Character Design for Animation

Character Design For Animation

An 8-week course designing characters with an industry-experienced animation character designer; develop a strong understanding of the elements that make strong, compelling characters for 2D and 3D animation.

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OVERVIEW

COURSE OVERVIEW

Bring your characters to life

This character design for animation course will cover a lot of references and break it down into the importance of things to consider regarding design for 2D and 3D animation. Allow your imagination to push what we can do in design and to push our boundaries in what we are comfortable with and what we feel we can do in animation. Beginning by using shape as a building block for building characters, we will start with simple shapes and push the design to its limits. We will also discuss what it takes to become a professional Character Designer for Animation.

Course Format:

Standard

Duration:

8 weeks

Materials:

Photoshop (any), wacom tablet or equivalent

Lecture Type:

Pre-recorded

Assignment:

Due each week. Expect to spend 8-10 hrs/wk viewing lectures, q&a, and time on assignments.

Skills Level:

Intermediate

Feedback:

Individual recordings

Q&A:

Once a week

Prerequisites:

Foundation & Design Program or good understanding of analytical figure drawing

Course Format:

Standard

Duration:

8 weeks

Materials:

Photoshop (any), wacom tablet or equivalent

Lecture Type:

Pre-recorded

Assignment:

Due each week. Expect to spend 8-10 hrs/wk viewing lectures, q&a, and time on assignments.

Skills Level:

Intermediate

Feedback:

Individual recordings

Q&A:

Once a week

Prerequisites:

Foundation & Design Program or good understanding of analytical figure drawing

Course Format:

Standard

Duration:

8 weeks

Materials:

Photoshop (any), wacom tablet or equivalent

Lecture Type:

Pre-recorded

Assignment:

Due each week. Expect to spend 8-10 hrs/wk viewing lectures, q&a, and time on assignments.

Skills Level:

Intermediate

Feedback:

Individual recordings

Q&A:

Once a week

Prerequisites:

Foundation & Design Program or good understanding of analytical figure drawing

COURSE OVERVIEW

Instructor Feedback

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

EXPAND ALL COLLAPSE ALL

The more you know, the better.

Week 1 | Shape Language

The relationship between shape and character design | Focus on building our designs from simple shapes | How shape affects our designs

Week 2 | Design Silhouettes

The importance of character silhouettes: how clear silhouettes in design and character posing can help shape our character designs and make them stronger and more functional

Week 3 | Character Line Ups

How shape and silhouettes are important to creating a unique and strong character line up

Week 4 | Character Faces

How to bring an individual identity to a character’s face

Week 5 | Character Story Moment

Designing contrasting characters and placing them in a story telling moment

Week 6 | Matching a Style

As a character designer for animation, every film you will work on will have a style linked to the way it’s designed. It’s our job as designers to be adaptable and flexible enough to design in whatever style we are asked to design.

Week 7 | Animal Design

Designing an animal using simple shapes, much the way we started with characters in the first week

Week 8 | Character Turn Around

Transitioning into what we will be covering in the next course (Character Design for Production): what a character turn around is, why it is important in character design, and how it is applied in designing for a production

Character Design for Animation

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Instructor

Taking your skills to the next level

Nate Wragg

/Dreamworks Animation

LECTURES BY Nate Wragg

Nate Wragg was born in Davis, CA in 1983. He took an interest in drawing and painting at an early age. After graduating high school, he studied animation and design at The California Institute of the Arts in Southern California. Since then, Wragg has gone on to work as an illustrator and designer on various projects-including Ratatouille, Toy Story 3 and Puss in Boots. He was one of the primary character designers on the Pixar Feature Toy Story 3. As well as designing characters, Nate was also the Production Designer of Pixar’s short film Your Friend the Rat and has been involved in designing several main title sequences, most notably the animated end titles for Ratatouille. Most recently he was the Production Designer on Captain Underpants.

INSTRUCTOR'S GALLERY:

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STUDENT GALLERY

Character Design for Animation

Student Gallery

STUDENT INTERVIEWS

Letting the Character Shine Through

Interview with Laura Gómez

Letting the Character Shine Through

Interview with Laura Gómez

Using Contrast and Pose to Tell a Story

Interview with Kyle Sarafolean

Using Contrast and Pose to Tell a Story

Interview with Kyle Sarafolean

Back on Track: Mindful Habits of Character Design

Interview with Eddie Betancourt

Back on Track: Mindful Habits of Character Design

Interview with Eddie Betancourt

Starting With a Strong Shape

Interview with Seiji Lim

Starting With a Strong Shape

Interview with Seiji Lim

Starting With the Shape

Interview with Alex Untoria

Starting With the Shape

Interview with Alex Untoria

SUMMER TERM REGISTRATION

May 2, 2022 - Jul 11, 2022

ONLY

$699

COURSE BEGINS

July 10th

PRICING SCHEDULE

Even though our courses are the most affordable for the quality of education.

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”

Mary Highstreet

Fantastic class! Nate is a great teacher and an incredible resource, I’m so thankful for his dedication to teaching!!

”

Devere Wint

The course content is broken down structurally so that it allowed for nice linear progression and growth. I am leaving with a better understanding of character design.

”

John Steventon

Nate Wragg continued to impress me with his knowledge of the material, and the skills he displayed in demos and in the Q&As! He really knows his stuff, and the fact that he is willing to share that knowledge with us is really great. He is also open and honest about the industry, and what we will face when we get there. Honestly, I feel honored to have studied with him, and hope to work with him in the future.

”

Melis Malatani

Really enjoy Nate Wragg’s approach to teaching online. It felt authentic and really helpful. This was my second course with him instructing, both times were equally great.

”

James Couture

This course really brought me back to the basics of good character design. It has helped me break bad habits when it comes to drawing and designing characters and has replaced those habits with the fundamentals of good visual design. I’ve learned a lot about the industry as well, and have a clearer vision of what it may be like to work at an animation studio one day.

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