Character design: the Warbot MkIV!

For the last 10 years I've designed vehicles, environments and characters for all sorts of games, but what I enjoy most is designing characters. In this project, I show you how to create a character 'turnaround' for an imaginary cartoon game for children, based on one of my own creations, the 'King of Space'. I start off with very rough sketches, develop a more finished design, and then create a sheet that provides all the information a game's 3D character modeller might need.

A long time ago, a best-selling computer game would be made by one bespectacled computer 'geek', sitting in his bedroom tapping away on his Commodore 64. He would do everything: he'd design the game, write the code, and do all the artwork himself. Then he'd test it (with a mate), have a few-thousand cassettes manufactured, and even do the box art himself.

Twenty-five years later, that same computer geek is probably sitting in a swanky office, wearing more-expensive glasses, contemplating the logistics of his latest title, and just how many hundred staff will be required to get the game to market in three years' time. And amongst the project managers, producers, assistant producers, programmers, game designers, 3D artists, texture artists, sound technicians and game testers, two or three concept artists - and turnaround sheets - will probably be required.

Click here to download the support files (59.3MB)

Click here to download the tutorial for free