Cartoon Design

Moodboard








First I created a mood board of different cartoon characters. I decided that I wanted to design a cartoon animal so I focused it mainly on animals. Finding these images was helpful because it helped me to see which style I would like to use e.g. 2d or more of a 3d, basic and simplified or detailed. I took inspiration for my final design mainly from the 2D images like tweety but I also took the idea of shading to give a more 3D appearance like on the baby daisy duck and tinkerbell.


Annotations

Next I found a variety of different cartoon characters and annotated them with the style, facial and body features and emotional appearance. Doing this helped me to see which styles and I liked best and thought were most effective and gave me inspiration for the different facial features and emotions you can use on a character to show their personality. The biggest inspirations to my final design from the two pages were the shading and highlights on the pink rabbit in the bottom right corner of the first page and also on the simpsons character lisa and blaze the cat. I also took inspiration from the rounded edged bubbly style of tweety bird and the bright colour scheme of mini mouse because I think this helps the character stand out but helps give a softer cuter look to it because of the round edges.

Initial Ideas

First I created a page of initial ideas. I experimented with different styles and body and facial feature shapes before deciding on the giraffe. I chose the giraffe because I liked the bubbly rounded edged style as it gave a soft and cute look to it and I think it was the most effective as it is original and has personality because I gave it a more human style body with it standing up and the clothes and I think it would work well in colour as lots of different colours could be used on the various parts to it.


Development

I then experimented with some developments by changing the pose, outfits, tail and ear shape and adding some tufts on the hair. After looking at these and the original I decided to stay with the original design because I think it was the most effective as I wanted to keep it simpler because the basic giraffe is already quite decorative as they have a lot of features and the spots so I didn't want to add too many elements and over do it.

Next I drew up the design in black pen so that the lines would show up on the computer when I put it into photoshop. I kept out all colour so that I could do all the fills on photopshop because I wanted a professional finish.

One I had got the photo of the drawing into the computer I placed it into illustrator and live traced it. The lines weren't perfect so I filled in any gaps with the paintbrush tool using black.

The proportions of the two arms weren't even so I erased the arm and drew it back in using the paintbrush tool.

I then transferred the image into photoshop and used the paint bucket tool to fill in the outlines with colour. I chose quite bright colours and I think this looks effective because it makes the character stands out and adds more of a fun, happy personality to it because this was the style of character I was going for.

I wanted to add a little more depth and texture to the design so I experimented with a couple of effects on the overalls. First I tired a colour halftone effect but I think this was a bit too much because it overpowered the rest of the design and took attention away from the rest of the giraffe.

Next I tried a mezzotint effect and I think this was effective because it adds a distressed denim look texture to the overalls but is subtle and doesn't over power the rest of the design.

Finally I wanted to give the design even more depth and also give it a slightly 3D look so I used the burn tool on the edges to add more of a shadow. I think this was really effective because it added depth and makes the cartoon stand out on the page. I then added a highlight using the dodge tool to emphasise the 3D effect and I think this helped add more dimension to it and help it stand off the page even more.



Final Design

This is my final design for the cartoon. Overall I think it is effective because I used bright colours and curved edges and big eyes to bring across the characters cuteness and happy personality and I think it also has depth because of the shading and highlights. I think it is original because I incorporated a giraffe with a human style body to turn the giraffe into the style of a cartoon. I think the colour scheme is effective because it gives a happy and fun personality to the giraffe and is bright so would stand off a page.

Tutorials

For this tutorial we adjusted the brightness of the image and added more greens and blues using colour balance to make the image more vibrant.

For this tutorial we added the bug in to the cup and to make it look more realistic and like it was coming out of the water we added a ripple effect and blended the bugs body into the water using layer masks. We also added shadow under the foot using the brush tool and reducing the opactity of the grey.

For this tutorial we had a basic potato head and a sheet of facial features which we cut out using the lasso tool and then cut them from that document and on to the potato head.

For this tutorial we used layer masks to blend two images together, created the sun at the top and added a drop shadow glow around the edge, and used the image adjustments to change the colours. We also made the beam of light under the sun using opacity and layer modes.

For this we used the paint brush tool on a lowered opacity to change the colour of the animals fur and eyes.

This was made by using the layer mask to blend the three images together.

This tutorial involved using the lasso tool to cut the apple into two and then adding the zip (which was cut out using the magic wand tool and then placed on to the document) to hide the join and blending it with a drop shadow. The orange was then placed behind the other layers.

This tutorial involved using layer masks to blend the city with the buisness man image and then erasing the background of the fork and placing it in the foreground.

For this tutorial we placed shapes over the images (made using the shape tool) and then edited the colours using layer modes.

For this image we traced the outline of the sunglasses then copied the aeroplane image and pasted it inside the selection.

For this image we used layer masks to place the sky above the field, and then used image adjustments to enhance the colours.

I made this one by using the layer mask to add the northern lights and mountains in the background and enhanced the colours using the image adjustments. I cut out the dolphin from another image using the lasso tool and placed it into the document, blending it into the see using the layer masks.

For this collage we mixed together different images, shapes and textures and type and edited them using layer modes and by lowering the opacity.

For this tutorial we first selected the hair using the quick selection tool then edited the colour using image adjustments. We did the same for the eyes and lips then added the eyeshadow using the brush tool on a lowered opacity.

This tutorial involved making the background by adding a texture over red and blending it in using layer modes, adding the spotlight and placing the skin texture into the text by selecting it and clicking 'paste into' and then giving it a 3D effect by using the burn tool on the edges and dodge tool to highlight. We also created the sliced effect on the 'i' by using the lasso to cut it in half and then adding the meat image by cutting it out using the lasso and placing it over the bottom half of the letter.

For this tutorial we used a variety of different techniques:

-We cut out the suit and placed it in the background and lowered the opacity

-We added the mask on the bottom half of the face again lowering the opacity

-We added the tree in the background, blending it in using a layer mask

-We added the woodern arms and adding shadows to them to blend them in better and then added the hands on the end

-We added the mask and then placed the image of the eye on top, blending it in using a layer mask

-Lastly we added the watercolour swirly texture on top and lowered the opacity and played around with the layer modes.

For this collage I started off with the bridge layer then I cut out the ballerina and pasted her on top, changing the layer modes and placing a duplicate behind to slightly blur the edges. I placed a newspaper texture over the ground and lowered the opacity and adding fairylights on top, making them black and white and changing the layer mode. I also added two different coloured patterned backgrounds to the sky area and lowered the opacity and changed the layer modes and finally I added the feathers and newspaper on top again playing around with opacity and layer modes.

This tutorial was based around colouring in the illustrations and to do this we selected the areas and used the paint bucket to fill them. I also added a gradient to some of the elements to give a more 3D effect. I also made the text at the bottom by using a basic typeface and using the 3D tool and to make the lines on the planet and the 'age' text I hand drew it with pencil, scanned it in and live traced it. I drew the shapes stuck to the planet with the pen tool and gave them an opaque fill.

For this collage we used layer masks to blend the four images together. Then we changed the colours to give them a summer warm tone using the image adjustments and added the shapes to the top and lowered the opacity of them.

For this collage we cut out plants using the magic wand tool and them duplicated and layered them together to create a symmetrical image. I also used the image adjustments to enhance the colours making them more vibrant.

Next we did a small brief where we went out and took pictures to create nature collages. We also collected things to scan in. Once everything was scanned in and uploaded we layered them together to create collages. This one was made by layering scanned in feathers over an image.

This is one of the smaller elements I made by using the tree to create the shape of the letter. To do this I placed the shape over the letter and removed the excess background.

I used the same technique for this one.

I used a similar technique for this one but instead of removing the fill of the shape I kept it and just lowered the opacity to give the tree a clearer outline.

This is one of the collages we came up with, mixing one of the elements I made with a scanned in leaf and then the outline of that leaf filled with one of the images we took.

This collage incorporates the '7'image I made and two pieces of photography. We then duplicated it and placed them together to make it symmetrical.

Research for holiday collage

For the research for my holiday collage I found images of existing digital collages that I thought were effective and could be an inspiration to me. I annotated them with how I thought it was made and this helped me when creating mine because I had an idea of how the effects in the best collages were created so that if I wanted to I could try it out in my own collage.

Developments/Final Idea

I chose the theme of winter for my holiday collage. To make this I mixed water colour textured backgrounds with ice and snow textures and then edited the colours using image adjustments and placed them together using layer modes to create the background. I also added the word winter which was written in snow on an image and I used layer modes and opacity to fade it. Finally for the background I added the tree and footsteps, blending them with layer modes and opacity. To make the snow globe I cut mountain shapes out of various winter images and layered them together to make mountains. I also edited the colours of these with image adjustments. I made the snowglobe by placing the mountains inside a circular shape and added a cracked glass texture and used a glass effect photoshop tutorial to create the effect of glass. I cut out the base from a real snowglobe and edited the colours to blend it and added an ice texture.

I also tried a different layout using baubles and used the same basic background and inner images, also making a new one for the second bauble using the same techniques. To make the baubles I found existing bauble glass casings and placed them on top of the pictures lowering the opacity and cut out the tops from existing baubles and placed them over the tops of the circles. I didnt like this design as much because I didnt get to use as many textures and techniques as the baubles needed to be the main focus so I found it was plainer and it was hard to get the strings to look realistic enough.

This is my final outcome for the collage which I edited by toning down the background colours to make the snowglobe stand out more and adding a glow around the edges again to make it stand out more as it is a similar colour tone to the background so needed something to lift it off the page.

Illustrator Tutorials

To make this monster I created the shapes using the shape tool and used the path finder to merge paths together when making the body and placing in the teeth. I also created shadows and highlights by duplicating the shapes and placing one in front in a light colour or behind in a darker colour for the big shadow.

For this tutorial I used the pen tool to create the basic outline and then filled the shapes in with specific colours requested on the tutorial. I used the gradient fill to make the gradients and for the text I drew a curved line on the edges of the circle and used the type on path tool to add the type.


My collages

The first thing I did was make the background and to do this I mixed together two different textures, changed the layer modes and also edited the colours to make them warmer using image adjustments. To make the woman I cut her out of the original photo using the lasso tool and placed her into the document. Then I copied her and added a colour halftone effect to get the dots and placed that behind as a shadow lowering the opacity. I then copied another one of these, lowered the opacity and changed the layer mode to lighten the image and placed this on top of the photo to give the dotted effect to her face. To make the flowers I made watercolour backgrounds and scanned them in and for the outlines on top I drew them, scanned them in and then live traced them and placed them over the backgrounds.

To make this collage first I used a watercolour for the background and lowered the opacity to tone it down. I found the image of the woman and edited the colours by duplicating it and changing the layer modes and I also added a layer with the colour halftone effect over the top to get a small texture over her and lowered the opacity of this. To make the butterflys I traced the outline of a butterfly shape and added the flowers in the middle using the path tool. To create the shadow I duplicated it, used the grain effect and placed it behind the butterfly layer and lowered the opacity. To make the skirt I used the same flowers as in the previous collage and placed a pink watercolour texture over the top and lowered the opacity so that mainly just the outlines of the flowers showed through instead of the colours. I also added some singular flowers and butterflys on to the skirt and just changed the layer mode and lowered the opacity to blend them in.

To make the background I used a colour half tone on a blue background and lowered the opacity to tone it down. I added the text and lowered the opacity again to make it more subtle. To make the flower collage I took pictures of flowers, removed the backgrounds using the eraser tool and layered them together. I then made this image into black and white and added the image of the camera also making that black and white and adding a drop shadow underneath it. I then placed another colour halftone over the whole poster and lowered the opacity.

To make this poster I used a block fill for the background and to make the chevrons I used the pen tool and increased the stroke of the lines and added the text into it. To make the flowers I took photographs of them, removed the backgrounds using the eraser/magic wand tools and layered them to make the circle. I edited the main text by moving the letters closer together to join them in the middle and used a brush tool to make the flowers and added a white circle in the background of the flower circle.