Character Development Drawing for Animation, Film, and Interactive Media

This course focuses on the concepts of character design and development as a preproduction to animation, film, and interactive arts. Students will gain knowledge in drawing from the model, from human anatomy, and by engaging with spatial drawing concepts in order to create fully realized characters, both visually and conceptually. Through the development of character boards, model sheets, and character animatics, students will draw and conceptualize human, animal, mechanical, and hybrid figures. Students will research characters in visual, environmental, psychological, and social qualities to establish a full understanding of the individual characters. Knowledge from this course can be used to create and enhance animations, establish a character outline for an interactive media project, or help in developing a cast of characters for a graphic novel or narrative film. Hand-drawn work will be at the core of this course; however, software such as Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, After Effects, and Flash can be used in some aspects for character boards, model sheets, and, specifically, for character animatics.