Character Design Commission: Inspiration and Process

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In my spare time I take up Illustration/ Character Design/ Animation commissions. Therefore, I thought it’d be interesting to share my process. I take up these commissions not only to make some extra cash, but also to improve painting and designing skills, and to have character design portfolio.

Briefing

The first step is briefing. The client informs of what type of commission they’re looking for and I proceed to take notes and ask for as many photo references as possible. As soon as the brief is made clear, begins the research phase.

Research

Curiously enough, other than books/ online portfolios, etc., my favourite research platform when it comes to commissions is usually social media. Instagram and Pinterest allow me to know what is currently ‘popular’ in the world of illustration/ animation. Although, if I’m basing my work of a particular artist, I will directly go to their online portfolio and scroll through to understand their creative process.

In terms of the particular commission shown above, my main inspiration was character designer Jules Rigolle, whose work I found through Gobelin School of Image’s major films showcase.

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Rigolle’s sharp artwork has inspired me continuously by its eye-catching contrasting colour palettes, quality of the line art, quick brush strokes that convey a range of emotion effortlessly, strong character features and distinguishable silhouettes. From a clean to a rougher kind of finish, the designer’s work always has solid weight to it. What I find the most fascinating about his many pieces is the ability to understand his character’s backstory/ mood/ personality/ interactivity with their surrounding by the proportions and movement of the drawing only.

That being said, I applied these observed principles on my own work.

Following up the research phase, I loosely start sketching many different compositions until I’m happy with the final one, which I go with.

Colour blocking + Shading + Highlights

Colour has been my least favourite part of any project. Although I love colour and colourful pieces, I find it very hard to create a harmonious piece that also conveys any sense of emotion.

That being said, I also spend a significant amount of time looking up many different artist’s work online and on books I have laying around my room. Below are some examples of work where colour plays an major role:

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In order to add dimension to my illustration and have it have a more three-dimensional human feel, I add a few highlights and shades, still preserving that sketchy-like quality in the painting stage. I keep the brush strokes quite rough. However, by using masks on Photoshop when painting, I can still make it look slick by maintaining each painting section inside the lines.

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Image Editing+ Colour Correction

Finally, when I’m happy with my final illustration, I like to go ahead and add some textures and gradients here and there with ‘Multiply’ or ‘Overlay’ layers to give it an even look throughout all the characters.

If the client asks for some text or additional designs, I also include that on the final stage of the project and this sums up my character designing process!

Even though I’m still not 100% confident with the quality of my designs, I plan or continuing with an intensive research and exercising so I can become better with time.

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