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Anatomy
Research and Notes
By Jake Carpenter

Solidity 3D quality Thinking around the form Feel around the form (mass and shape) Fleshy quality to face

Dynamics: Animated Drawing

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What is the shape of the form Round, pear shape, triangular, and square Conscious of the mass + weight How heavy Dictates movement + Timing Movement A signal of intention for audience Subject matter hook the audience? Is it appealing? Convincing? Riveting?

Anatomy Books
Artistic Anatomy Paul Richter Cyclopedia Anatomicae Gyorgy Feher An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists Francis A. Davis Dynamic Anatomy Burne Hogorth Quicksteady Academic Charts Bar Charts

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Anatomy
Learning the skeleton 8 character heads generally for the ideal male character Males typically have less body fat than females The pelvis is much narrower Much wider shoulders Character models based on real humans The Last of Us Tomb Raider Far Cry Battlefield L.A. Noire The Force Unleashed Metal Gear Solid Saints Row Uncharted Mass Effect Alan Wake Assassin's Creed Heavy Rain

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Anatomy
Keep notes on other games Keep the atmosphere and mood in mind Rewards Multiple > A large singular reward Avoid linear design Model resource: Batman Arkham Asylum Batman Arkham City

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Anatomy
Video Game characters

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Playable character types: - Adventure Duo A serious main character coupled with a weird/quirky partner - An Adventure Is You A description of the class based systems common to many Role Playing Games - Amnesiac Hero Where the main character has no recollection of who they are - Elite Tweak A character/class that can be very effective, but needs a lot of work/strategy to reach it's potential - One Man Army You're the video game character - Player Character A character controlled by you, the player

Anatomy
Video Game characters Playable character types: - Protagonist Without A Past You just sort of popped into being in the first village - Solo Class Classes capable of going alone where others are forced to team up

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1. Deciding what type of game the character will be in, lends themselves to development of archetypal characters. 2. The time and place of the game, as well as how the character fits into it. Your character's role within the story is also of utmost importance. 3. Make a list of your characters traits. Includes everything from appearance, to their dreams and goals in life.

Anatomy
6. Visually create the character, avoiding the 'in-game' appearance.

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4. Short stories about your character to understand the character themselves. 5. Create a backstory for the character, to understand the character and how they fit into the world.

7. Draw how the character would look in the game, fine tuning his appearance in the style of the game. Character Design: The Wild Character Treds between the lines of good and evil, sides with neither Needs to become his own Mysterious approach Hat down and low Looks out for himself Chaotic roguish nature A pose that is more action-packed than the heroic and evil characters to show that his moral compass is not set

Character Design
Digital Arts Master Class

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Beginning the sketch: Used lines instead of blocking out the character. Add more movement, whilst considering the shapes and arrangement. Blocking in the figure: Sketch laid out, filling it in with broad strokes. Values added to the background, to negate the white space. Beginning the design: Fleshed in most of the body. Flip the art for checking, and can be easier to paint that way. Making the design solid: Solidify the character, throwing in some design elements. Roughing in some details, regardless of whether they'll stay or not. Adding details: Adding more details, playing around with different layers.

Character Design
Digital Arts Master Class

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Using colour balance and texture: Warm up the piece by > Image > Adjustments. Change of lighting on the piece. Fixing the overall figure: Enlarge canvas again, whilst rearranging the design. Cutting away the background and adding highlights. Rotating the whole piece, to resolve the composition of the piece. Checking and correcting anatomy: Flip the character again. Warping the perspective of the character, to fit a more ideal shape. Checking to see if the adjustments are working or not. Taking out the hat: Removing a questionable design, however can always put in back in. Warping: Warp the entire piece, to re-establish the previous design consensus. When doing a concept, nothing is safe. Can change things on the fly.

Character Design
Digital Arts Master Class

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More details: Adding additional details to the design, such as more lighting, toning down and shifting focus that highlights the details. Working on the lighting: Shifting the lighting to areas that need it as well as detracting it from areas that don't need it. Adjusting colour with colour balance: Copy the entire piece, using colour balance, focusing in on the highlights shifting towards the blue/cyan range. Tweaking the figure: Warping the character to shift the weight, and perspective. Begin adding patterns, using a soft light Blend layer. Tweaking the lighting: Shifting the lighting and tweaking details. Depth should be present across the figure.

Character Design
Digital Arts Master Class
Custom shapes: Creating a pattern to blank cloth spaces, can draw interest.

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Control lighting: Tone down some hotspots and add some darker ones. Darken Blend mode to kill some highlights.

Adding in patterns: Tweaking the shapes to conform to the shape of the space. Whilst adding in extra details, more colour balancing is applied to the figure. Adjusting skin tones: Adding in a patch of skin, using colour balancing to produce skin-like colours. Soft Light Blend layer, to add more colour to the piece. Painting in new colour: Adding bolder colour statements to the figure whilst creating looped details to avoid obscuring.

Character Design
Digital Arts Master Class

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Rendering the figure: Spend time in multiple sections avoiding to work in a particular area for too long. Just come back more often. Using warp to tweak the figure: Warping the figure, to correct anatomy irregulations. Lighting the figure up, then darkening it down to produce a range of colour variants. Adding in the sword: Drawing the sword first, then adding in the hand to fit the weapon saves the issue of a weapon improperly being used. Adding in the head: Bringing back previous elements, as well as leaving the character recognisable/distinguishable. Finishing the character: Final touches and a last edit of colour balance to the figure.