Character & Creature Creation, Escape Studios

Course description

Character & Creature Creation (12 weeks)

This practical course will teach you how to design and create your own characters and creatures before bringing them to life.

Over the course of the programme, you will learn how to design, model, texture and present your creations to a portfolio-ready standard.

This course has been developed with industry input from professionals and our industry-active tutors who’ve worked on the likes ofThe Lion King,GodzillaandDoctor Strange. At the end of the course, you will have a portfolio of character and creature creation work, as well as the skills and connections to kick-start your creative career.

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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