Expression Research #1 - Face

Taking into account the research I have done so far with Wall-E, Geri, and the Giant Rabbit, there are some clear connections between how these characters are given emotion and expression on their faces. On the characters that have mouths, being Geri and the Rabbit, there is obviously an added level of expression as human beings have the ability to relate to this facial feature with ease - it is a biological function.

That being said, I have found it fascinating that characters without mouths, in this case Wall-e, can still show very clear emotions with some simple movements.

Here we can see Wall-E being sad/remorseful just by the rotation of his binocular eyes. The way the edge of the binoculars move emulates how eyebrows are normally drawn in cartoons. With Wall-E, I feel that the viewers of the character rely heavily on pareidolia.

Pareidolia is a misperception hard coded into all human beings, making them see faces - more specifically human faces - in objects where they are not present.

I am very fond of using this somewhat errored human subconscious within my character as it seems to be used quite a lot in children's animations.

Here are a few examples where pareidolia is used, partially or totally.

The Brave Little Toaster - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc5D6qxAGpo
American Express Advertisement - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m56F4EKN9hg
OOglies - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7JQiY_uqVk

When I come to designing my character, I will take all of this research into account and decided which way will be the best way to go in conjunction to other areas of the characters design.