Character Design Workshop with Bianca Ansems

Today we did a workshop with character designer and storyboard artist Bianca Ansems. I had previously attended an online storyboarding workshop with her in September, and had learned a lot, so I was excited to learn from her again.

This time I learned a lot about what to include in a Character Design portfolio, and about the various things character designers do when working on a film or series. It was very exciting and inspiring.

We then had an hour and a half in which to design a character, following 7 questions by Konstantin Stanislavski. We also were asked to present our development and to show 3 neutral turnaround poses.

I hadn’t ever drawn turnarounds before for characters, so I was a bit daunted, but I ended up really really enjoying it. I especially loved developing my character, and I’m planning to develop it further, seeing different directions it could go in, and taking on board Bianca’s feedback. For example, because I described my character Beanie as being “shaped like a blunt potato”, she suggested designing his arms and legs as roots sprouting from a potato. This is a really exciting idea and I’m looking forward to working it into his design.