Character design — Chirp

the first piece of concept art

Chirp

This is Chirp. She is a little girl around the age of five, she is also a bug. Chirp
is outgoing, curious, and spontaneous. She loves to go on adventures and
explore. With this character, I wanted to channel my own experience of
being a little kid in nature. The feeling that the world is your oyster.

Designing the character

Initial inspiration

On my way home after a long day of wrecking my brain, a girl passed me by on her bike. She wearing a bright yellow coat and a fire truck red backpack. I was very intrigued and at that moment I knew what I wanted my character to wear.

A sketch that a class mate drew that led to the final design
The first drawing where the character became a bug

In the following sketches you can see the transformation of the girl in the yellow coat from a bird character into the final design

The character sheet of Chirp

The research

“When I knew that my character was a bug, the story and characteristics clicked in to place.”

The mood

These are the initial mood boards I made for the character. I wanted to convey the feeling of being in nature as a kid traversing the landscape, looking for adventure making your own play as you go, and seeing the wonderful things our world has to offer big or small.

I went on a little field trip to the forest to look for spots she could live and to see what the forest looks like in the perspective of a bug.

These are some drawings I made to get a sense of scale and to see what her living environment could look like.