Mark out the story beats in your sketches. How does your character react to the butterfly flying by? What they do, is up to the story you would like to tell! In your animation, your character will interact with a butterfly (animation attached - or create your own if you like :-) ).

You can additionally create an expressions sheet, to explore the characters facial extremes and changes. Remember, every line that you incorporate into your design will have to be moved in 3D space.Ĭreate a character line-up with multiple views (front, back, side) to make clear, how the shapes and masses work together. When you feel comfortable, start approaching the character from an animation production standpoint: Build your character design based on simple shapes.Are they angry? Do they do something specific a lot? It can be anatomy references, facial expressions, colors, existing character drawings from other artists etc.Ĭollect your references and notes in one sheet. Anything you feel like it helps you design the character is good. If you want to jump right into animation, use the attached character sheet! She is skittish, kleptomanic, has an old soul and eats the most impossible things. The character I am working with is a little goblin girl.

If you don’t have an own character, or don’t want to come up with one, you can pick a character from a book you like, or your friends Dungeons and Dragons character, a movie or whatever you find interesting.ĭoesn’t matter, as long as you know what you are working with.

You can either tag along on the provided character and story guide lines along with me, or you can apply the steps to your own character and story idea!

board out a little story for a looped animation.

I am working in Photoshop throughout the lessons, but you can use any drawing software that you are comfortable working with.įor the class project, I would like you to In this class, you will learn how I approach character design with a sense of storytelling, that will be applicable for a little looped 2D animation.

Nott the brave vera