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Learn the process for turning a written character brief into a fully realized design that’s clear, functional, and ready to hand off to a modeling team.
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assignments 87 submissions
Here’s my variations on the Entity! I wanted to pull at different story tidbits for each one. I tried to focus on locks and circular shapes for A. For B I wanted to try and pay homage to the kings that sealed the entity in the armor and make it really angular. For C I tried to make him into this cosmic demon-thing and make his armor look like it was warping and breaking off.
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ASSIGNMENTS![]()
![Will Jarrels]()
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![Riku H]()
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![Emma Jimenez]()
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![Emma Jimenez]()
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![@flavio_illus]()
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![Emma Jimenez]()
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![Alex]()
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![Ash]()
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![@portnumb92]()
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![Kayode Smyth]()
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![Rain Skoog]()
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![Sean Ramsey]()
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![@branch]()
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![gungo]()
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![Danylo Vashchenko]()
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![@jakemannon64]()
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![@brojang]()
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![Ash]()
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![@zorbius15]()
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![Ben Panetta]()
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![Maxime Scheder]()
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![Ash]()
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![Sofia Viães]()
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![Ash]()
Your Assignment
Now that you've done your thumbnails, it's time to take them to the next stage of development.
- Choose your favorite thumbnails from the set you created.
- Develop at least three of these favorites into more detailed sketches.
- Add new details to evolve the character. Consider making changes to their hair, outfit, or adding objects they might be wearing or carrying.
Keep it Creative
As you work on these sketches, remember to keep your process flexible.
Try to keep your drawings loose, almost as loose as your initial thumbnails. This is still a great phase to be super creative. Don't be afraid to change and refine your ideas as you go. You are not stuck with your first concept, so don't feel locked down on any single design.
I ended up mashing a few different of my thumbnail ideas for my first one and the rest I kinda just tried to get really different ideas down. I like them all although I think I could have explored a bit more on the second one!
The Entity. Developing further a mashup of ideas from the first 7 thumbnails. Started to get carried away with the C version. I think my art director (me) is going to go with that anyways :)
i switches d's head to f because i was told that looked better than the original head.
I don’t think this topic has been addressed yet, but what do you do when several ideas all seem really cool and you don’t know which one to choose?
In a professional setting, you’re usually not the one personally making the final decision. But in this case, how do you approach it without just staring at the screen for tens of minutes trying to decide?
I developed two of the initial designs further, and from those I explored three additional ideas. How do you choose now?
FOr me what i do is send the variations to people you know, esspecially people who play video games and ask them which one works the best with the character description. getting a lot of peoples choices always helps me realize which ones work and which ones i like more than others.
out of these ones i really like the middle on in the second picture, with the big thing she is carrying and the lantern, before you move on to the next stage though just make sure you make the object shes carying a bit lighter so her head doesn't blend into it
Again developing InkpotSam - I latched onto the idea of ink drips and started making capes and other areas have these dripping loose shapes. Part of me likes the gruff feeling of 1 still but after working on 3 - I think i'll push more in this direction since It has a strong silhouette.
(although i'd like to lean away from the magician look and more towards a craftman again)
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1mo
These are awesome! I like 1 or 3 to progress further. 2 is giving Over the Garden Wall vibes. Wirt grown up? haha
Hi everyone! Here’s my progress for ( Mikkles )Assignment 2. I’m currently torn between the Mage (#2) and the Rogue (#3), though I’m also tempted to explore a Warrior variant before committing to a final design. Which direction do you think has the most potential? Once I’ve settled on the character, I’ll follow up with some gesture and movement studies. I’d appreciate any feedback you have!
I might have gone a bit too detailed, but honestly I really enjoy exploring characters this way. Nothing really feels bolted down and I'm enjoying trying different iterations a LOT more than I thought I would haha.
Kept going with my fav kinda saumrai-esque warrior thumbnail. Felt like I maybe could have been more loose and pushe the variations further.
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2mo
Nice, I like the third variation a lot. The shape language works with the character's proportions the best of the three with that sleeve too.
Fell behind for no shortage of reasons but anyway, I initially went with another design but after feedback from Dave I switched it up. Wanted to keep the snake design but I kept struggled to make it look appealing so I think I'm going to change it to some sort of crow. I'm going to go with C and see what I can do to pop out the figure a bit more as the designs feel a bit flat to me.
continuing to catch up - here's a few variations on one of my maren thumbnails. tried to vary the designs whilst still keeping that overall triangular shape made by the tube. made use of a visual library, but still feel the designs lack some life
"Hello everyone! Unfortunately, I learned about this wonderful course quite late, but I decided to take the opportunity to create my own character. This character originated from a technical assignment I received at work. The task was not included in the final project, and I was granted permission to use it independently for my personal portfolio.
About the character:
This is Haa’Ss’Naa’Ket, a race of ancient druids. They are not particularly friendly and possess the gift of longevity. Their magic is deeply rooted in nature itself—tree roots, plants, branches, and other natural elements."
Continuing work on the character
I'm a bit late but finally got around to refining & exploring a couple variations for Maren.
some Feedback is more than welcome! :)
As the boss choose this character. i've redo the assigment to match with the following.
Shapes and gesture all the way !
i take all feedback of course !
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3mo
Nice work, brojang! These are strong silhouettes :)
Late to the party, what should I do? I watched the videos, should I make my characters and pick one myself or post here and let the community pick and go forward? Either way I am drawing! :P
Inkpot Sam. These were fun to do, just wish I had worked more on the pose more before detailing. I was going for hunched over but he looks like he's leaning. Also wanted to make him taller to match the description. I'm going to keep doing variations, try to learn from my mistakes and push the designs more.
After the thumbnailing critique I tried to redo the assignment with the character that Dave suggested to explore further !
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4mo
Beautiful! I especially like the sphinx cat in the last one
Went with thumbnail G and tried to change things up a bit more. Happy with the result but in the end felt like I could have explored some things a bit better...but it was a super fun assignment though!!!
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4mo
Very nice! That one was so strong. I am still a fan of A with the quill feather being massive and flowy.
