Advanced Character & Creature Creation, Escape Studios

Course description

Advanced Character & Creature Creation

Learn how to master the art of characters and creature creation.

With this advanced course, you will learn how to design, model, texture and present your creations to a portfolio-ready standard. The practical course will also cover the technical character pipeline, including rigging, Python scripting and the simulation of cloth, fur and muscles, ready for a diverse range of technical roles in production.

By the end of the course, you will have a developed a portfolio of character and creature creation work, as well as the skills and connections to kick-start your creative career, with help from our Talent Development Team and industry-experienced tutors whose credits include The Lion King, Godzilla and Doctor Strange.

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Suitability - Who should attend?

To study this short course, you must:

Be over 18
Have a good understanding of written and spoken English
Feel comfortable using a computer.

Outcome / Qualification etc.

Some of the opportunities you can consider once you’ve finished your studies include:

CG Generalist
Character Artist

Training Course Content

Module 1 - Character and creature design

Character and creature design theory
- Moodboards
- The importance of research, body language and expressions
Tools and techniques for creating character and creature concepts
- Colour and background
- Beat boards
- Light and shadow
Using anatomy of characters and creatures in design choices
Analysing an established style to create character and creature concepts
Functional fashion in character and creature concepts
- Costume design
- Costume language
Establishing new styles
- How to prepare a character or creature design bible for animation, outsourcing and videogames, and a pitch for comic publishing

Module 2 - Character and creature modelling

Introduction to ZBrush
- Character and creature anatomy
- High-detail sculpting
Introduction to Maya
- How Maya works
- Retopology
- Anatomy
- Asset setup
Introduction to texturing
- Introduction to Substance Painter and Mari
VFX and games pipelines
- Differences and similarities
Lighting and rendering
- Rendering in Arnold and Unreal Engine
Presenting characters and creatures for portfolios
- Introduction to rigging for creating character poses
- Directed project time

Module 3 - Character and creature technical direction

Character rigging in Maya
- Creating advanced character rig setups
- Introduction to python
- How Maya really works
Creating cloth and soft surface simulations in
- Maya and Houdini
- FEM and Vellum workflows
Creating muscle systems in Maya
- Advanced anatomy
- Character FX pipelines
Fur and hair groom
- Long and short hair/fur with dynamics
Creating character cycles for presentation
- Walks and runs ready for final showreel presentation
Project catch-up week