I&VN - Task 1: Character Design

21/4/25 - 12/5/25 (Week 1 - Week 4)

Nicole Ng Ying Yan 0382412

COM61304 Illustration & Visual Narrative

Task 1: Character Design

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1.0 INSTRUCTIONS

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2.0 TASK 1: CHARACTER DESIGN

2.1 Character Design Documentation

Figure 2.1 Character Design Documentation (Week 4, 17/5/25)

2.2 Character Design Line Art

Figure 4.2 Character Design Line Art (Week 4, 17/5/25)

2.3 Character Design Colouring & Shading

Figure 4.3 Character Design Colouring & Shading (Week 4, 17/5/25)

Techniques applied in this task:

• Line Art:
• Pen Tool (Bezier handles - smooth/ corner) - To draw the silhouette of the characters
• Shape Builder Tool - Clean up overlapping lines
• Width Tool - Adjust thickness of lines to create more line variations

• Colour & Shading:
• Scale Stroke & Effects - To maintain consistent lines and details
• LivePaint Tool - Create LivePaint Group to fill in colour
• Eyedropper Tool - To select colour
• Pen Tool (Bezier handles - smooth/ corner) - Create shapes for shadow and highlight

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3.0 REFLECTION

3.1 Experience

Overall, it was a fun experience creating my own character designs and giving them a backstory. I got to practice my muscle memory using the Pen Tool to make the lines more smooth and fluid. It was also a good exercise to learn where to put the shadow and highlight for the characters depending on the direction of the light.

3.2 Areas for Improvement

I think my characters can have more dynamic poses or silhouettes as they look quite static and symmetrical. As I generated the sketches from AI, it is harder to get the results that I desire. Maybe sketching the characters myself would bring out more energy from the characters.

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