This is woody woodpecker which of course is a woodpecker that causes all sorts of trouble and causing all sorts of mischief towards other characters. As you can see in the picture above the shapes used for his character are a combination of rectangles (body, neck, arms, legs.) and squares( hands and feet). But of course the most recognizable shape in this character is the triangular beak, as to show to the viewers that his is a type of bird because the feathers are not seen. As children may not know that he is a woodpecker as they may not understand what a woodpecker is, so the designers thought about using a large clear beak shape for the children to instantly notice that he is a type of bird.
Signifiers as I have mentioned before the large yellow beak is a bright standing out part of this character, allowing the viewers to see it instantly, recognising what type of animal he is, a woodpecker. Other signifiers are that the two blue tail feathers that may not be recognised as quickly but if parents watched it they would easily see the tail feathers that most woodpeckers have. Another more common signifier in these types of characters are the feet as like woody woodpecker he has two toes because most birds only have 3 or 2 toes so the designers must have thought about what the majority of birds have to get those key features that kids will see and understand the character.
Colours within woodpecker are mainly a combination of primary colours such as; red, blue and yellow, also including white with a hint of green in the eyes and pink. Using these primary colours, allows the kids to be able to understand as these are the most basic colours within the colour palette which gives this design both appealing and simple design. As these are simple colours when you look at the eyes and tongue because they are different colours they stand out from the rest of the character because they are different to the main basic colours.
Appeal, this character appeals to the viewers as because he has a simple design, with quite thick black lines that make him stand off the screen, which allows the audience to see him clearly on a plain background, or detailed background.
Use of lines and effectiveness, there bold black lines gives him that cartoon character effect that lets you know that he might end up being a comedy character. His character design has been thought about carefully not to look scary or unpleasant towards the audience so it is a suitable character for a age range of 5-10 because the comedy in the show isn’t easily understood by kids younger than 5 years old.
Comparing woody woodpecker to another character I would say mickey mouse as if you look at the image above, I can see a few similarities between the design of these two characters, such as; they both have the same glove design on their hands which the majority of cartoon characters have like, Tom, bugs bunny, etc. Also both of them have yellow coloured feet, as woody woodpecker has yellow bird feet and mickey has yellow shoes, this suggests the designers may have taken similar design of woody woodpecker from mickey mouse as a reference image in the design. Furthermore both of these characters have a similar personality in they way they act through the comedy sketches.
However there are differences as well because obviously one is a wood woodpecker and one is a mouse, but they also have their own significant colours which gives them that instant notice by the kids, telling the different between them. Furthermore how both these characters are is different because woody woodpecker has a sound that he makes that as soon as you hear it you instantly know its him, whereas mickey doesn’t have that sound but is design with the red shorts with golden buttons is something kids will see and know instantly.
I like woody woodpecker’s comedy cartoon like character which may inspire me to make my own character similar to his comedy style actions, which would make it both appealing to children watching but also the adults watching. So using woody woodpecker as inspiration I could think of ways to make my own animation humerus but not violent.
I have also created a drawing of these characters to compare how there colour schemes and general design using shapes and small details make the characters so recognizable.
Dsanders Animation 