The Progression of a Character

Just touching up one of the previous video sketches I did and wanted to show you guys how I go about creating a character.

I start out rough to outline the shape and the weight of the character. I draw through everything to get the form right like you saw in the video sketch I did. When I am happy with where the lines sit I then I draw over it in Flash to tighten up the line art.

Next I apply the base colors for the entire character. I basically experiment for about 10 minutes or so before I find something I like. I went for something mid-range and pastel.

I then pick a light source to place in the environment to add a little more depth to the character by adding a 3 tone shading system that involves the base color, shadow and the highlight.

The sweetening aspect to this is finally adding the gradients to blend between the 3 tones. Ibis Fernandez has a great plugin for Flash called Toon Titan that I use extensively and I highly recommend it considering Flash’s poor color system. It really speeds up the pace when you’re working with gradients and complimentary colors. Click on the picture to see it in hi res.