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Kenneth is a professional freelance character designer with 14+ years experience. Based in the UK, he has worked with companies like the BBC, Disney, Tandem Films
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Spanning 7 Chapters, in this course you’ll learn about character design, research, storytelling, refinement and loads more! But the coolest part of the course is that you’ll get to see how Kenneth Anderson approaches a real-life brief where he designs a 3D “undead pirate” for use in a children’s TV show.
Follow the unique design & creative process for working with clients when creating a character design. Kenneth helps you nail down the feeling of your client using a structure that they’ll appreciate – starting from sketches to final full colored characters.
Who is this course for?
Learn the fundamentals of character design Learn how to create a brief and character story Learn how to go from brief to research to thumbnail sketches Learn how to pitch a brief to a client Learn the complete design process from start to finish Learn how to nail down the final designs that your clients will love Learn how to be critical of your own sketches4+ hours of on-demand videos
7 exercises (PDF)
Every design starts with a brief, an idea or a visual problem to be solved in the context of a story. Kenneth walks you through a simple character brief, and shows you how to create a short character biography. He touches upon style, character, limitations, context, and deliverables your client expects. This will give you a solid structure when you develop your own unique character design process.
You’ll learn to ask yourself important questions like: what does my client want? Who is the character? What is the character? Is it for a book? A TV show? A game?
It is vital to consider the character’s backstory before starting your design. You’ll learn why the story is so important and how it adds to the personality of your character.
Personality, conflict, desire, flaws, interesting characteristics, subtext. Simply answering the question: How do we make the character come to life? Follow along with Kenneth as he answers these questions and more!
Firsthand research brings originality and adds authenticity to your story. When it comes to design, preparation goes a long way. It leads to inspiration and new ideas.
When we draw straight from our heads, using memory as a reference, we tend to draw on old habits – potentially missing out on new unusual ideas which we wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. Learn how to avoid those cliches.
Kenneth shows you how offline research (not just online), can be very useful.
Research might seem boring, and you might be tempted to start drawing straight away – but once you get into it – it can be really exciting and lead to inspiring and memorable characters!
In this episode you learn how Kenneth uses his research and puts it in a mood board or a reference sheet to tie it to the original brief and character story.
Finally we get to start drawing! This is the most exciting stage of the design process.
Watch how Kenneth sketches his ideas from scratch. He explores shapes, posture, proportions and different ideas from the research phase. This is big picture stuff, trying not to get bogged down in the details…just yet! That comes later.
You will see him make several sketches, which he will eventually hone down into a few characters at a later stage.
Building on the previous thumbnail sketches you learn how to combine selected sketches into one. Watch how he goes from the general to the specific.
He reminds you to think how the sketches relate to the brief themselves. And encourages you to take a critical approach as you look and comment on each sketch. This is where you have plenty of room for experimenting. And for having fun!
Now the job is to present your work to your client. Here, you get some directions on how to best do this. You’ll learn how to get into the mindset of pretending to be a client.
Once the rough sketches are complete, Kenneth will show you to add a bit more detail to your refined designs, whilst still staying on target with your brief.
It’s decision time! Kenneth shows you the process for choosing a general direction for the final design; how he took his favourite bits from sketches and incorporated these into the final character, focusing on subtle changes. But nothing too major, as your groundwork should already been done by now. This is where you’ll also learn about the coloring process.
You’ll watch and learn as Kenneth criticizes his own sketches, constantly looking for a more original design, and then refining those designs even further: tweaking, pushing shapes, and adding form. This is a relatively easy stage and you’ll find it super satisfying! You’ll learn how to explore your character and how to make an informed decision about which one to use in your final image.
Finally watch the 1h 30 min session of Kenneth choosing one of the thumbnails and developing the final sketch into a full color polished character – The 3D Undead Pirate. Here, you will learn how to nail down your colors, backstory and overall design. As a bonus, you’ll also find out which brushes Kenneth uses.
The goal is to paint up a “hero” pose which conveys personality and ties together all the design choices within the brief. A pose that sells the idea of who the character is, and making your client want to come back for more! Happy drawing!
Course rating
(Based on 27 reviews)
5 courses
Kenneth is a professional freelance character designer with 14+ years experience. Based in the UK, he has worked with companies like the BBC, Disney, Tandem films and Axis Animation. He also worked on Sylvain Chomet’s Oscar nominated film “The Illusionist” and the French feature Titeuf: Le film. His specialties are story-driven character-based illustration and design for a variety of mediums, in particular children’s television. In his spare time, he enjoys creating characters, illustrating magazines and making games.
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