Building Characters/Illustrations out of Color (Pink) - Process Video 8h + File!

Hey everyone!

I wanted to create a series of character illustrations under the concept of a color for a while, so I choosed 'Pink' for his recent mainstream popularity lately and the contrast I could build around. I visually addressed shapes and values from pink inspired food, costume and ideas. All of these processes are executed in different ways but following my art process structure, let's dive in!

Macaron Character

I thought it would be nice to have a very high-contrasted character in the first shot to address the Macaron picture. It is self-evident the resemblance between the girl and the chocolate, but besides, I thought the hair was the big attraction in terms of shape. Notice although it can compete with the jacket shape, the information inside, defined by lighting, is less complex than the one you will find in the jacket. These small distinctions in terms of balance are what helps create a more straightforward reading all over the illustration.

Cake Character

I'm currently seeing so many memes about Barbie, so I wanted to use some fundamentals of the Barbie visuals, without actually making fan art. Also, the pink subject is something you usually expect for these kinds of outfits, dressed like.

I wanted to go a little bit out of my comfort zone and explore a composition in which the face of the character is not the main thing. If you have been paying attention to some posts of the past, you probably read that I recommend you to build around clear face expressions because people react easily to pictures they can relate. To some extent, this is true, but since I address this point in the other three characters, I thought it would be a nice contrast to have one of them in an unconventional pose.

In the video, you will notice how the composition changed throughout the whole process, starting from a very simple and similar perspective to the reference and moving towards a more distorted but dynamic perspective.

Marshmallow Character

This time I wanted to push the perspective a bit more towards anatomy and dynamism using Lula, one of the characters from my project Afterorder.

You will notice how the line art is a bit more sketchy than usual. This is a technique I usually use when I get some gigs related to conceptual exploration, not illustrations for the public but more like inspiration-oriented for teams. They often want to capture the life in my art through their own techniques into the product. So more than cleanliness, they aim for energy.

It might look more comfortable to do because of how sketchy it looks, but you need to have a certain understanding of anatomy and perspective. Hopefully, the video will help you grasp the process to try on your own.

Gummy Character

Because you know I love contrasts, I wanted to make a male character a total opposite of what is commonly known that the color pink represents, which is feminine and sweet, plus the gummy candy (fluffy and soft). Therefore, I thought a Yakuza would be nice.

This illustration/character was different from the other three. I usually kickstart the process out of a reference with a nice pose, but in this case, the idea came first, and the references came after.

Making compositions this way is also a good way to not be so dependent on finding "the right" reference, which is a problem I often have. But the downside is that it depends on me having a bit of luck. I can't be bright all days.

Conclusion

This series has a pretty mixed forms of productions, making the approach useful in case you want to try different strategies under the same topic of color. These are more Illustration-oriented but they are also helpful with character design iterations.

Have a look at the PSD file! I'm trying some extra effects using "Color Halftone" and different blending modes on top of the finalized versions. These glitchy effects are a nice extra that I'd love to see you trying.

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