Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1500204
WITHIN THE LINES MONSTER HIGH CHARACTER DESIGNER: BERTRAND TODESCO Designing a character is never a solitary venture, but the extent of collaboration can vary widely. For the new reboot of Monster High, Lead Character Designer Bertrand Todesco had to work not only with the style of his own team at Nickelodeon, but also with Mattel—the creator of the Monster High IP, which includes dolls, an original TV show, live events, and a live-action movie. Having so many parameters could feel binding to some. Not so for Todesco who says, "I'm a solution-driven person." Born and raised in France, Todesco began his animation career there. By 2017 he was in Paris freelancing on the series Glitch Techs, where he worked with Art Director Scott Kikuta. A year later Todesco moved to the U.S. for work, and when Kikuta landed on Monster High, he hired Todesco to handle the multiple character design needs. Todesco was excited. He had been a fan of Monster High from its start. The series is about the teenage children of monsters and the high school they attend, and Todesco finds Abbey Bominable the most interesting because she doesn't descend from a typical monster like Frankenstein or Dracula. She's a yeti, and with his love of mythology, he was eager to transform this creature into an appealing teenager. He was also happy to have the freedom to move Abbey's silhouette away from earlier iterations. The new Monster High characters have all kinds of body shapes. "It was super important for us to have everybody be able to recognize themselves. To relate to characters," Todesco says. Because she is a yeti, Abbey is tall. She's also sporty and shy. "This is the kind of information we were given," Todesco says. "It included patterns, color palettes, a mood board with inspirations." He also received the new doll prototype, and because Mattel was working on the dolls at the same time he was working on the TV show concepts, there was plenty of back and forth with the designs. "It's interesting because they give us some ideas, and with those ideas I make something different, [because] it's for a different medium … a different purpose," he says. One of the first challenges Todesco faced was fur. In the beginning he wanted Abbey to have short fur like a yeti, but it was difficult to transfer that into CG in a way that stuck to the budget and scheduling restraints of a TV show. As well, the result moved too far away from Mattel's concept, and he wasn't able to make it look convincing with the technology available. This didn't trouble Todesco, though. He calls it reality and says, "That's what's supercool. You have to find solutions. I always make different proposals, and if some proposal is not the best, we can repivot to some other idea. You have many ways to draw one character—to adapt one character." His pivot in this case was to give Abbey an iridescence and incorporate snowflakes into her clothing to reflect the snowy climate she comes from. And he was still able to work in some fur by using it on her cuffs and shoes. "You have to find the best way that works for the show's [CG] technique," Todesco says, to avoid technical problems. "It was super important for us to have everybody be able to recognize themselves. To relate to characters." – bertrand todesco F E AT U R E 26 KEYFRAME