Anna Cattish is a comic artist and character designer who I have been following for some time now. Her art has a very distinctive visual signature, and you can tell it's her work from miles away. Although this is the case, every single one of her characters has something different. I think being able to have this skill is something to be admired.
How can you draw such similar styles but everything look so different? I think this is something that I would like to be able to do sometime in the future. As someone who struggles to find my own visual signature, I often find myself wondering if it's even necessary to have one. Then I find an illustrator like Anna Cattish who is so easily recognisable and I really want to be like that.
OH MAN! This packaging got me feeling all kinds of crazy. It is so beautiful and different and really catches your eye. I saw this and straight away I was mindblown to discover that it's beer. YES?! Beer packaging. This is something that gets me really excited. Packaging that takes it out of the box, doing something that you wouldn't think makes it so much more interesting. It makes you want to find out what the product is and buy it straight away! If I saw these on the shelves I would be interested for sure. I think that creating packaging like this that is so extraordinary is something that I would be interested in having a go at.
After watching the video that Sergio Pablos did with tips on character design techniques, I decided to look up some of his work. I found that a lot of his work is to do with the basis of the character's design, much like his tips in the video, which focus on not just the outside appearance but also what's underneath.
I really like his use of not just the designing of the character, but showing them in different poses that can help to represent the character more. It's like one of his tips in the video where he touches upon showing the personality not just in their appearance but also in the way that they move or pose. He also has a really interesting use of shape within his characters, with each one easily recognisable from the other. I think this is something that I need to try and focus more on as a lot of my characters will end up having the same body shape and proportions.
I found this video on YouTube from an animator/character designer called Sergio Pablos. In the video, Sergio names his 8 tips when creating a character. They are: 1. Know your subject matter
I think this is a really important step and something that occasionally I have stepped over. When researching and finding inspiration it can often lead to starting over because you realise that what you drew doesn't truly represent what you want to draw. Being told his tip again was really helpful and something that I need to make sure that I remember.
2. Get through the bad drawings
Here, Sergio is literally talking about 'practice makes perfect'. He says that character design is a process of elimination, which I think is true too. The first designs that you do, you look back on and realise that the ones you did recently are so much better. The more you draw the same thing, maybe even in different ways, the better you will become at it.
3. Character
'A character is a tool used to tell a story'. In this tip, Sergio is saying how some people neglect the psychological traits of characters in favour of making them look cool. I think this is an important tip because even if the character matches the description, it might not feel like it. If a character is moody, depressed, they should have bags under their eyes, hunched back etc. Personality and traits are very important.
4. Getting the personality in there
This is similar to the last point, but he presses on the issues of posing as well as personality. Using the pose to express the mood or emotions of the character can make people favour this over something that looks good in your opinion because the poses and attitude of the character match what they are looking for more.
5. Get feedback
In this point, Sergio talks about how important it is to get feedback from others. I think this is really important too, as an outsiders opinion can help you to spot things or think things that you didn't think before. Whenever we have crits in class I always find myself coming out with more ideas and thoughts than I went in with.
6. Be Adaptable
This is something that I personally find myself struggling with sometimes. I desperately search for a 'style' or 'way of working' that can make me recognisable. However, Sergio talks about how character design doesn't necessarily work that way. To be adaptable to the director's needs will make you much easier to hire and work with, so I need to take this advice on board.
7. Stay Inspired
Keep up with looking at different references and looking at different pieces of artwork to make sure that I stay inspired and stay wanting to draw all the time. The world of the internet is a good place to find references and inspiration, much different to the old world Sergio's animation life began in.
8. Challenge Yourself
THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR ME! Here, Sergio talks about always trying new things and trying to break out of your comfort zone. This is something I often find myself falling back into and I think it would be good for me to take this advice. I always find myself drawing human women. That's it. Do I really want this to be my knowledge of character design? I need to try challenging myself more.
This video was really helpful!! I'm really glad that I found it and I think that I have come away with some really useful tips in character designing.
Review and reflect on your current practice to identify where it sits within the identified creative industries in which illustration exists: When looking at this list, the one that stands out the most to me is Character & Narrative. I have always been someone who loves to sit and draw character after character in my sketchbook, and that seems to be all that i love doing in my spare time. Over the course of this year I am looking to further my skills and learn how to draw more diverse characters because I think that's what I need to take my practice even further. Although I have a clear view in my mind over which one stands out to me the most, there are other parts of this list which pique my interest too. Publishing & Book Design I really love the idea of doing book covers and children's illustration. I think it would be something that my work would aesthetically fit into quite easily. I also really love making up stories and I think that this goes hand in hand with the Character & Narrative bracket. Product & Packaging Retail & Merchandising These two are also something that I think I would like to look at in more detail over the course of this year. I think that with my designs being so structurally 'cute' it would be nice to try and play my hand at making different things with this. Packaging is something that I think I would like to have a go at, and also Merchandising my artwork so that I get a wider audience and start to gain some money would be good too. All in all, I think that although I seem to lean towards staying in the Character & Narrative bracket there are other breadths of illustration that I would like to try my hand at.
