Character Design: Narrative Illustration from Concept to Final  

Take your character designs to the next level by taking them off the white page, and building a deeper narrative for them through their environment, outfit, weapons, and overall design.

In this course I will go over my method of coming up with a narrative driven character concept; taking a slice of the story to help you present your characters in a fully detailed illustration.

• The planning and research phase. Collecting references, and starting concept sketches.
• Character study and combining references for later details.
• Sketching out the scene, and an overview of the photo texture I plan to use later on.
• Inking the scene, and doing the flat color.
• Building on top of the flat layers to create a quick color test, intro to photobashing, and adding textures to the image.
• Planning the scene, and the first phase of rendering.
• Organizing your folders, and using your photo textures to add details to your rendering.
• Start with the main character and move to the background using the above method of photobashing and painting.
• Final touches, and color adjustments to finalize the piece.

This course is for artists who are looking to make their work more interesting, and up their level of conceptualization. As well as an introduction to new tools; students will learn how to organize files, photobash, where to look for references and textures, and finally how to make it all fit in a single artwork.

By the end of the course the student will know how to design a character with an interesting backstory by world building, and creating solid concept foundations that will lead to a captivating illustration . The class will reveal the many tools illustrators use to build their scenes, from photobashing and adding textures, to creating your own objects and textures.

~This Tutorial was made for Class101 but I got the green light to upload it on AS