to convey? And what colours or objects will help tell their story? Think about symbolism with each creative choice you make.

Can you see how this sketch is developed? We can still see that very simple stick figure underneath, and we have those cylinders and ovals that have been added, and then those more detailed objects like the staff and the hat and even the clothing.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Why is sketching important before a final design? To plan and test ideas? To use up time when designing? To make a perfect drawing straight away? To avoid using colour? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said to plan and test ideas, you're absolutely right.

That's why sketching is important before a final design.

You can find great character designs in artworks, illustrations and animations.

Studio Ghibli are a Japanese animation company that create magical characters which are rich in symbolism and personality.

Jim Kay is a British illustrator who designed the covers and characters for the Harry Potter book series.

To refine and develop your character design, erase initial guidelines or those unnecessary lines, add colour carefully to show meaning and mood, and then add details and finishing touches that help tell their story.

Can you see how with this sketch, we remove those guidelines and unnecessary lines with an eraser? How colours can have symbolic meaning that further express mood and emotion.

What symbolic connections can you make to particular colours? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? What symbolic connections do you have to particular colours? While some possible meanings might be that red shows anger or power, blue often feels calm or sad.

Green might mean growth, nature or envy.

But those colours can also mean specific things to you.

Colours that reflect your character's personality will enhance mood and add to your story.

Alex says, I'll choose blue to show she's calm and wise, not angry or chaotic.

I'm giving my wizard a staff to show magic and dark robes to seem mysterious.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What is one purpose of using symbols in your character design? To make it confusing? To show personality or meaning? To use as many colours as possible? To copy another design exactly? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? What's one purpose of using symbols in your character design? If you said to show personality or meaning, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

This now brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to sketch your own character design using symbolic elements to represent their personality, mood, or a chosen meaning.

So you should consider the personality of your character.

What are they going to be like? The pose of your character.

The clothing that your character might wear.

And any props or accessories that your character may have.

And how that clothing and those props and accessories help to represent their mood or personality.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at sketching your own character design and remember to start off with that simple sketch, then add those shapes like the cylinders and ovals, and then add the clothing and then use an eraser to take away some of those guidelines and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you get on? Shall we take a look at an example? So hopefully when you sketched out your design, you thought about the personality, mood or the chosen meaning.

Alex here says, for my character design, I created a wizard in blue robes that I covered in symbols, and she holds a staff with magic sparks around and has a calm quality reflected in the colours and mood.

You can see that here.

You can see the moons and the stars on her robe, and you can see that she has a calm mood around her.

So well done for having a go at designing a character for a story, thinking about their personality, mood, and thinking about what clothing and accessories they might have to represent that.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about drawing and creating a character for a story.

Character designs combine imagination with visual clues for the audience.

Characters can use symbols through colours, shapes, and objects to show personality, mood or meaning.

Artists can plan and sketch ideas before creating final designs and colour and shape choices help tell a story or express mood.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you then.