Primary and Secondary Research
Primary Research- This is used to collect data instead of depending on other data from another research. So this this means you collect the data yourself. Examples include surveys, interviews, etc. It is important to use primary research because it is good to have new, unused data to help on what or how they will create their product.
Secondary Research- Secondary Research is the one that involves the use of information originally from Primary Research. Examples of this is include reports and studies that are from the government, businesses that sell do this as well.
Quantitative Research– This research includes numbers and figures (Percentages, Graphs and Tally charts).
Qualitative Research- Research that includes others opinions by doing questionnaires/Interviews.
Contextual Research- Research information that is good for the work you need.
Bias- An unfair personal opinion that influences your judgment.
Methods of contextual Research
- Research logs
- Blog Photographs
- Questionnaires and discussing the results
- Filming/voice recording focus groups
- Mood-board with a discussion
How does a research log help- So I can document my research strategy and keep track of where they found their sources.
comic books history
Each age has a different feel and tone to them.
Golden Age (1938 – 1956)
Silver Age (1956 – 1970)
Bronze Age (1970 – 1985)
Modern Age (1985 – Present Day)
The Golden Age of comic books is the one that kicked off by the publication of Action Comics #1 and the introduction of Superman and the start of the superhero in general. We also see the introduction of Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Captain America and many more iconic superhero’s. Instead of the hero’s fighting the fictional villains like The Joker, Thanos, Loki, etc, they was fighting real life villains like Adolf Hitler and this provided the world with a moral boost.
As the Golden age was ending the popularity for comic books was decreasing but rose back to popularity and the Silver Age of comics is when comic books really hit their stride and became mainstream sources of entertainment in America. This is where Fantastic Four #1 began as well as Spider-Man.
The bronze age continued to stride high in popularity but comics began to get darker and more graphic regarding real life issues such as drug use, swearing, poverty, etc. Batman was the main superhero with comics getting darker which made the character bigger and better.
The Modern age of comics is now which began in 1985. This age as a variety of trends in the comics such as the commercialisation of comic book publishers, more psychologically-complex characters and twisting plots. This also been the rise for anti hero’s such as Wolverine, Deadpool, Venom, Spawn, etc.
The comics code
The Comics Code Authority (CCA) was formed in 1954 by the Comics Magazine Association of America as an alternative to government regulation, to allow the comic publishers to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States.
The beano
The Beano is the longest running British children’s comic magazine, published by DC Thomson in Dundee, Scotland. The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. In September 2009, The Beano’s 3,500th issue was published.
The character’s
Dennis’ design is similar to the other characters with shape of his body like the knees and face features such as the eyes, nose and eye brows.
Research methodology for designing my beano character
The research methodology I will be using to create my Beano character will be a mix, the Primary research I will use will be sketching lots of different ideas myself, I will be asking people what they expect to see in a Beano character and I will be taking photos of the comics and writing about their features on my blog. The Secondary research I will use would be to use the work of others to assist me into to designing my own character from websites articles discussing the character design and using the rules of the Comic Book code to make sure your character is suitable. I will also do Quantitative Research by creating a graph or tally chart on the colours that I will use.
New vs old design
My favorite design for the Beano’s tv series has to be the classic because when I think of the characters like Dennis the Menace the main thing is the cartoon look that the old comic style always comes to mind. Also I think the classic style is more eye-catching from all of the bright colours.
This is Kevin, Kevin is a short, nerdy, kid with a high pitch voice, he is a bad guy in the Beano’s comic world because he does not like Dennis the menace.
This is BushMan, I went for a different design compare to other designs but the beano design is still there as this guy wheres a bush as a mask. He does not speak, he is lanky guy who also wheres a fancy suit. I think I would prefer to change his suit from blue to green and make have normal skin. He is also a good guy in the Beano comics.
This is meat ball he is a fat, bald, kind, middle-aged man who travels around the place by rolling his entire body as is legs are too small.
I did a voting poll on which character do they like the most, 13 people took the poll and the BushMan won on 7 points. This is quantitative research. Personally I liked Kevin the most but I feel like BushMan could be more fun to create. If I do create Bushman I would like to change the colour of his suit. I would also like to make him more relatable to other Beano’s characters.
This is my second design for BushMan and I much prefer this suit but his head does not look like a beanos character. For the final design i will make the bush and eyes bigger and add branches coming out of his mask but is suit will be the same. Also I will not make the neck visible.
Research Log
Final sketch design!
This is my final sketch design and I am very happy on how he looks and I really hope I can create him like this on Photoshop or Illistraiter. I mixed the first and second design to create this character as the first design had a good head design and the second design had a good suit so when i combined them both it looks like someone out the beano’s comics.
Final design
Evaluation
This is my final character design I had to create him on Illustrator which was new but seemed easy, the only problem I had was I had to draw him with a mouse because the note pad device did not work but the Beano’s characters are not the most detailed drawings so it made my character look fine anyways. I wished I made his legs a longer like in the sketch and maybe put more detail in his briefcase but overall still happy with my design. He fulfils the brief and does not violate the comic code. He has features like other Beano’s like the eyes and the stance. My favourite thing about the design is the colours on his suit, the mixture of the shades of green work perfect on is tie, pockets and shirt, I am glad made the decision to change the colour from blue to green.
My Character Sheet
I have made a character sheet on BushMan, I talked about his look and what he is like in the comics. I also talked about my research and how I designed him using the methods. I created a graph on when people was picking what character design they preferred. I used the colour green as it suits the BushMan.
Joey's Blog 