Three character illustrations: a bug, a robot, and a monster. These types were chosen to help break free from conventional appearances and proportions.
Designed for a Principles of Communication Design course with Professor Ahmed Fadaam to practice character illustrations and expand my skillset.
Made in Adobe Illustrator.
4 x 4 inches
A stag beetle going to the beach.
For this character, I challenged myself by depicting it on an angle. It was difficult to create realistic highlights and shadows based on the light angle, especially for the beach towel. I also struggled with angling the arms and legs to create an anatomically correct standing pose while having the beetle appear excited to go to the beach. This project taught me a lot about object shadows and perspective.
Stag Beetle color palette
4 x 4 inches
A lamp robot. The idea for this character is intentionally silly: the robot's sole purpose is to be a portable source of light. It can twist itself open and walk around to where it is needed.
This character challenged my highlight and shadow skills differently. Here, the light source is the character, which results in highlighted areas instead of shadows. The inside of the character's body is lighter than the outside, when usually the opposite would be true.
Light Robot color palette
4 x 4 inches
A cave monster that has lived almost its entire life in a cave. One day, it decided to venture out and lost its left eye in a fight while doing so.
Placing the character's arms was a challenge in this illustration. In my initial drafts, both arms were down by its side, but they blended into its body too much. To fix this and add some personality, I had it flex its left arm. I had to adjust the muscle shadows to compensate for this change, as well as figure out how to properly angle the hand sideways.
Monster color palette
Sketches for the bug, robot, and monster characters. I iterated through many different characters and chose the one that had the most personality and distinct features.
