Mastering Character Design

Welcome to the first module of Mastering Character Design. In the following videos and posts, we will discuss what makes good character design. We will also examine specific technical concepts like perspective, lighting, and drawing exercises.

The goal of the first module is to introduce you to these ideas and get your pencil moving through a series of drawing assignments.

So grab your sketchbook and pencils and let’s get started!

In this module, we will move past simple drawing exercises and dive right into a discussion of figure drawing.

We will start simple, by deconstructing the human form into its simple shapes and give you a series of drawing assignments designed to help you understand how figure drawing works.

In this module, we will continue our focus on figure drawing. This is a big subject and we wanted to take a few modules to tackle it.

We will also challenge you to push your drawing into gestures. This process should be fun and challenging.

In this module, we will focus on character types and shape language.

We will also examine workflows for developing your character concepts by sculpting silhouettes and basic shapes. If you can begin to master these processes you will be well on your way to designing original and appealing characters.

In this module, we will focus on character bio’s and shape exploration.

We will also examine a series of concepts that are essential to consider before moving forward in finalizing your shapes for a design. Considering the role of straights and curves, shape weight, and pushing forms.

In this module, we will focus on refining our designs, based on character types.

We will also examine concepts of doing your line work. We want to establish the forms and details of our characters.

In this module, we will focus on color and turn-arounds.

We will also examine basic shading on our character while we work through the color and poses of our character.

In this module, we will focus on expression boards.

This process goes to the heart of your character’s personality and shows them with different facial poses. This helps to build a character that can display a full range of emotions.

In this module, we will focus on a personality pose and background.

This process allows for a final shot of your character to be enhanced by adding a simple environment.

This bonus module will focus on caricature with the participation of Disney Animation Studio artists.