Character design and analysis

Character design and analysis 

The character I have chosen to focus on for this project is the painting of Dorian Gray. I want to focus on the portrait rather than Dorian Gray himself, because I will be able to design a monstrous figure of evil made from the soul of Dorian, and not the outside beauty. After reading the book by Oscar Wilde, I have taken notes of the descriptions of the portrait so I can easily create a creature that illustrates the ideas of Oscar Wilde, with my design process and original interpretation. 

Words taken from Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde:

• Hideous corruption of the soul  
• scarlet lips 
• cheeks become hollow and flaccid 
• yellow toned crows feet would creep around the fading eyes 
• hair would lose brightness 
• mouth would gape or droop 
• mouth of an old man 
• wrinkled throat 
• blue veined hands 
• twisted body 
• crinkled, dead eyes   

In the book Dorian Gray's painting is frequently described as; degrading, having an evil smile, rotten teeth, skin fading in colour and growing old, 'the vicious cruelty that marred the fine lines of the mouth' (page 101, chapter VIII, Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde) this quote describes the cruelty behind the smiling portrait, the evil inside the painting is started to shows through. Even the slightest of a smile appearing on the face, with a deeper evil meaning coming through shows just how evil the painting truly is; it likes the sinning that Dorian is doing. The descriptions of the painting of Dorian Gray gave me the impression of death, or near death, like a zombie. An almost dead being that is pure evil and looks old and wasted, as if the creature had been alive for years and is feeling the effects of an old degrading man. 'week by week, day by day, the creature was growing old' (page118, chapter VIII, Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde) this quote helped me to understand the effects that sinning did on the painting, it would grow old and diminish.   

During my design process, I have created a number of face charts, made from images and ideas that bring my concept to life. The face charts have involved different shades of colour to make the skin look uneven and dry, I have also used the painting as inspiration and have tried to create face charts that look similar to the strokes of paint. I have tried to use illustrations to describe my ideas for ageing the skin; I have learnt how to use latex around the eyes to create a tried and older look; I want to use this more heavily around the eyes and mouth in my design to bring out the ageing process described in the book. I want my character to look like the last image of the portrait of Dorian as I feel this is when the degrading was fully at its worse. To recreate this for TV, I will bring to life each description to get the full effect on the audience, I want this character to give off the same emotions the book gave to me, but even more so, I though the descriptions of the creature where gross and reminded me of a dying old man, I want to be able to portray this well using mild special effects and makeup.       

As the character of Dorian Gray was brought up in a wealthy family, he was spoiled and given and told whatever made him happy. This showed in his adult life, which made him susceptible and naive to the traits and influences of Harry, another well off nobleman who became his friend. Dorian was always cocky, especially as a younger man; when he was told over and over how handsome and lovely looking he was. He spent his time thinking of the future and what he would look like when his beauty diminished, this and his encouraging friends made him lock his soul in his painting. As he grew older and the painting started to take the effects, knowing he would look young and beautiful forever made him confident and he would play on peoples emotions. He would seduce women just because he could, and he even knew how his friend Basil felt about him, transfixed on his beauty. He became uncaring and selfish; indulging on his desires and not thinking of anyone else or the effects later in life. I want to include this I'm my design, by concentrating on the evil side of Dorian, the 'not so charming' side of him and ignoring the beautiful outside view that he loved so much. 

To really bring the character to life in TV, I will concentrate on all the descriptions of Dorian Gray's painting throughout the book, this will help me to understand what the author wanted the character to look like. I also think that reading the book makes the reader get a feel for the character and interpret the look in their own way, for this I would like to make Dorian as the painting and keep the character looking like the painting. This means using makeup brushes and paint brushes to create a surface on the skin using makeup that looks like paint, I want to keep the look quite messy, to ensure the strokes of makeup stay looking like strokes and aren't blended in too much. I will also use dark grey colours around the eyes and underneath the cheek bones to thin the face and make the model look old.