Transcripts
1. Intro: Have you ever noticed
faces in random objects, plants, flowers, and trees? This phenomenon is
called Peridolia. We're going to use it to create botanical
character illustrations. Join me in this class where
you will learn how to turn botanicals into
character illustrations. It doesn't matter if you
are a beginner or a pro. This class is designed for everyone who's willing
to learn more, how to invent and
visualize their creatures. In this course, you will
learn creative thinking, character drawing, and
conceptualizing skills. You will start by selecting
right references, tracing, simplifying,
and combining them. You will use silhouettes,
color palettes, and contrast to create
unique characters. All you need for this class
is a sketchbook pencil, ink pen coloring material
like your Choice. A laptop or ipad with Photoshop or Procreate
app inside I am show and I created
this class to share my experience in inventing
and illustrating characters. I've been using visual arts to bring my characters to life for almost a decade and I can't wait to share my
tips and tricks with you. By the end of the short course, you will have all the necessary
tools you need to find inspiration for your next
character illustration project. You can use your new creation for book illustration,
animation, or other forms of
visual storytelling, but you will have
a unique character that you can be really proud of. I'll guide you through
every step of this course. So don't worry, just sit back, relax, and join me
on this journey.
2. Your Class Project: Thank you for
joining this class. I'm really happy
that you're here. Let's explore botanical
character drawings in depth. Before we jump to the next step, I'd like to discuss a learning
process of this course. At first, we're going to
gather inspiration together, which will later become the references for our
future characters. And we're going to
break and trace shapes to get them ready
for further observation. And we're going to use
those shapes to simplify and combine them to get
closer to the final result. And we're going to define the characters body language
at some color palettes and a little bit of drama to make those characters
stand out from the crowd. Finally, we'll combine
our knowledge and add some finishing touches
to our characters. All you need for this class
is a sketchbook pencil, ink pen coloring
material of your choice. A laptop, an ipad with Procreate
app or Photoshop in it. I will provide many examples and explain each and every step. In the next video, I will
show you how to find the inspiration
outside in the park, at your local market,
even at home, so you can start your
character journey no matter where you are. So get your sketch books
ready and let's start.
3. Collect References: In this video, we'll
explore the easy ways to collect references and to get
inspired for your project. At first, let's go outside
and observe the botanicals. Try to notice the small details of the plants,
flowers, and trees. If anything attracts you, stop by and observe. You can make quick
sketches or take a photo or a video if you don't have
enough time to sketch. The good reference for the botanical
character illustration would be the shapes and the forms which remind you of anything like the tree
barks that look like faces, the flower petals or the leaves
that have animal shapes, or the plant patterns that
bring up some memories. If you don't see any
of them, don't worry. You can just catch out
the natural forms that attract you in that
moment While drawing. Don't worry about
how pretty your work looks or how correct some
lines or shapes are. Sometimes the mistakes can
lead you to a new discovery. I went to the local market
to pick up some fruits, and I chose these interesting
looking dragon fruits. So let's start
sketching them out. Sometimes we don't feel
like going outside at all. Let me show you how to
collect references at home. There are several things you can do to find inspiration
while at home. You may take a look at the
house plants you have, or check out some
books about nature. If you don't have any of these, you can browse through
your digital photo album. I have taken many photos
and videos of the outdoors which you can use as references
to design new character. While scrolling
through your album, try to pick an element
that inspires you. If you don't find anything
inspiring in your album, you can search
online for images. You can use Google Images or visit an open source
website like Free. Pick.com where you can
download references for free. I have included some
photos that I took in the project resources page which you can use as
references as well. Feel free to download them
and use them as you wish. We gathered a lot of references and now it's time
to pick the right ones. In the next video, I
will help you choose which references to keep
and which ones to discard.
4. Trace & Break: In the previous video, we collected many references, and now it's time to
trace the shapes, break them, and get them
ready for the next steps. Even though we did some
sketching in the last video, I watch you draw some more for having options
for your character. At first, open a
reference image and start sketching out the
main shapes with pencil. Don't worry about
the small mistakes and inconsistencies right now. I will use the photo of the water lily petals and try to find some
interesting shapes. After I finish
sketching with pencil, I will take an ink pen, will outline the main forms. During this process, I
discovered that it has quite friendly round shape that can be used as
a character patty. Later I can add some
more details to accentuate the acute
nature of this creature. If you still have some
time for sketching, repeat these steps with
your other references to ignore the small
details and while drawing, try to see if you
notice any shape that can be used as a character
pace or a figure. Tracing the sketch with
the ink pen gives you an opportunity to understand the silhouette and the
elements of the plant. When you are done outlining your reference with an ink pen, erase the pencil marks with an eraser to better
see your drawing. I still have the dragon
fruit sketch from the previous video that
I will trace right now. By the end of this video, your task is to get at least one of your
references traced. If you're working with an ipad, you can do all these
steps digitally. For this, open the appropriate
app, insert the image, lower the opacity,
lock the layer, open a new layer on top of
that, and start tracing. Before I move to the next step, I would like to trace
a few more references. So I have a plenty of choices from which I will
create my character. The digital drawing allows for easier modifications and
deletions of shapes. At the end of each
tracing exercise, I will hide the photo layer to see how my inking is going. Later, I can put
all the outlines on the same page to better
compare them with each other. You can also take the photo of the sketches and then
retrace them like this when you get one or two
shapes that you like. Let's move to the next video, where we're going to
simplify and combine them.
5. Simplify & Combine: By now you are already familiar with the main
shape of your object. In this video, we're
going to simplify it, so it's easier to repeat
it and remember it first. Let's talk about
the combination. If your plant has many
shapes you want to use, the best way is to combine them. In this example, I used three different shapes to
create my character's head, hands, and the upper body. The risk of the combination is the overcomplication of
the character silhouette. It might look intriguing, but the more complex
the shapes are, the more difficult it is to
remember and repeat them. Now let's see what shapes we cut from our digital references. You can put them next to each other to better compare them. If the answer is
not clear to you, you can play with the shapes and try to imagine how each element could be transformed into a creature's face
or body features. You can twist, turn, and add elements to
see the possibilities. Some will work and some won't. When something is not
working in your favor, don't be discouraged, just move on to the next references. This was the main reason why we collected
so many of them. In this case, I liked how
the character looked, but the details
were too complex. That's why I retraced
and redrew it a few times to see if something could come
out of the shape. This flower has many
different shapes and forms, like large petals and
an elongated pi steal. That's why I would like to break them apart, draw
them separately, and combine and sketch face or body elements
on top of them. I can arrange all my
shapes side by side, adding elements to them, and then comparing
them to each other. After that, I can select the
ones that I like the most. Next, I will refer
to my sketchbook and repeat the same process with
the references from it. This way, I can ensure that I have all my options
in front of me. Now we can see six shapes that
made it to the semifinals. The ones that advance to the
finale are the simplest, yet most intriguing shapes with the highest
potential for winning. In the next video, I will
share character design basics, which will help you to improve your botanical character
illustrations.
6. Fix the Silhouette: Have you ever noticed that
every famous character has distinguished and
memorable silhouettes that are easy to remember? It's because their
character designers have used what it's called
the shape language. There are remain types
of shaped languages. Square, triangular, and circle. They define the shape of
the character silhouette. The square shape hints at the more stable and reliable
nature of the character. Good examples of square
shaped characters would be the grandpa from Up Pertoon Sponge Bob
for obvious reasons, and BMO from Adventure Times. The triangular shapes in
silhouettes are commonly used when the designer wants their character to be more edgy, fierce, or sometimes even evil. Good examples of such characters would be proof from
the despicable me, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, or far from Aladdin. Finally, circular
shapes translate into a cuteness and a
more adorable nature. The famous characters that embody such features
would be Mic from Monstrous Ink beneath
the Po or Poll from Fu Panda. Now let's get back
to our sketches. Your exercise is
to find faces in the chosen drawings and define the body
language for each. First, I will redraw my
explant looking creature. I will draw the face on top
of it and add a body too. Don't spend too much
time on details. Then I will move to
the next creature and repeat the steps. This one reminds
me of a serpent, therefore I will add
a snake like body. When I'm finished,
I will move to my last creation and
repeat the steps again. As the shape of this
creature is more rounded, I will add the facial
features accordingly. But I want it to be accented by different, more elongated limbs. The shape becomes
more interesting. I will keep the
circular shapes in mind and will round up
the ends of the limbs. When you finish adding
shapes to your creatures, set them next to each other and compare my serpent creatures
shape is too complex, it needs more time
to be developed. That's why I won't continue
working with this time. I'm happy with the
rest of the creatures, but I need to pick one. As this class is
mostly for beginners, I want to pick the
simplest shapes so it's easier for
everyone to follow. For this, I will
separate them and I will compare the
complexity of both. My e, plant shaped creature is rounded like my lip creature. It consists of more elements which makes it more
difficult to work with. That's why my winning
character for this class will be the
leaf like creature. But the next step, we want to adjust the body
of the character. If you're working with the
procreate app like me, go to the settings canvass and
turn the drawing guide on. Then adjust the grid and fit your creature in
between the lines. After this, retrace your
chosen shape on top of it on a different layer to make sure that your character
fits its form. When you're done, make a new layer and start
withdrawing your character. But this time treat it like you're drawing the
final illustration. Add outlines, face, and all
the simple details you need. Then delete all the layers below to better see the results. If you are not happy with it, you can repeat the previous step and finalize the drawing. Now I want to show you
how my character would look like if it had a
different body shape. I will duplicate my layer a few times and give
it triangular, circular, and rectangular shapes for you to see the differences. This one has a triangle shape. This is circular, this
is oval, this is square. This is square shaped
with rounded corners. How do we choose which
one is our winner? There is this great
yet simple way. Fill all your character
silhouettes with a black color. You will see which one works
and which has the most laws. Then you can make decisions
based on their shapes. Keep in mind that the
silhouettes should be easy to remember
and simple to draw. Like the silhouettes
of the Mickey Mouse is impossible to mistake. In my case, there were a
few shapes that I liked, but I decided to go with the
one that I was sure about. When you pick your winner, give the drawing
another go and add to the details to your
character that are missing. In the next video, we will talk about colors and we'll pick the right palette for our botanical character
illustration.
7. Add Color: Get ready to pick a right color for your character illustration. If you observe the
iconic characters, their color palette usually consists of one dominant color, the colors that you associate
the character with, and a few complementary colors. As a guideline, you can take a look at
these color wheels. The first wheel is the graph
of the primary colors, red, yellow, and blue. The second show
secondary colors, orange, green, and
violet. And the third tertiary colors consists of six colors that you
see on the screen. While picking the
colors, be selective, choose the color hierarchy, one dominant color and
others complementary. You can pick the dominant
color from the primary colors and the rest from the
secondary or tertiary wheels. The other way to pick the
right color for your character to choose according to
the color meanings. Certain colors evoke
certain feelings. For instance, people usually
associate red with passion, boldness, power,
excitement, and activities. Violet is usually used to emphasize royalty,
ambition, and wealth. Blue is commonly used
for tranquility, depth, trust, peace,
and stability. You can choose green
to illustrate growth, freshness, nature, or healing. Yellow color is for sunshine, happiness, energy,
and intellect. Finally, we can see orange
color used for warmth, stimulation, enthusiasm,
and creativity. One additional thing
that can help you with your decision is to consider the location of the character. Closer it is to Ecuador, the more colorful
its clothes will be. Entries closer to the North Pole will have a more muted palette. Let me show you
how to choose and test the colors of
your characters. At first, I will use
green and orange as primary colors for
my lip creature and light green as
a secondary color. It seems okay at first, but to be sure we need to
check the color value and see. Please do the same for
your creatures too. For that, you need
a gray scale mode. You need to lower
down the saturation as you see the main
body and the limbs have the same color value as the body is the main
part of my character. I want it to stand out from
the rest of the features. That's why I need to pick
the limp colors from the tertiary color wheel instead of the
secondary color wheel. Let's test it out. It looks better now, but I still want my character
to have an orange color. That's why I will
use the lighter tone of orange and see if it works. And it does now. I can go on and add some
highlights to it too. And here it is, my beautiful
leaf botanical creature.
8. Add Drama: A good exercise to define the exaggeration feature is to remember your own
life experiences. Pay attention to how people
and animals make you feel. And focus on characteristics
that amplify those feelings. Observe which facial features are accented when
they are happy, sad, angry, and Ted. You can also use cartoons
as references as they emphasize all the emotions
and make them super graphic. Try to connect with people while drawing by using
those characters. Your exercise for
this video is to test different exaggeration
elements on your character and
pick one that works. Let's start finding an element
unique to our characters. Here are some examples to make your characters
more interesting. You can use dynamic
spacing between their body shapes by leaving some spaces
in between joints. You can also exaggerate
certain features by enlarging or shrinking
them to make them stand out. However, avoid overdoing it and just pick one
feature to reshape. Another way to add uniqueness
to your character is to incorporate elements that are
unusual for the character. Such as clothing for animals, or fictional elements
like wings and tails, or characters that would
not typically have them. I tried out a few exaggeration
pictures and finally decided to go with a lotus
flower bud as a head piece. I want my leaf life creature
to have a magical element to it while drawing an
additional feature. Don't forget the previous
steps that we learned. And test out the color value and the shape language along to here's my result, Let me
see what you came up with by submitting your results on
project and resources page. But before we wrap up the class, check out the next video.
9. Combine & Finalize: Congratulations on
making it this far. Your botanical creature is almost ready to be
introduced to the world. To give it the perfect
vanishing touches, you can add highlights, spots, or hair to
its appearance. You can also add
thicker outlines to certain areas to make
it look more grounded. If something doesn't look right, please remove and replace it. If needed, you can withdraw
the final version of your character to ensure
that it looks just right. Finally, clean up
the work and present the character in a neat
and organized manner. I quickly created
a new character to showcase the creation
process for this class. Before we finish,
we should discuss potential uses for these plant inspired
character illustrations. Here are some ideas. First, you can
create a story and include your character
as an illustration. Also, you can animate
your character if you're not familiar
with animation techniques. There are plenty
of helpful videos on the platform to
get you started. You can design stickers, art prints, shirts, or to packs
featuring your character. You can also share your
creation on social media. Make sure to applaud your character illustration to the project gallery
so others can see it. Don't worry if
you're a beginner, all levels of work are
welcomed in the gallery. I will also share your project on my social media channels and tag you so thousands of
people can see your work. If you need any guidance on how to practically apply
your illustration, please don't hesitate to ask me any questions on the
discussion page below.
10. Wrap Up: Congratulations for
completing the class. You've done so well. We started with nothing
but an open mind and the will to create botanical
character illustrations. We collected references, we
sketched, we combined shapes, we simplified them, and we learned a bit about the
basics of character design. We chose the best
parts of the sketches, and we created a brand new
character illustration. Along the way, you learn conceptualization
and you improved sketching and drawing skills. Now you have a good
idea how to move from a glimpse of an idea to an
actual character illustration. If you want to learn more
about character illustration, please check out my other
classes on this platform. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask them in the discussion
page down below. I would be really
happy if you could leave me a review and
let me know how it went. I would also like to see your project at the
project gallery. So please don't be shy. Upload your project and I will be able to
see your process. And not only me,
but other students will get inspired by
your illustrations too, if you do so, you can also at your Instagram
handle and when I share students projects on
my stories, I can take you. Thank you so much for
watching my class. It means the world to me. It was great sharing
my knowledge and experience with you. And hopefully you
found it helpful. It was an honor to be
your teacher and I hope to see you soon
again. Bye for now.
Masholand, Artist & Designer
