Character Design is Back! 14th May 2018

Illustration by Andrea Torrejon

Our new evening class in Character Design has proved so popular that it is returning to Escape Studios on Monday 14 May, running until Monday 9th July 2018.

The course is an 8 week introduction to the art and craft of character design and, as with most of our evening classes, it's a part-time course, designed to fit around jobs and families, and taught by seasoned industry professionals.

Character Design is one of the most rewarding parts of our industry - and also one of the most competitive. As with everything we do here at Escape, the class will build up to a live industry brief, with the final project mapping as closely as possible to the experience of working in an industry environment.

Design by Andrea Torrejon

Students attend an evening class one night a week, and will be set simple projects to do in-class, and  more complex ones to complete by the following week.

Aftercare
There will also be a 6 week period of online mentoring and aftercare, in which students can polish their skills in a virtual classroom and receive ongoing feedback and support.

Industry relevant
The course has been designed after consultation with industry, with the class building up to an industry-designed brief.

Angry Birds designs

Tutors
Our character design tutor is Andrea Torrejon, character designer on Angry Birds, whose work you can see here. To read an interview with Andrea, and see more of her work, follow this link.

Where and when?
The course starts on Monday 14th May from 7-10pm and will run once a week for 8 weeks at our Shepherd's Bush campus, until 9th July.

Details
Below is some more detailed information on how the course is likely to break down:

Part One – Introduction to Character Design

Week 1 General Introduction to Design.
Introductory Exercises. Creativity, ideas and inspiration for stories. Gesture drawing, fast sketches, and research

Week 2 Creating designs which have character.
Single images that illustrate personality and character. Design drawings. Situations and character-driven scenarios.

Week 3 Industry character design process.
A close look at the work of some leading character designers and how they work.

Week 4 Art Direction.
Introduction to the principles of design and visual development.

Illustration by Andrea Torrejon

Part Two – Character Design Technique

Week 5 Designing animal characters.
How to base designs on real life. Animal anatomy, Staging and character

Week 6 Designing human characters.
Life drawing, human anatomy, gesture drawing and character poses.

Week 7 Character Situations
The interaction of character with story. How do our characters fit into the overall story?

Week 8 Model Packs
Turnarounds, Blend Shapes and Rigging Studies for CG. Industry briefing.

Part Three – Online Mentoring and AfterCare

Online mentoring and aftercare will continue for a further 6 weeks after the end of classroom teaching. Students will be set a final project, using our Facebook Group as an online virtual classroom, receiving online mentoring and feedback.

Recommended Reading
We recommend these two books:


1. How to Draw and Paint Crazy Cartoon Characters: Create Original Characters with Lots of Personality Paperback – March 1, 2007 - by Vincent Woodcock

2. Creating Characters with Personality: For Film, TV, Animation, Video Games, and Graphic Novels by Tom Bancroft.

To see the official course page, follow this link.

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for our BA/MArt in 3D Animation, follow this link.  To apply for our storyboarding evening class, visit this page here.  For the next 12 week animation course, click here. And to apply for the next evening class in Producing Animation, see this page.