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RENDER A STYLIZED CARTOON CHARACTER
Luis Yrisarry Labadia details his complete cartoon character workflow from start to finish
In this tutorial you will learn my step-by-step workflow for creating a cartoon character, starting from a 2D concept illustration to a fully rendered 3D character. After working on some characters for the Tom and Jerry movie I wanted to do a cartoon character, and this cool alien hunter kid concept by the amazing Cory Loftis got my attention. It has lots of personality and is full of attitude! I really want to thank him for allowing me to share this project based on his concept art.
For cartoon characters the main rules are stay simple, less is more! Proportions are key, try to avoid straight and parallel lines, and exaggerate features as much as you need! Try to revisit your progress often and add notes to it, I found paint overs really useful for this. Also listening to people is important, in this case Leo Rezende helped me a lot with really good insights about cartoony style to take this project to the next level.
01 ANALYSE THE CONCEPT AND PLAN AHEAD
The first step is always the preparation and planning stage for the project. So start studying the concept and try to understand the most important aspects. Then you should decide how to approach the 3D execution, like how stylized you wanted to go and what are the biggest challenges to overcome. On this project I spent some time playing around with the idea of sculpted hair or proper grooming, and I ended up with the grooming because I felt inspired by the movie Onward that was released recently.
02 DISSECT THE CHARACTER
Split up all the different areas to have a general idea of what is needed. Clothing, hair, body, hard-surface accessories… This guide will be useful to keep the project organised and to set a plan to meet deadlines. This is key in every production and helps you to focus on what is more important. Also thanks to this guide you will be able to know when you need to cut corners when a specific stage is taking up too much time.
03 SET YOUR PROJECT IN MAYA