"Values are what make the character readable and clear."

Values

First Renders

The thumbnail sketches are now done, ideas have been combed out and a few of them chosen for further improvement with additional details and changes. In this lesson, the character design process continues with values and doing the first render for the character. Choose the final thumbnail that will become the final character design.

From the top three, the one on the right is the most appealing, so we’ll use that one.

A simple value scale with blended bar and blocks.

Values Matter

The term value means the lightness or darkness of a color. Lighter values are called tints and darker values are called shades. Approaching the design with greyscale rather than with the colors makes it easier to prevent problems with color vision abnormalities. If the contrast of colors is only based on themselves, the readability of the character will have issues. The process is still in the stage that it's easy to make changes and fix possible faults of the design.

Value Assignment

If you haven't chosen the final thumbnail from the previous set, it's time to do it now. Choose a design that you like and seems closest to your design ideas that are feasible and could make a great finished character design artwork.

Resize the chosen thumbnail to be bigger, so working on the details and designs is easier. After that, it's just refining and working on the character. During this phase, focus on the values and the greyscale. Defining the values helps the character's design to stand out and the clothes and accessories won't blend into each other.

Tähän tulee video, joka on noudettava Risestä.

Start with few different values and add more if there's a need for them. The aim is to make the character clear to read even from far away, so zoom out the image from time to time. This way it's easy to determine if the design is working well.

The example knight Shoshanna gets her first render and design during this value phase. The armor goes thru many changes, but the idea of it still stays the same. The same goes for the cape around the waist. The final design is getting closer and closer. Depending on your preferences and habits, you can use more layers than just one.

The Difference Is Obvious

Continue Rendering

Tähän tulee video, joka on noudettava Risestä.

Now that the base values are set, it's time to continue the rendering process. If some elements don't work, now is the good time to make bigger changes. For example, Shoshanna's armor got the biggest fix. To make things symmetrical, click the symmetrical tool beside the brush size bar.

Now that the first render is done, the design can be pushed even further. Next up, colors.