who's ready to learn how to design some [Music] fakon hey all you nerds Gabe AKA fry art here and if you clicked on this video you are ready to design some Fon of your very own now this is the second of a three-part series and if you haven't watched the episode on creating a strong concept you need to go back and watch that you know I know it's exciting to put pen to paper and start drawing but you'll be more successful if you have a good conceptual base to work from so go watch that if you haven't link down below and then come back here all right we're ready okay let's start this lesson communicating your concept It's always important to remember that the objective is always going to be to evoke the imagery themes and mood of your concept you don't want to over complicate your design or add any elements that don't serve the theme this is a great way to trim the fat as you go so always keep your Concept in play and with this firmly situated in your mind you are ready to start sketching out your fake Amon now I'm going to be going over some fundamental aspects of character design next now you could take multiple courses covering this stuff but I'll do my best to distill it down to what I found is most relevant to fake Amon design shape language these are shapes they're pretty neat and not not only can you use them to build a character but those shapes have their own Associated personalities what a shape has a personality well that's just bananas well it's more that we as a human society have observed these shapes around us and collectively agreed that certain shapes communicate certain things for instance circles are approachable soft kind squares are solid strong and reliable and triangle are Dynamic sharp dangerous and unpredictable as an example all right here are three simple human forms created using those different shapes it's pretty apparent that these featuress humans have completely different personalities and shapes like these are used everywhere in Pokémon designs soft circles sturdy squares and pointy triangles are used to create some of the most iconic Pokémon shapes just they have so much power and especially for Pokemon which should be relatively clean and simple so you should be focusing on what shapes to use to convey your theme and personality before you ever get to any of the fiddly details for example let's take a look at what shapes I could use for the ancient platypus line that I created for the paleen region I want the first stage to be pretty adorable weird but approachable so using primarily circles and soft curves feels appropriate and since the second stage has some Frankenstein influences and Frankenstein's monster is a slow lumbering brute will bring in some sturdy squares though of course since we want this design to still have a little sweetness to it we won't be afraid to soften some of those corners but yeah these feel about right and I hope you have some good shapes for your designs okay what's next proportions and scale it's always great to be able to look at a design all on its own and not only understand how big it is but what its most important features are I am really simplifying character design fundamentals here but it's all about how the size of different parts of the design relate to one another and the easiest way to show this is with scale by simply increasing the relative size of the head and eyes in your design you can shrink down its perceived size a perfect example is from the most recent gen charet with its comically large head we understand that this is a wee little guy and this is all the more apparent when we compare it to its Evolutions smaller head and we instinctively know this ain't no baby anymore but there's more to do with proportions than communicating scale are there any aspects of the character that you want to showcase is it a big bulky tank so perhaps the Torso would dominate the design is it a heavy hitter able to punch through anything well then make the arms gigantic is it fast and agile so it needs long legs is it an artist I don't know so it uses its hands there are so many different ways that you can play with proportions to show what makes your character unique as another example let's look back at our platypi platypuses monot designs proportions of the first one are no problem all right we know that it's essentially going to be just a ball and to communicate the it is small and adorable most of that ball is going to be the head the second stage needs to feel much larger with an emphasis on a big Frankenstein forehead and Powerful upper body Okay so we've got our shapes and our proportions roughly figured out what do we do with those readability and silhouette now it has been said that a great character design should be recognizable from just the silhouette I mean that's how you end up with Homer Squidward and this horrifying monstrosity and Pokémon have this down to a science I mean just look at the anime for an example of how well they do it so what can you bring to your design that will give it a recognizable silhouette can you exaggerate any of the features or have something protrude you know just a hair more perhaps your silhouette is actually too busy and you may need to simplify an area because not only do we want our character to be recognizable from the sil silouette but people should have a general idea about what the character is this is where you need to strike a balance between details right that make it identifiable and details that could clutter the design in the end this is Pokemon so you're going to want to air on the simple side most of the time let's take a look at our designs and see how the silhouette is looking it's not bad but we could use a couple small details to break up the overall shape since it is all stitched together how about we just add a couple Fly Away threads they're both still super clean Silhouettes but just that little bit of extra detail will make them easier for a viewer to identify at a glance all right so you've got a design that utilizes shapes proportions and even has a distinct silhouette what do you do with all that now pose and expression this is where you get to breathe life into your creation rather than feeling like a flat illustration an intentional pose and expression can bring much needed personality to your fakon so spend some time thinking about how you can convey its attitude right is it sad and downtrodden with slumped shoulders and downward gazing eyes and a pouting mouth is it confident and aggressive you know head held high chest forward moving with purpose is it a sedentary design is it active and always moving around this is a great Point actually to pull in some additional reference images perhaps you want to see what a deer looks like as it is leaping through the air or the pose that a snake makes right before it strikes or even just someone who is too cool for school find a pose for the body and use the expression on the face to further sell that personality again everything should be serving the concept behind the design so this is your last big chance to elevate things let's take a look at the designs for our Franken platypuses well that initial doodle to figure out the first stage is pretty great all I want to do is change the angle so it isn't straight on and lean it back just a hair so it looks like it could topple backwards at any moment and now I also feel free to fill in the details of the design things that have been rattling around in my head until now you know as I was playing with the shape language and proportions I was able to think of what else I was going to be adding and in this case I can show both the rly poly body and the fact that it is stitched together from different parts at the same time by accentuating the folds as seams now the second stage proves a little bit more difficult the straight on view I had for the proportions obviously would not work we need something a little bit more Dynamic that it showcases the awkward lumbering movements this Fon would have though it is a sturdy design and usually that would mean keeping the feet planted firmly on the ground we're going to communicate that awkwardness with an outof balance pose as I draw this I'm also checking that my level of complexity is appropriate as this is a design that could easily go too far with different stitches and pieces and whatnot you will also see that I tweak the head position here this is to give the pose a better silhouette by letting the beak break the body outline after a bit more fine- tuning we've got a couple poses that feel Dynamic and fit with the concept so things are pretty strong we've sketched out a good design but what else should we be thinking about patterns and colors ah yes color depending on how you are sketching out your design it may be a little difficult to do this but it's always helpful to start playing with color and pattern on your design you don't need to be precise all right instead it's helpful just to plop some color options into or next to your design get an idea of where the colors may go and how they play together be sure to keep in mind that a successful Pokemon design usually operates with a very limited color palette with few exceptions designs stick to two or three primary colors this is also a great time to fine-tune any of the patterns or smaller details in general you know less is more when it comes to these elaborations so make sure that any patterns you use are extremely simple the last thing you want is to have put all that work into creating a great design and then muddy it up with an overly complex amount of detail or patterning again less is more in fact it's always a great exercise to see how much detail you can remove while still maintaining the Integrity of the design let's take a look at the color and patterns for our design remember that palette I grabbed earlier well I'm able to just start playing with colors right off of that this established color palette is particularly useful because I want some very different colors for my design you know it's an amalgamation of different parts but I still want to make sure that the colors gel with one another now as I'm playing with colors I am still making sure that they feel pokemony nothing too vibrant in general the colors are always a hair more subdued than you would first guess as far as the patterns are concerned that is going to come from the seams and where the different sections meet since I was careful to keep things minimal earlier all I have to do is just drop in some color and I'm good to go all right this is feeling like a pretty good design and I hope that you'll be able to use shape language proportions pose expression color and patterns all in service of the concept that you're trying to communicate this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the intricacies of character design but I hope that it has helped get your brain thinking about good fakon design if you are an aspiring artist you'll have to let me know how your fakon journey is going I want to hear all about it in the comments below and be sure to like And subscribe if you're finding this series helpful in the next and final episode I'll be going over the process of creating a finished fakon rendering all right later nerds