He's hot-headed, he's red, and he's angry.
That's right, we're talking about Anger (Inside Out). He's basically the embodiment of anger, wrapped up in a (pretty) cute exterior.
If you want to broaden your skills as an animator and graphic designer, we're going to teach you how to create the character of Anger, drawn by dcjoshi75. In this project we're going to use Adobe Photoshop CS6.
Note: Learning how to draw this cartoon character will take about 4 hours.
The first step to creating an anger cartoon character is to select a page preset in Photoshop. This will essentially determine the page settings to the type and size that suits your requirements.
In our case, the page preset will be: 2048x2048 pixels.
Our preferred resolution will be 300 pixels.
Once you have set the page presets, create a rough sketch of your anger character on a new layer. Learn to use a pen tablet in order to get the perfect sketch right from the beginning. The learning process may require a little practice on your part but it will be well worth it in the end.
Alternatively, if you are good at hand sketching, you can make a rough base sketch on paper, scan the image, and then import it to Photoshop.
Give yourself a little leeway of your sketch is a bit messy. The final product will not require the rough sketch so don’t sweat it.
Once you have your base sketch, create black outlines over the rough base – you should do so on a new layer. Make use of a basic hard brush and set the hardness to 100%.
Now make another new layer and start inking over the rough lines. Try to make them as clean and smooth as possible by doing one stroke at a time.
With the outlines in place, it’s time for you to color things in. start by creating a new layer and name it the part you want to color first. This will help you simplify the identification process should you need to edit things later. Here is an example: if you intend to start with the head, name the layer “Head”.
Next, select the head area with the magic wand tool.
You can then follow this process:
Expand the selected area by 2 pixels and this will cover the entire head.
Select the color that you want to fill in the space and press Alt + Backspace.
This should be followed by you pressing CTRL + D to remove the selected area.
Repeat the above steps for every part of the character that you want to color.
Note: Always create an extra layer for every body part you intend to color. That way, should you mess up, your base sketch remains unharmed and you don’t have to start the entire coloring process from scratch.
With the color of your anger character completely filled, it’s time for you to determine that point from which light should emanate. The light source will determine the direction of the shadows and highlights on your character. In the case of this project, the light source will be on the left side.
With the light source determined, it’s time to start shading. Select a color tone that is darker than the one on the character’s part you want to color. For example, if you want to start adding shadows to the head, select a darker color than the one you used on that part- dark red in this case.
Create a new layer and then change its blending mode to multiply.
Set the brush opacity to 40% and hardness to 35%.
With that, start painting on the places where you think the shadows should be.
Repeat the above process for every part of the character. If you have no idea of where to begin, take your time to study and observe light sources and their shadows in order to realistically portray the effect of light on your characters.
With the shading process complete, you should start on highlighting the anger animated character in order to show where the light is coming from. So, instead of using darker shades, color the head parts near the light source a lighter color. You can do this by changing the blending mode to screen and then highlighting every body part.
This step involves giving our cartoon character an in-depth feel in order to make him standout. Here is how we are going to do that:
Increase the darkness of the selected head color and then decrease the opacity to 20%.
Paint the area where the shadows should be the darkest shade.
Select the highlighted head color and follow the same process. You can paint the lightest area on the left side.
Follow the above steps for every body part of the character.
It’s time to add a rim light from the right side of the character in order to make him seem cool and more realistic.
Start by creating a new layer and name it whatever you want. Select the head as the first part that will undergo lightening.
Follow the process below:
Select an appropriate color that you would like to paint on the rim side – normal white in this case.
Set the opacity to 30% and hardness to 40%.
Start painting on the rim side slowly and then move onto every other part of the character.
Begin to add little details on the eyes by making your brush size very small. Select a lighter color and paint the eye with it.
Add a little white to highlight the eye and give it a finished look.
Create a new layer, name it “headflames”, and select a yellow color. Set the brush hardness to 20% and opacity to 50%.
Start painting the flames, mix into it a darker and then lighter yellow and lighter red colors in order to give the whole look a realistic feel.
Add a gradient to the background to complete your work.
Now It's Your Turn To Bring Your Cartoon Character To Life!
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