Final Design

At this point, making a final illustration of the character is possible, as you know how it’s built, how it looks, and its design details. In Figure 5.8, you can see a final version of Jim. This level of quality is unnecessary for a preliminary design, but it helps us become familiar with the character to learn about him and understand his proportions and features. Also, it will sometimes even identify any potential problems in the character’s design when you try to pose it and watch it from a particular perspective; for example, some pieces of the suit might not work properly in certain positions. Usually, when creating a complex character, concept artists will do a lot of illustrations like this to make sure the character looks not only cool but also realistic.

Figure 5.8 Using the final design to create an illustration of Jim

In the downloadable files for this book, you can find a video showing the painting process for this illustration.