OUGD603 EXTENDED PRACTICE - CHARACTER A DAY - CHARACTER DESIGN PROCESS

Initial sketch
The base for each illustration was generally in the form of a hand drawn sketch, to varying completeness. This was to create the most natural character response for each day, one that wasn’t necessary ruled by what you can and cannot do on a computer.
For some of these characters, this stage involved collaging with different mediums, such as patterned paper and marbelling. This was also the stage where experimentation was done using coloured pens, if the characters were going to retain the colour from the initial sketch.

Scanning into digital
The next stage for the characters that had been created by sketch initially was to scan them in digitally. This was both to get them onto a digital platform to post online and also to flatten out the colours into black and white as a base for adding in additional colours.

Digital Drawing & Colour Addition
For the characters that weren’t drawn on in sketch format initially, this is the stage when they will be created. This could be using the shape tools in Illustrator, creating an abstract pattern in Photoshop to use as a clipping mask. The 3D tool was also experimented with in one of the characters, as this is something I have always struggled using and wanted to experiment more with it.
For the sketched characters, they were image traced and expanded on Illustrator to create a cleaner drawing with individual shape areas, to allow colour to be applied in a block format. This meant that a lot of experimentation could be undertook with the freedom of digital, not having to redo the whole thing if the colours don’t work first time round.

Instagram
All of the finished characters were posted to Instagram, which is where the three point description was included (in the description section). The hashtag #characteraday was also included with each character post, as something people can follow and keep track of any updates. Instagram was chosen as the platform to showcase these characters on as it is a hugely arty, photographic based platform, and it allows you to view the posted photographs in a thumbnail grid format, so you can see them all together as they progress. Instagram is also a social media platform that people use in their everyday life as well, so they won’t have to change their routines or go out of their way to find them, thus increasing the audience who may see them.