Build a Character in Illustrator → VCD – Bringing the drawing into Illustrator

Exploring Ideas
This section explores the criteria "Explore the visual arts practices and styles as inspiration to develop a personal style, explore, express ideas, concepts and themes in art works(VCAVAE040)Explore how artists manipulate materials, techniques, technologies and processes to develop and express their intentions in art works (VCAVAE041)."
- VCD – Ideas and developing a character concept
- VCD- Introduction to Illustrator, Create a cute panda bear face
Finding Inspiration
This section explores the criteria "Analyse and interpret artworks to explore the different forms of expression, intentions and viewpoints of artists and how they are viewed by audiences(VCAVAR045)Analyse, interpret and evaluate a range of visual artworks from different cultures, historical and contemporary contexts, including artworks by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to explore differing viewpoints (VCAVAR046)"
- VCD – Research
- VCD Skill building in Illustrator – Fun with the Pen tool!
Types of drawing
This section explores the criteria "Select and manipulate materials, techniques, and technologies and processes in a range of art forms to express ideas, concepts and themes (VCAVAV042)Conceptualise, plan and design art works that express ideas, concepts and artistic intentions (VCAVAV043)."
- VCD – Ideas for experimentation
- VCD – Character development time!
Exploring techniques
This section explores the criteria "plan and make their art works in response to exploration of techniques, technologies and processes used in the work of other artists. They demonstrate the use of materials, techniques, processes, visual conventions and technologies to express ideas and convey meaning in their artworks."
- VCD – Bringing the drawing into Illustrator
- VCD – Experimenting with techniques
Refining project
This section explores all the criteria, reworking, reassessing, considering intent, concept and technique.
- VCD – Reworking and finalising from experimentation
Final outcome and character backstory
This section explores the criteria "Create, present, analyse and evaluate displays of artwork considering how ideas can be conveyed to an audience (VCAVAP044)."
- VCD – Putting it all together

Build a Character in Illustrator

VCD – Bringing the drawing into Illustrator

Learning Intention: To learn how to bring the drawing into Illustrator
Success Criteria: Bring your work into Illustrator and start tracing it through brush, pen tool, or shapes

Here’s a checklist for students and teachers. This is what you should have ready so far:

Mind map
Character development sheet
Visual diary and Illustrator
3 artworks for reference
Experimented with Illustrator
Working towards completing 3 drawings of your character

Bring your drawing into Illustrator

Before you bring your drawing into illustrator, you need to have drawn it on paper. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. This is a really important skill. Spend some time drawing the head shape, the stance, the body. Refer back to the character development sheet you started with. What does your character do for job and what might it be carrying? The point to doing the drawing is not to do an amazing drawing at this stage, the point to the step is that it is a really close connection between your brain to you hand, and you need to use that, it’s a really quick process and you are unencumbered by the usage of Illustrator. Don’t draw in illustrator, use a pen and paper. This should be the cornerstone of your art practice always.

You need to do at least 3 pencil (preferred) or pen drawings of the character. Think about the way they might be standing, what they might be doing during a day. How you can communicate their emotion? Are they wide eyed and in wonder, are they angry – can you show this in the eyebrows? Are they fast and strong? Wearing a helmet? Have protective gear?

Review the artists drawings that you looked at. What is the line quality? Thick or thin? Is the head larger than the body? Does it have large eyes? What qualities do you want to include in your character?

For this character I have used the one I completed in the course called ‘Develop a creative idea for a character’, so my character has a gun, it has some iconic glasses and a lab coat. I want to really be able to use some sort of texture on the character, and give her some more personality as the current drawing looks a little bland. I will experiment further in Illustrator, but first I need to draw it out in Illustrator using the tools we have already explored. Of the three drawings you have done, choose the one that you think reflects the character and the mood you want to convey the best and move forward using that one.

The shape tool and the pen tool and place each part of the character on different layers so I can easily edit them. See the process below:


Bring the drawing of your character into Illustrator and place on a layer.	Select to change the opacity of the layer by selecting the layer and opening the appearance panel, choose Window – appearance – opacity and change the opacity to around 30 or 40 % depending on how dark the original is.	Make sure you save your work! Nothing worse than loosing all your hard earned time spent creating your character.

Start making shapes for all the different parts of the character. Make a new layer for each one	Here you can see all the outlines I have done, I’ve used the pen tool here to create the outlines	Here I have copied the shape of the head and made a nose shape and a mouth shape just through editing the anchor points

Here I am using the pathfinder tool like we did in the panda tutorial to make the mouth shape	Here is the mouth shape and I duplicated the nose shape so I still have it there.	I also need to make those nostrils so I’m shaping them out using the pathfinder tool and some circles

One side	And then it’s duplicated and reflected to make the other side	And the top of the nose. I’ve used anchor points to drag the shapes where I want them

Here I’m making the eye	A little like panda tutorial	Here I’m experimenting with the shape of the eye on a coloured in head shape

Here I’m shaping out the glasses	And colouring them as per my original drawing	Here I have finished the basic outline and colours that I have been working with. I think this one is a bit too friendly, I think the gun doesn’t look like it has a purpose and I know now that I want to make her a bit more full on.