Character Design
Read the following and answer the questions below
- Why is traditional art important in the digital medium of animation?
- Who is responsible for the overall look of a character in an animation studio such as Pixar?
- What information or criteria do artists use to create a character design?
- what are the successful tips to creating a character? which one in your opinion is the most important and why?
Video Resources for Character and Animation Design
Creating Characters
Computers don’t make movies. People do: the artists, editors, animators, and technical directors. People are the life behind everything that gets created at Pixar. While animated films are technically complex to make, they each begin with the simplicity of putting pencil to paper.
Many people don’t realize that Pixar has almost as many artists working in traditional media-hand drawing, painting, pastels, sculpture-as they do in digital media. Most of their work takes place during the development of a project, when they are working out the story and the look of the film. The wealth of beautiful art created for each movie is rarely seen outside the studio, and the finished film sent around the world wouldnever be possible without it.. (https://pixarartcollection.com/pages/about-us) Character Artists
A character designer(or character artist) creates the entire concept, style, and artwork of a character from scratch. This often includes a deep look into the character’s personality to develop a visual idea of the character’s physical features. Creating an entire character from scratch(human or otherwise) takes a lot of creative energy. That’s why the process of character design is very complex and is often one of the most sought-after careers for aspiring entertainment artists. The character design process starts with a briefing of the character personality traits. The character could be a mutant turtle with ninja-like abilities, or just some person who lives a simple workaday lifestyle. Just basic background information From this artist start to create physical traits for the suggested "personality "traits. the character designer uses thumbnailing sketching to flush out their ideas. Once the artist chooses one(or a couple) thumbnail styles they’ll often paint more details and bring those thumbnails to life. This can include trying different clothes, different hair styles, facial styles, and maybe different weapons or props if applicable. Then a final design is chosen and once the character is signed off the artist will create many different views of the character as reference materials. In animation this often turns into a model sheet for other artists to reference in their drawings. Example of Character Bio/ TRAITS AND THE VISUAL SKETCHES OF THE character design process.Boo
Boo has a vocabulary of about three words, but that doesn't stop this curious human girl from stealing Sulley's heart and overcoming her fear of Randall. |
A few Tips from PIXAR on DESIGNING A SUCCESSFUL CHARACTER https://www.fastcompany.com/90465614/facial-recognition-is-easy-to-fool-this-tech-aims-to-fix-that When a Pixar artist is designing a character there are a number of areas they explore to ensure a successful character design. Research, Reference and evaluate It can be helpful to Study life references to evaluate and look over key characteristics. When Disney animators where creating the characters for the lion king, they brought in Live lions and the character designs sketched them and sure those sketches are the primary point of departure for Simba. https://ohmy.disney.com/movies/2015/04/14/8-amazing-behind-the-scenes-photos-from-the-production-of-the-lion-king/#Andreas-Deja-Brings-Scar-to-Life It is also helpful to look at the characters and think about what makes some successful and what in particular you like about them. Simple but Exaggerated characteristics Exaggerating the defining features of your character will help it appear larger than life. Exaggerated features will also help viewers identify the character's key qualities. But exaggerated features should not suffice readability or simplicity. Color Colors can help communicate a character's personality. Typically, dark colors such as black, purples and grays depict baddies with malevolent intentions. Light colors such as white, blues, pinks and yellows express innocence, good and purity. Expression Expressions showing a character's range of emotions and depicting its ups and downs will further flesh out your character. Depending on its personality, a figure's emotions might be muted and wry or explosive and wildly exaggerated. |
Step One:
using the questions bellow create a story/ personality traits for your Arlington Character.
Questions
Questions
- where in Arlington does your character call home
- Does your character have any special ability?
- what does your character like to do?
- do they have a profession if so what?
- Are there any notable physical characteristics they have?
Step Two
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Create a collage/ sketch that addresses the character/ personalities you identified.
bring the collage to illustrator and begin adding lines tom create the line drawing that describes the character in illustrator. This is your design phase, so this is the time to change or exaggerate any features you want In my tutorial at the bottom of the page i show you how to do the line drawing but the following website is a good secondary source http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2012/11/photoshop-cartoon-tutorials.html |
Step three
Step Four
AssignmentUsing a collage photo or drawing for based on the personality traits you outlined create a visually appealing Arlington Mascot/ character. The character will be composted of different hierarchies of lines (an art element) and basic shading. Students are encouraged to exaggerate/ design any features (for example of they want larger anime eyes, they can incorporate it) this character must be an original design!
Project requirements
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TutorialExtra Credit Character tutorial.for you Speedy mcGees outthere
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Rubric |
Extra credit worth 5 points and can be applied to any project.
stickersFirst take your character and in illustrator or photoshop create a border or badge of your choosing to Frame your character. Then using the template bellow place the "File " in each box therefor placing your sticker.
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Hand Colored characterPrint out your line drawing on drawing paper and then at home or on free time coloring in your character/ . ie release your inner kid!
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