SHARPEN YOUR CHARACTER ART

Discover how Christophe Young sketches, lines and paints a compelling concept of a dieselpunk samurai character

As a professional concept artist, I design and illustrate complex video game characters on a daily basis. As a disclaimer, properly building up to this level of complexity takes time and practice, so don’t be discouraged if the first try flops!

Throughout this workshop, I’ll give some insight into my design and illustration process to build a complex and believable fantasy character. Bear in mind that I won’t be going into the specifics of anatomy, perspective, structure, gesture, or composition, but having a strong foundation in these will help a lot in creating a dynamic and balanced image. I strongly believe that the success of a character illustration heavily relies on a strong basic gesture and good underlying anatomy.

With this in mind, I’ll demonstrate how to layer on costume elements, props, weapons and a sympathetic facial expression to create a relatable character. I imagine this character as being particularly cheeky and cunning, so we’ll try to sell that personality in the way we draw the portrait. Moreover, I’ll walk you through the colouring and lighting process when rendering the character. We’ll briefly touch on skin tones, colour harmony, and material properties to create the illusion of realism. Finally, I’ll walk you through the last clean up stages of the illustration. Finishing strong is just as important as rigorous planning and a strong initial sketch, so don’t flake on the finishing touches! Let’s get into it!