Visual process: Character Design process for AliBaba

I followed the same approach for better character design Ali Baba's character, based on the studies of form I made earlier  for both Morgana and Ali Baba using the body pair method.

At this point I had a very rough and general feel for the design direction.

So from there I moved to silhouette studies for both characters in order to match better the already ready character concept of Morgana with the now to be designed character of AliBaba.

I moved to search visuals of Arabs in stock photos and games and costumes

What I found was falling to a great extent with with Shaheen's proposed models of negative stereotypes!

I found the Sheikh wealthy and sleazy... interresting enough the stock photos in what seamed to be an attempt to avoid the racial and ethnic stereotype resorted to present the sheikh as Caucasian !! which did not help at all with the negative cultural stereotyping.

Another model was the laurence of Arabia type... which was Assassin's creed "AlTair" brilliant solution to the negative stereotyping but did not do so well in terms of player experience as I got comments from Middled Eastern players along with one Middle Eastern hard core player had put it : "don't play AC, the Character is too American for me !!"

As for the menacing angry Arabs evoking the terrorists this is what I found

more also for costume are totally terrorist oriented and they portray and essential piece of garment that is native to Arabs essential for climate adaptation and equate it with terrorist gear... which is the head scarf.

As for the facial features, the main direction was to utilize as much advice and pointers in terms of characters appeal and relatability. but mostly without having to sacrifice the ethnic traits.

As in some character designs, notably "Al Tair" when the character looks like an almost Caucasian all American Hero !!

So looking into the Ethnic feature of Middle Eastern male youth the general conciseness is tying the visual with the concept of terrorism, and this picture illustrates my point beautifully.

 



So in the western world thosse who have the middle eastern features but are not market terrorist are the Italian and Spanish. so this is what i looked for to combine in my design. in order to hopefully create a character appealing for both Western and Eastern audiences.

And these are  my sketches for the negative and positive stereotypes for Arab men.
the far left is the first positive stereotype attempt.
in the center is the angry incompetent terrorist, notice the colors of his attire, evokes a sense of clownishness
at the right is the filthy rich sheikh
the 3 representations attire are historic in nature since the game is set in a historic back drop.   

The edited version of the positive stereotype attempt

 
Notice the size of the ax since the character is an avatar for a game, and the player needs to immediately identify the weapon and abilities of the playable characters