Character development for pilot series

These are standard "body turn" drawings for a concept character, named "Space", I am working on. These drawings will serve as a reference for additional drawings and will really prove useful during the animation production phase. The character below will be featured in our pilot episode concerning circular motion.

Synopsis/log line

A boy selected to attend a special school for students gifted in engineering and technology struggles with the sudden disappearance of his father.

Space’s Backstory

Space is a highly intelligent 15 year old boy who has been fascinated by machines, science and technology from an early age and is extremely talented in the mechanical arts. Over the years he became quite adept at understanding the way things worked and could troubleshoot problems with the greatest of ease. His father taught him basic concepts and principles involving how technological devices worked. He excelled in his math and science courses due to his mother and father’s mentoring. He goes to a non-traditional school, called an Academy, wherein the curriculum is centered on engineering and technology education.

Due to his proclivity for designing and building mechanical devices (e.g. control moment gyroscope), he was selected to participate in a long-term educational research program at his former school to attend the Academy in Satellite City. The mission of the Academy is to develop and produce super, i.e. accelerated, learners. The goal of super or accelerated learning is to produce high achieving students with the cognitive abilities and skills to enhance the competitiveness of American industry against a backdrop of an ever increasing global economy. By the time they graduate from high school, they are expected to attain a cognitive level that is equivalent to a 40-year old professional engineer. In other words, they will have the equivalency of knowledge and experience that an engineer with ten or more years of experience has.

Accelerated or Super Curriculum: Project-based learning

In order to achieve these goals the Academy employs the teaching strategies of project-based learning versus traditional lecture based formats of teaching. Project based learning is a delivery method that involves connecting what students learn in the classroom to real-world applications. Students are expected to take a more active role in the design of their curriculum and have to demonstrate their knowledge (versus memorizing information in order to pass an exam).

Pilot Episode Synopsis

Stay tuned.....