In this course you will explore concepts and approaches involved in creating successful character designs that can be applied to video games. Following a first week delving into some foundational concepts for successful character design, each of the remaining three weeks are structured as a master class where you will observe three professional character designers at work in the studio: Andy Ristaino (Adventure Time), Jacky Ke Jiang (Journey), and Robertryan Cory (SpongeBob SquarePants). Each designer will take on two different design challenges on the fly and address the various issues in designing characters for games, such as movement, expression, and technical limitations. At the end of each week you will have an opportunity to try out some of the concepts from that week's lesson on characters of your own design.
This course is part of the Game Design: Art and Concepts Specialization
Offered By
Game Design: Art and Concepts SpecializationCalifornia Institute of the ArtsAbout this Course
Offered by
California Institute of the Arts
CalArts has earned an international reputation as the leading college of the visual and performing arts in the United States. Offering rigorous undergraduate and graduate degree programs through six schools—Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music, and Theater—CalArts has championed creative excellence, critical reflection, and the development of new forms and expressions.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week 1: About Character
In this first week of the course, we will explore some of the major concepts involved in creating compelling, unique, and purposeful characters. These ideas will provide the basis for your assignment this week and lay the groundwork for our visits with professional designers in the coming weeks.
Week 2: Technical Challenges
This week, we visit Andy Ristaino, a character designer who has created many of the ingenious characters for the animated series Adventure Time.
Week 3: Design with Purpose
This week, we visit Jacky Ke Jiang, an animator who has worked as a character designer for both Disney Feature Animation and in video games. Jacky will discuss working in both 2D and 3D modes as he completes his challenges.
Week 4: Find Your Character
This week, we see Robertryan Cory in action. Cory is an a character designer known for his work on shows like SpongeBob SquarePants, Ren & Stimpy, and Gravity Falls.
Reviews
- 5 stars76.12%
- 4 stars17.48%
- 3 stars3.81%
- 2 stars1.45%
- 1 star1.12%
TOP REVIEWS FROM CHARACTER DESIGN FOR VIDEO GAMES
A very beautifully designed course. The assignments help to raise your inner talents and the classes make you realize a lot about life not just only about character design.
This class was really fun and the assignments were engaging. I think it is a great way to get your mind centered around the idea of character design, not just for games but for anything.
Fun and challenging to me. Is not easy to me to create new characters, but with this practice and professional examples, I feel more confident to just do and see what happens. Thank you, very much.
Love this course. It is very fun and interactive and the homework challenges your creative side and makes you think a little harder. Great course!
About the Game Design: Art and Concepts Specialization
Stemming from the principles of storytelling and design established in CalArts’ renowned Animation programs, this Specialization lays a primary foundation for experimentation and exploration of video game design, story, character development, and winning gameplay before programming begins. These four courses emphasize the self-reliance and personal expression of the gaming artist, and encourage you to take conceptual risks and develop new modes of expression and form through gaming. In the final Capstone Project, you’ll put your creative skills to work by generating an engaging game design document for a personal game project, outlining the conceptual, narrative and aesthetic elements of your game.
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