Initial Research 12

I've been looking at comics/animations to see which type of art style would best suit the type of work I'm planning to produce.

Dragon age comics fit most into the stylization of western comics such as the Marvel and DC universe. This is similar to the style used in the game as it carries a sense of realism. The cover art is more similar to the in game styling as there is a softer feel to it and there are no harsh outlines. This style fits better with action and adventure comics as it is most often associated with super heroes and such.

Although there are panels which show movement, most of the panels look quite posed in this style ,in my opinion, which can harm the flow of the story.  

 

Studio Ghibli uses an Eastern manga and anime style in their animations, which differs quite a lot from the western style. It is a lot softer, and adds more of a fantasy feel to the work as it isn't so realistic. It can be quite simple, but is also extremely detailed in manga, some of the detail is lost in the animated versions as it needs to be animated, but there is still a very high level of detail, particularly in the backgrounds of Studio Ghibli Films, which differs from the western style( and they're all so well written and the art style is so beautiful omg)

Another Art style I reeeeeeeally like is Steven Universe as it fits the story line perfectly and is so cute and pretty and ahh

 

 

 

Initial Research 11

Kids cartoons lately have been pretty good for LGBT inclusivity, especially cartoons such as Steven Universe- which has a whole host of main characters that are, or can be seen as LGBT. One of the shows main relationships is Ruby and Sapphire, who fuse to make Garnet. Peal is also shown to have very deep feelings for Rose Quartz. Stevonnie is shown as being attractive to both genders and there are quite a few characters that Rebecca Sugar has said don't identify with either gender and present in a certain way. Clarence is another good one, as it has a Lesbian couple raising one of the main characters. These positive examples of the LGBT+ community help battle the stigmas the world creates about the community and the people involved. This has caused some backlash, with a petition being started to stop the showing of Ruby and Sapphires relationship as they don't deem it appropriate for a young audience. Gravity Falls has had its sponsors censor LGBT elements out, such as the transgender symbol and a lesbian couple, changing it for just the symbol for male and female and turning it into a heterosexual couple. Adventure Time has a suggestive relationship between Marceline and Princess Bubblegum, and there are at least 2 bisexual main characters in Avatar: Legend of Korra.


Adult Cartoons have a far more negative reflection on the community. Both Family Guy and South Park include LGBT characters- particularly transgender characters as jokes and comic devices, and the majority of the jokes made against them are incredibly offensive and hurtful, playing off the negative stereotypes that a lot of adult viewers have experienced and seen before. This is also seen to some extent in the Simpsons, who show a lot of gay characters as conforming to the feminine stereotype. These misrepresentations prove damaging to the LGBT+ community, as it furthers the views that it's all a joke and something to be laughed at and hurt people. This contributes to violence and hate crimes as it plays to the demographics views of reinforcing negative stereotypes which in turn leads people to believe their actions against LGBT+ people are fully justified.


I need to look more into ways of presenting characters and coming up with my own designs and how I'm going to stylise it.





Ruby and Sapphire in Steven Universe

The top image shows the initial design for cupid's necklace, in the episode, this was edited to only show the symbols for binary male and female, rather than including the trans symbol as well as the others.

Inital Research 10

I've been looking into media portrayals and stereotypes of  LGBTQ+ issues and people and the negative/ positive effects this can have on the viewers. I've also been looking into hate crime types and statistics and how media and news outlets portray these. From this I'm going to look into how having actors play characters that are LGBT when they're not can be damaging and how this can aid in the perpetuating of negative stereotypes towards LGBT. I'm also going to start generating character and world design ideas and images so that there is more to work with in terms of an outcome.
Link to the Stonewall website  Article on LGBT portrayal in the media

Initial Research 9

I have decided that the best theme would probably be more dystopian, or a seeming utopia that actually isn't, depending on who you are. This would provide more basis for a conflict of ideas and people. I have also looked into how to approach characters whose whole story doesn't revolve around their sexuality or gender orientation, as a lot of media bases that as the entire story of the character.although it is definitely a big part of the individuals character development, it doesn't have to be the only aspect of the character that's portrayed. For example, Dorian's (DAI) side quests show that his family disapprove of the fact that he's gay, and were planning to use blood magic in order to make him more "acceptable" so he left. This story line provides an added layer of depth to his character and let's the player discover more about the character and the views of his family and those around him, adding more depth in turn to the world and further immersing the player. This also occurs in Krem's story where it is discovered that he is a trans man. Another game which tackles these issues well is persona 4. These characters are first introduced through different parts of their character-mainly how they fight and whose side they're on, and more is discovered as the characters get closer to them.