About this course: In this course you will explore concepts and approaches involved in creating successful character designs that can be applied to video games. Following a first week delving into some foundational concepts for successful character design, each of the remaining three weeks are structured as a "master class" where you will observe three professional character designers at work in the studio: Andy Ristaino (Adventure Time), Jacky Ke Jiang (Journey), and Robertryan Cory (SpongeBob SquarePants). Each designer will take on two different design challenges on the fly and address the various issues in designing characters for games, such as movement, expression, and technical limitations. At the end of each week you will have an opportunity to try out some of the concepts from that week's lesson on characters of your own design. This is a fun and engaging class especially useful for students interested in animation in film and TV as well as games, and is suitable for students of any drawing ability.
Taught by: Fran Krause, Faculty, Character Animation
School of Film/Video
| Basic Info | Course 4 of 5 in the Game Design: Art and Concepts Specialization |
| Commitment | 4 Weeks, 4 - 6 hours per week |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
- Video: Welcome
- Reading: About this Course
- Reading: An Important Question
- Discussion Prompt: Choose Your Own Character
- Video: Density
- Video: Mood & Story
- Video: Proportion
- Video: Week 1 Homework
- Reading: Introducing Andy Ristaino
- Reading: Resource: Andy's drawings
- Video: Drawing the Explorer
- Video: Refining the Explorer
- Video: Drawing the Alien
- Video: Refining the Alien
- Video: Week 2 Homework
- Reading: Introducing Jacky Ke Jiang
- Reading: Resource: Jacky's drawings
- Video: 2D Ink Drawing
- Video: 2D Tablet Drawing
- Video: 3D Modeling
- Video: Week 3 Homework
- Reading: Introducing Robertryan Cory
- Reading: Resource: Robertryan's drawings
- Video: Drawing the Pig
- Video: Refining the Pig
- Video: Drawing the Sheep
- Video: Refining the Sheep, Part 1
- Video: Refining the Sheep, Part 2
- Video: Working in Animation
- Reading: Introducing Robertryan Cory (again)
- Video: Robertryan Studio Follow-Up
- Video: Week 4 Homework
- Reading: Course Credits
Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.
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| Audit | Purchase Course | |
|---|---|---|
| Access to course materials | Available | Available |
| Access to graded materials | Not available | Available |
| Receive a final grade | Not available | Available |
| Earn a shareable Course Certificate | Not available | Available |
Awesome. Learnt loads directly from top industry fellows. The assignments were fun and challenging.
Exceptional course, it's the very best approach.
This skill, character design, is " stolen " rather than learned.
Awesome
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Nice use of iteration to push your ideas of who or what a character should or could look like.