The Visual Scout: A Character Worth Creating

Wesley Burt will join Visual Arts Passage as one of our Fall Guest Speakers! He will give a lecture to both Illustration and Entertainment & Gaming Arts. To get ready for our fall 2018 session, (which starts September 29!!!) let’s break down what defines a great character design.

SIMPLICITY

In it’s essence, character design is about quickly conveying the essence of a character. Summing up a personality, aesthetic, proportion, and movement of a character with detailing in all the right places seems like the antithesis of simple, but simplicity means keeping only what is needed. Becoming an editor of yourself is essential!

CONTRASTING ELEMENTS

Building off of simplicity, building a character with a balanced contrast between shapes, value, and proportion is key to defining how a character will interact in the world you are building.

Personality

The personality of a character is usually created before you start designing, but incorporating that important level of detail will give your character an element of knowledge that normally wouldn’t be there without incorporating facial expressions, or specific movement.

ACTION AND MOVEMENT

Giving a character purpose in your illustration is a great way of laying out what a character will look like interacting in space. Different poses showing the weight and movement of your character helps solidify the creative vision.

WHAT’S NEXT?

What are some of your favorite tricks to character design? Let us know! We can’t wait to hear how you work on your creative projects. Ready to gain more knowledge about working in the Entertainment & Gaming Arts field? Or Illustration? We are enrolling now for our fall courses, which start September 29. Wesley Burt will be a guest speaker to both sections, and we are so excited to hear and learn from his wealth of experience. See you there!