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Character Design For Animation in Illustrator

4.6 Filled star Filled star Filled star Filled star Half star
Based on 666 ratings
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2D Animation 101 Courses

You have an idea that you want to turn into animation, and now you want to create the characters that will move the story.

How do they look? Are they friendly? Aggressive? Stubborn?

You decide your character should look friendly, great. You draw what you have in your mind and you feel proud. Good for you. But what if what you designed gets criticized and people say “With that smile, it looks naughty, not friendly”.

Why? How can you make your characters communicate the personality you intent for them?

This is where this course will help.

Read more

You have an idea that you want to turn into animation, and now you want to create the characters that will move the story.

How do they look? Are they friendly? Aggressive? Stubborn?

You decide your character should look friendly, great. You draw what you have in your mind and you feel proud. Good for you. But what if what you designed gets criticized and people say “With that smile, it looks naughty, not friendly”.

Why? How can you make your characters communicate the personality you intent for them?

This is where this course will help.

In here you will learn the theory behind character psychology, how to make characters with a soul, with personality.

And not only that, but you will also learn how to communicate all those feelings and emotions through your designs.

You will learn how to establish different attitudes by using different shapes, you will understand the meaning of having round features, or pointy features.

And then, after you know the theory, we will practice the whole process of putting the character you have in your mind into paper, by first establishing a strong pose that communicates your character’s personality.

You will learn:

  • How to create memorable characters
  • The Theory behind character psychology
  • 4 Basic areas of personality that will make your character outstand all others
  • How to define attitude
  • The basics of concept art
  • Understand shapes and meaning

And then, once you have a memorable character with a strong personality, drawn on paper or on digital, what can you do with it?

Well, because this course was created with animators in mind, we added a whole section covering how to prepare your character in illustrator and make it ready for animation.

You will learn about the different angles needed to have what you need for your character, the importance of using a storyboard, and how to trace each part of the body so you have the character well connected and ready to be rigged in After Effects, or any other animation software you want.

We will dive deep, step by step in a tutorial that will guide you how to ensemble the Character Brad, part by part.

Learn how to design your characters and prepare them for animation.

Enroll now.

Enroll now

What's inside

Learning objectives

  • You will be able to express personality with your characters, using poses with a strong line of action
  • And you will be able to prepare your designs to be rigged in an animation software for cut out animation

Syllabus

This sections explains the reason why you should take this course, and how important it is to know to design characters for cut out animation.
Read more

This introduction talks about an overview of the course, and also how is it that some successful people are making a living out of this craft

This lesson provides the project files for you to follow along

This lesson explains the secrets discovered in the 1930s by Walt Disney to make character memorable

This lesson talks about the how to develop the psychology for your characters

This is the second area of your characters personality, to decide if it’s a Sensing or an Intuitive character.

This is the 3rd area of personality, to decide if your character is a Thinker or a Feeler.

This is the final and 4th area of personality. To decide how organized is your character, if it's a Judger or a Perceiver

This lesson talks about defining the attitude of your character

This section talks about the different shapes and features that make a character interesting, and also how to have the correct shapes for the correct personality of your character.

This covers the different elements that influence the body of your character, the different body types.

This is a little tutorial that takes you through the 4 steps of the character design process.

This lesson presents you what you will be accomplishing after you finish the following tutorials

This lesson goes deeper to help you understand how each part of the body is connected and used in illustrator

This explains the different views of your character, frontal, side, 45, etc.

This lesson answers the question many animators have when the are about to start a project: How much work will it take to produce this animation?

This lesson was added specifically to tackle the number one problem in many of our students animations, the way the parts of the body are connected by joints.

This lesson wraps up this section and explains the process we will follow in the upcoming tutorials

This tutorial is the first of the section and tells you how to set up the image you are about to trace into different layers.

This lesson covers how to trace the head and neck

This lesson covers how to trace the upper torso

This lesson covers how to trace the lower torso

This lesson covers how to trace the hips

This lesson covers how to trace the arms

This lesson covers how to trace the legs

This lesson will help you understand the importance of having multiple versions of the hands, or mouth, so you can do replacement animation

This lesson covers how to trace the hands

This lesson covers how to trace feet

This lesson covers how to trace mouths

This lesson covers how to trace eyes

This lesson covers how to trace eyebrows and nose

This lesson covers how export the character so you can use it inside an animation software.

This is the bonus lesson, it will show you what can you do with your new acquired skill

Traffic lights

Read about what's good
what should give you pause
and possible dealbreakers
Explores character psychology, which helps learners create characters with depth and personality, making them more relatable and engaging for audiences
Teaches how to prepare character designs in Illustrator for rigging in animation software, which is a crucial step in the animation production pipeline
Covers the basics of concept art, which is a foundational skill for visual development and character creation in animation and game design
Requires learners to use Adobe Illustrator, which may require a paid subscription and could be a barrier to entry for some students
Focuses on techniques discovered in the 1930s by Walt Disney, which may not reflect current industry standards and practices in character design
Teaches learners how to trace body parts in Illustrator, which may be time-consuming and tedious for those seeking more efficient character design workflows

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Create your own learning path. Save this course to your list so you can find it easily later.
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Reviews summary

Character design for animation in illustrator

According to learners, this course offers a solid foundation in character design, uniquely blending theory with practical application for animation. Students particularly praised the coverage of character psychology theory, finding it insightful for creating characters with personality and depth. The detailed step-by-step Illustrator tutorials, guiding learners through the process of vectorizing characters and preparing them for animation rigging, were consistently highlighted as highly useful. While some reviews indicate the course is best suited for beginners to intermediate learners and could expand on more advanced techniques, it is widely seen as effective for learning how to design characters specifically for cut-out animation workflows.
Best fit for newcomers to the topic.
"As someone relatively new to character design, I found the pacing and content approachable."
"This course provides a solid starting point, especially if you're a beginner."
"If you have significant prior experience in Illustrator or character design, parts might feel basic."
Provides a valuable theoretical foundation.
"The theory of character psychology was really insightful and changed how I approach design."
"I learned a lot about using shapes and lines to convey personality effectively."
"This section gave me a strong base for creating characters that have a soul, not just a look."
Step-by-step guide for vectorization.
"The practical Illustrator section was clear and easy to follow, showing exactly how to trace Brad."
"I appreciated the detailed steps on how to prepare the character parts correctly in Illustrator for rigging."
"Learning the vector workflow in Illustrator was a key takeaway for me."
Focused on needs for cut-out animation.
"It's great that this course specifically teaches how to design characters that are ready to be rigged for animation."
"Understanding the different angles and part connections for animation was very useful."
"This course is perfect if you're looking to create characters for cut-out animation projects."
Some topics could be more in-depth.
"While the course is good, I wish it went into more advanced techniques or rigging specifics."
"The theory section was excellent but could be expanded upon for deeper understanding."
"It covers the essentials well, but don't expect a masterclass in every single aspect."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Character Design For Animation in Illustrator with these activities:
Review Basic Anatomy
Reviewing basic anatomy will help you understand how characters are constructed and how their forms communicate personality through body language and posing.
Browse courses on Figure Drawing
Show steps
  • Study skeletal and muscular structures.
  • Practice drawing simplified figures.
  • Analyze poses in existing character designs.
Read "The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation"
Reading this book will provide a deep understanding of animation principles, directly applicable to creating compelling character animation.
View Melania on Amazon
Show steps
  • Read a chapter each week.
  • Take notes on key animation principles.
  • Analyze how these principles are applied in animated films.
Design Character Mood Boards
Creating mood boards will help you visualize and define the personality and visual style of your characters before you start drawing.
Show steps
  • Choose a character archetype.
  • Gather images representing the character's personality, style, and environment.
  • Arrange the images into a cohesive mood board.
  • Write a short description of the character based on the mood board.
Four other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all seven activities
Pose Studies
Practicing pose studies will improve your ability to communicate character personality through body language and line of action.
Show steps
  • Find reference images of various poses.
  • Sketch the poses, focusing on the line of action.
  • Exaggerate the poses to emphasize the character's personality.
Character Design Portfolio
Creating a portfolio will allow you to showcase your character design skills and receive feedback on your work.
Show steps
  • Select your best character designs.
  • Present each character with a clear pose and expression.
  • Include a brief description of each character's personality and backstory.
  • Organize your portfolio in a visually appealing way.
Read "Character Design Quarterly"
Reading this magazine will expose you to diverse character design styles and techniques, expanding your creative toolkit.
View Routledge Library Editions: Chaucer on Amazon
Show steps
  • Subscribe to the magazine.
  • Read each issue as it is released.
  • Take notes on interesting techniques and styles.
  • Try applying these techniques to your own character designs.
Redesign an Existing Character
Redesigning an existing character will challenge you to apply the principles learned in the course to a familiar design, pushing your creativity and problem-solving skills.
Show steps
  • Choose a character to redesign.
  • Analyze the original design and identify areas for improvement.
  • Develop a new concept for the character, considering personality and visual style.
  • Create a new character design based on your concept.

Career center

Learners who complete Character Design For Animation in Illustrator will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:
Character Designer
A character designer creates the visual appearance of characters for various media, such as animation, video games, and illustrations. This course helps a character designer learn the theory behind character psychology, crucial for making characters with depth and personality. Understanding how to express emotions through design, which this course emphasizes, is essential for a character designer whose work must communicate intended nuances. The course's exploration of shapes, features, and posing directly translates to the daily work of a character designer. Additionally, the practical skills in preparing character designs for animation, using Illustrator, directly benefits a character designer needing to ensure their designs are animation-ready.
See salaries and explore the career path for Character Designer
Animator
An animator brings characters to life through movement, and this course directly supports the animation process by focusing on character design. The course teaches how to create memorable characters with unique personalities that are ready for animation. An animator needs to understand character psychology and how to communicate emotions through design, which this course provides. The course also delves into how to prepare characters in Illustrator for rigging, a key skill for any animator. Learning how to assemble character parts for animation, as covered in the course, is a key step in the workflow of an animator. This course goes further, even guiding the student through angles needed for animation.
See salaries and explore the career path for Animator
Digital Artist
A digital artist creates art using digital tools and software. This course supports a digital artist who wants to create characters. The course trains artists in the theory of character psychology and prepares them to design characters with depth and personality. The practical skills in preparing character designs for animation in Illustrator taught in this course are useful for a digital artist. A digital artist will find this course to be a very useful tool for their work.
See salaries and explore the career path for Digital Artist
Illustrator
An illustrator creates visual content, often for books, magazines, or digital media, and this course helps an illustrator with character-focused projects. The course teaches how to design characters that communicate specific emotions and attitudes, enabling an illustrator to create more compelling visuals. The course's focus on shape, form, and pose is essential for creating impactful illustrations, and the course provides practical techniques to refine these skills. Furthermore, the course teaches an illustrator how to use Illustrator to prepare designs for animation, which can be a useful additional skill. An illustrator can leverage the course material to enhance their work.
See salaries and explore the career path for Illustrator
Freelance Illustrator
A freelance illustrator works on a per-project basis, creating artwork for a variety of clients. This course is beneficial to a freelance illustrator who may have a need to create characters. The course teaches how to design characters that communicate a wide array of emotions and attitudes, which can be valuable for projects requiring specific character traits. The emphasis on understanding the psychological aspects of characters will equip a freelance illustrator with the means to create more engaging illustrations. Furthermore, the course's focus on how to prepare designs in Illustrator helps a freelance illustrator meet the technical demands of clients. Therefore, this course is useful for a freelance illustrator.
See salaries and explore the career path for Freelance Illustrator
Game Artist
A game artist creates the visual assets for video games, including characters, environments, and objects. This course will help a game artist create characters with strong personalities. The principles taught in this course about character psychology and design are applicable to game design. The course's exploration of shapes, features, and posing is directly relevant to a game artist's work in creating diverse and compelling characters. The practical skills in using Illustrator to prepare character designs will help a game artist develop their skillset. A game artist will find this course very useful.
See salaries and explore the career path for Game Artist
Concept Artist
A concept artist develops initial visual ideas for characters, environments, and objects, often for film, video games, or animation. This course may be helpful for a concept artist. The course covers the basics of concept art and how to create characters that are unique with strong personalities. It helps a concept artist learn how to translate a character's psychology into visual designs, including how different shapes and features influence perception. The course provides instruction on how to create characters with a strong pose, conveying the essence of the character needed to help a concept artist who designs for animation or games.
See salaries and explore the career path for Concept Artist
Visual Development Artist
A visual development artist creates the overall look and feel of a project, including characters, environments, and props and this course may be useful for them. This course helps a visual development artist with character design. They will learn to create characters with strong personalities. The course's focus on the psychological aspects of character design, combined with practical advice about shapes and poses, is also useful for a visual development artist. The course's focus on preparing characters for animation will help a visual development artist learn more about character pipelines.
See salaries and explore the career path for Visual Development Artist
Story Artist
A story artist creates visual representations of stories, often using storyboards to plan scenes in animation or film. A story artist may find this course useful. This course teaches how to design characters that communicate specific emotions and attitudes, which can directly inform how a story artist approaches their work. Knowing how to make characters with strong poses helps a story artist to tell a story visually. Also, the course's focus on making characters ready for animation can assist in conceptualizing how those characters will move in a story. The course's practical approach to character design and preparation can add value for a story artist.
See salaries and explore the career path for Story Artist
Motion Graphics Artist
A motion graphics artist creates animated graphic designs. This course will help a motion graphics artist who works with character animations. This course teaches how to give characters personality which can enhance the story a motion graphics artist tells. Understanding how to make characters animation-ready in Illustrator, as taught in this course, helps a motion graphics artist's workflow. The emphasis on strong poses and communicating emotions through design is beneficial to a motion graphics artist when they incorporate characters into their work. This course may help a motion graphics artist.
See salaries and explore the career path for Motion Graphics Artist
Layout Artist
A layout artist creates the initial setup of scenes in animation, defining character placement and camera angles. A layout artist may find this course helpful. The course emphasis on character psychology and creating poses will help a layout artist understand how to integrate characters into a scene. The course's practical lessons on character design and preparation can augment a layout artist's expertise who will then be better able to arrange characters within their scene layouts in a way that conveys emotion. The course reinforces principles in character design which benefits a layout artist's work.
See salaries and explore the career path for Layout Artist
Rigging Artist
A rigging artist creates digital skeletons for characters, enabling them to move and pose, and this course may be useful for a rigging artist. Though this course does not focus on rigging itself, the course teaches how to prepare characters in Illustrator for rigging, which provides a better understanding of the process. The course also teaches how to properly construct characters in Illustrator so they can be rigged effectively. The knowledge gained from this course on character design and preparation can lead to a rigging artist more successfully completing their work. Therefore a rigging artist might find this course helpful.
See salaries and explore the career path for Rigging Artist
Art Director
An art director oversees the visual style and images for a project. Understanding the principles of character psychology taught in this course helps an art director provide guidance to artists on character design choices. This course provides the necessary knowledge to instruct and direct artists to create characters that communicate particular emotions and attitudes. The ability to understand how to make characters both expressive and animation-ready is helpful for an art director in their daily work. Therefore an art director may benefit from this course.
See salaries and explore the career path for Art Director
Instructional Designer
An instructional designer creates learning materials and educational content. This course focuses on character design, and an instructional designer might use this knowledge to develop materials that use characters. This course's focus on communicating personality through design and understanding character psychology could be useful in a learning context. Knowing how to create memorable characters with strong personalities can make educational content more engaging. The skills gained from this course may help an instructional designer make their materials more attractive to learners. This course may be useful for an instructional designer.
See salaries and explore the career path for Instructional Designer
Graphic Designer
A graphic designer creates visual concepts for a variety of media and clients, often focusing on communication through visual elements. This course would help a graphic designer who works with character design. The course teaches how to bring personality into a character's design and to consider how that character can convey meaning which can augment their understanding of visual communication. The course's focus on creating a strong line of action in character poses helps a graphic designer consider the way in which a character communicates. This course could be helpful to a graphic designer.
See salaries and explore the career path for Graphic Designer

Reading list

We've selected two books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in Character Design For Animation in Illustrator.
Cover image
Routledge Library Editions: Chaucer
Save
This quarterly magazine features interviews with professional character designers, tutorials, and showcases of inspiring artwork. It provides insights into the industry and helps you stay up-to-date with current trends. Reading this magazine can broaden your understanding of character design styles and techniques. It valuable resource for inspiration and learning from experienced professionals.
Routledge Library Editions: Chaucer
Paperback
Check
Routledge Library Editions: Chaucer
Kindle Edition
Check

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Effort
2 total hours
Via
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2D Animation 101 Courses
Language
English
Traffic lights
Read about what's good
what should give you pause
and possible dealbreakers
Explores character psychology, which helps learners create characters with depth and personality, making them more relatable and engaging for audiences
Teaches how to prepare character designs in Illustrator for rigging in animation software, which is a crucial step in the animation production pipeline
Covers the basics of concept art, which is a foundational skill for visual development and character creation in animation and game design
Requires learners to use Adobe Illustrator, which may require a paid subscription and could be a barrier to entry for some students
Focuses on techniques discovered in the 1930s by Walt Disney, which may not reflect current industry standards and practices in character design
Teaches learners how to trace body parts in Illustrator, which may be time-consuming and tedious for those seeking more efficient character design workflows
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