Character Development, Line Quality, Digital Color

Students,

Replicating motion is only one aspect of animation, especially modern animation for television and cinema. Character development is an important part of establishing character identity. Matt Groening says a good character can be defined alone by their silhouette. Another aspect of the animation process is creating finished digital art and digital coloring work. A vectorized drawing is preferred for modern animation and having fast pen skills and paying attention to line quality is important. Color palettes are always pre-defined for characters to maintain production consistency. This project has 2 parts, but in the next project you will animate the character. This portion of the project is due on thursday.

You will be animating the character you design in our next project, so keep in mind the range of motion that needs to be incorporated. The way a character moves is referred to as it's "cartoon skin". Some animators use a stretchy and squishy skin, others use more exaggerated movements, while some are more realistic, how will your character move? Keep that in mind when developing your characters physiology.

Part 1: Design a Character Sheet

• Design an original cartoon character intended for animation
• Pencil sketch a few quick ideas to brainstorm
• Create a character sheet, it should show the front, right or left angles and a 3/4 view
• Create 3 additional drawings that shows the character in different poses. It should strive for consistency in all poses
• Use your mechanical pencils to sketch, then move to pen to refine

Screwy Squirrel by Tex Avery, a classic master of cartoon animation

Part 2: Line Quality And Digital Color

• Chose one of your character design poses trace the lines with the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator
• Pay attention to continuity and smoothness of your lines
• Use a brush tool to enhance the quality of your lines, your lines should have a sharp and smooth tapered finish.
• On a separate layer create your color fill, use a color palette that is complementary

"Cowbozo" by Seth Wilson