PLAN OF ACTION:
My task is that I have to produce a DVD cover for the Parahuman film, this must include a character that has pointed ears, long hair and between the age of 15-20.
From my previous experiments my character will have the pointed ears of a dog. The character will also be female an include clothing and maybe even a staff.
I think I can make this idea work by using the Photoshop skills I have gathered over the last couple of months, blending colours can help with my design. For example, I have blended the pointed ears with the colour of her hair. I made the colour of her hair the same as the ears so it would look more realistic.
I have to make the character have pointed ears and long hair…So this is why my character will feature pointed ears and long hair. I chose to have a female character as it would’ve been easier to include long hair compared to a male character. If I don’t include these features then my character won’t meet the brief.
I will have the majority of information on the back cover of the DVD design and have the images point towards the text. I will lay the DVD cover out like this because the illustration is the most important thing on the cover so this needs to go on the front, some of the text can then go on the back as it provides some minor information.
From looking at the “Yuta Onoda, The Perfect Ride” I think that having a large image spread across both pages as a background will be a good idea and having images flow towards the text so that the reader can follow the image then read what the DVD cover is about. Looking at the “Biological Illustration Example: 2” I think that it could be a good idea to have the front cover illustration in colour then carry it on the back but have it in black and white.
WORK FLOW:
Description
All of the screenshots were made on Photoshop with a Wacom tablet, they were drawn with a black brush. The first screenshot is of a close up of the head design with the long hair and pointed ears, this sketch has thicker lines than the rest – I made the rest of the sketches have thinner lines because I didn’t personally like the look of the thicker lines from the first screenshot, the thinner lines make it seem more like a pencil drawing. The next screenshot has clothes added to my character and I used an image off Google as inspiration for what the clothing should look like – I did this so that the characters clothing would look more realistic. The next 3 are the upper body coloured in with 3 different coloured outfits, this was made by changing the colour of the brush in Photoshop – this was so that I could experiment to see what colour I preferred. The next 2 screenshots I have added texture to my characters clothing, giving her more of a hunting/stealthy appearance with the camo, the leopard skin also adds to the brief which says I need to include animal features – I chose to use a leopard because these are known to be fast and silent, goes well with my camo skin. I got both of these images from Google.com. The next screenshot is of my final character design with everything from before added and slightly changed so everything looks well designed, I added some white highlights and dark shadows over my character to give her more depth and realism – this was done with a white and black brush.
The final screenshot is of my finished DVD cover, this didn’t take too long to make as the character design was the longest. I added my character onto the DVD cover, used a bold font so that the text is easy to read and clear, added all of the appropriate symbols for a cover and added my own background of the forest to help go with the colour and theme of my character.
Feelings
At the start of this project I felt like I couldn’t think of anything to do, so starting off with drawing different poses of which my character could be in would help with my final design. These poses then developed well into a single design which I thought suited my idea for the DVD cover. I enjoyed experimenting with the different colours that I could use for the clothing because they all changed her mood. Green making her seem calm and natural whereas red would make her seem angry and violent. I had to look at a few different hair images to help me with my illustration of her hair, this was because when I first drew her hair I didn’t like and because it wasn’t looking realistic, and so with the help of some images I drew the hair flowing in different directions – naturally.
Evaluation
At the moment one of my failures was that from my first pose the outlines were way too thick and it didn’t make it look realistic, I then changed this so that the lines were thinner making it look a lot better than before. I think that experimenting with different colours has been successful because it has given me an idea of what colours I should use later on in my final design.
My idea is currently developing so that it meets the brief. The brief is to make a character with human and animal features, so pointed ears, long hair and between the ages of 15-20. At the moment my character is meeting this however I think I could add a couple more animal features because right now it looks a lot more human than a mixture of human and animal.
I think that my final design for my character is of a good aesthetic quality, it is sketch well with clean lines and colour, everything looks in place and it all works well together.
Analysis
I have learnt that experimenting with your ideas is very important because this can change the outcome of your design drastically. For example, if I change her pose then the outfit would have to look slightly different and her body language would pursue a different meaning. Also, experimenting with the colours/textures is important because this can also have I huge impact on your final design.
I have also learnt that sketching with a thin black line is important because it makes your design look clean. I found this out because I started off with using a thicker line to sketch my ideas (first screenshot) and it made the drawing look clunky and not very good. I have learnt from this mistake and in my next projects sketching with thicker lines won’t happen.
I think that my skills have improved from the start. For example, when I first did a tone drawing of a dog I used them skills and developed them in this piece, also using a white and black brush to highlight and shadow my illustration to give it more depth and realism has improved from the start.
Action plan
Today I found out that using thicker lines to sketch my ideas was a bad idea because it made the illustration look clunky and unprofessional. I will not repeat this failure by continuing my illustration with a thinner black line so that it looks cleaner and well-drawn.
After this i will start to add clothing to my character, because at the moment it is only and outline, adding clothing will give her more purpose and will set what type of person she is – adding character.
Today, I have experimented with different colour types of my clothing, I have learnt that by doing this it gives me a good choice of what path I want my character to look like, next time I come to a decision where I don’t know what to do I can experiment with some ideas to make my decision a little easier.
Ryan Thornton Graphic Design 