The World of Character Design

It’s so fun and exciting at first. The characters you create move at your will, are always there for you, and understood you like no one ever could. I’ll show you how you can create again.

The character below is a character I scribbled without thinking.

Who is this? What are you doing here? Is this character good or evil? What does it look like? Can you imagine how this character smiles? Characters will not survive unless they can gain the empathy of viewers.

Now, can you see what to do when you see the 500 won from the character above?

There are three options.

1. The character picked it up and brought it to the police station.

2. The character passed by without picking up.

3. The character picked it up and put it in their pocket.

In order to know the correct answer, you need to pay attention to the background of this character.

After setting up your story, people can understand the character’s personality and behavioral patterns.

Real people are very complicated. Everyone has a trauma, big or small, and has unique tastes and ideas. People are driven by the ‘self’ that determines who they are.

If you apply this person’s psychology to a character, you can really bring your character to life.

After writing the character’s narrative, the next step is to create a character sheet. The character sheet fills in all the gaps you need to fill, showing your character in different expressions and poses.

Anyone can write a story, but a good story comes from learning.

After taking this class, you will be able to create stories that are engrossing to anyone who sees.

Drawing more diverse characters

“Every character drawn is the same!”

The students in my class are always worried about this, and it’s also something I’ve struggled with a lot in the past. What kind of practice do you need to draw different characters?

Most of the problems come from your specific tastes. Because there is only one style of characters you like, and it will be all you’ll be drawn to create without studying further character styles.

Knowing the wide spectrum of character types and researching popular styles for those characters, you can create more amazing characters.

And in this class, I will present a breakthrough not only for character backgrounds, but also for their visuals.

Image a fantasy

After organizing your characters and world in harmony, you will learn how to draw images that make the story magical. In addition, I will teach you design tips to let your character’s personality shine through your art.

I had a lot of opportunities to work as a character concept designer in a variety of fantasy worlds, and in the process I learned a lot about the character creation and work concept.

Practical design tips that are not shared anywhere else will also be shared with you in this class.

In this class, you will refine the world you have created to be more convincing and three-dimensional, and put in your creative characters in it to create an entrancing story.

The result will remain as a detailed character sheet that has been polished under professional feedback, an image board that can remind you of various scenes, and concept art that puts everything together.

I will help you become a visual storyteller who can continue to expand your own world even after class has finished.

Mirror your life into your own fantasy world!

Digital design with Qmeng.

1. Meet Qmeng: visual storyteller, artist, and your instructor
2. Introducing the class: Create your own world through digital drawing

1. Starting with work mode
2. Setting up your workspace and learning the shortcuts
3. Using and cropping layers
4. Using basic and custom brushes
5. How to edit images and use hidden features

1. Where does inspiration come from?
2. Stories that start with a character: The Goddess of War, Athena
3. Stories that start with a sentence: James steps on a sprout
4. Stories that start with a world: The Androids’ Revolt
5. How to create a strong idea

1. Determining a concept for your character
2. Building a real model
3. How to set the character’s personality
4. How to set the character’s purpose
5. Small habits add charm
6. In practice: Character profile and narrative writing
7. Bonus: How to use utilities – Notebook.ai, Xmind

1. What you need to know for varying character designs
2. How to arrange your character’s clothes
3. Design Formula 1: Visualizing a character based on a shape
4. Design Formula 2: Visualizing a character through flows and stops
5. Design Formula 3: Visualizing a character through density of the details and space
6. First impressions of the character: Color scheme

1. The language of postures and expressions
2. Creating a character sheet
3. Bonus! Creating 10 different characters with the same settings

1. Establishing a concept
2. Choosing a genre and setting
3. Plot: Creating a story frame
4. Scenario: Starting your story

1. What you need to know to design a cast of characters
2. Visualizing how your characters interact with your world
3. Redesigning your draft to match your world

1. Types of concept art and their purposes
2. Image board: The scenes that show the mood
3. Sketching the composition of your story
4. Simple and quick coloring of your characters
5. How to easily draw background concepts with photobashing
6. Editing your concept art

1. Composition: Adding words to your scenes
2. Colors: Just add light!
3. Bonus! Tips for drawing a scene of animation from an animation director

1. In closing: Qmeng’s closing thoughts
2. Bonus! Tips for growing on your own

Artist Qmeng

@qmeng_ci

I am Qmeng, a visual storyteller.

Hi!

I am a workaholic and artist Qmeng who has been working nonstop right after graduating from high school.

Since 17, I have been a teacher and have been active in various fields including animation, illustrations, and games. Now I am mainly focused on animation!

I started animation because I wanted to draw my creative characters and bring them to life, but before I knew it, it became my new job.

Every Saturday, Sunday and Monday I hold classes for aspiring artists. I have been teaching this class for a little over 4 years. Since I was a middle school student, I seemed to like to open a communication window to share knowledge and feedback with new people. That’s why I think seriously as an instructor.

Since I think the artist’s values ​​and self-formation are the most important, I am conducting classes mainly to have conversations and discussions with students. So Class101 is a fresh challenge for me.

Although I am an artist who is constantly studying myself, I would like to share with you the creative theories I have accumulated during my work.

See you in class!