This week I worked on initial design sketches (image below) for Bigfoot in order to generate feedback on which style audiences were most receptive towards. I drew Bigfoot in a cartoon, realistic, and scary style and asked feedback questions like “Which do you like best and why?”, “What features do you like or dislike?”, “Which style do you think would transfer best to 3D modeling?”, and “Do you have ideas for styles not represented here?”. I had hoped that by asking these questions I could come to a consensus on how I wanted my cryptids to be presented, an issue I have been debating with myself the last few weeks. Overall feedback was positive and I learned a lot about my own project by seeing it through someone else’s perspective.
I kept a running tally of audience votes for favorite style and the end results were one vote for scary, three votes for realistic, and four votes for cartoon. Most people were torn between cartoon and realistic, and often asked what kind of audience I was hoping to attract to my game. If I wanted children to play it, it would be best to avoid scary styles. If I wanted a serious representation of cryptids, I should avoid cartoony. Most of the student feedback was leaning towards using the realistic style. However, Ault’s insight that most portfolios of 3D models include ones that looks like the scary and realistic styles made me rethink which would be best for the long term, and I decided to use the cartoon style for the museum instead to set my work apart from others. Feedback also taught me that the way I represent Bigfoot will also affect how I create his gallery room – if I went with the scary version, I would need a room with stylistic choices, objects, and lighting that reflected that.
