Concept Art

Inspiration

  • Jiangshi (Chinese Hopping Vampire)

  • Qi Lolita (Traditional Chinese styled Lolita fashion)

  • Wa Lolita (Traditional Japanese styled Lolita fashion)

  • Ghost

  • Doll

Reference

Final Illustration

Model Illustration Timelapse

Model Animation Showcase

Animation via Face Tracking

Posed Animation

Hello! My name is Sarah and I'm a graduating senior at the University of Texas at Dallas and majored in Design and Production in ATEC.

Artist Statement

My design process usually goes by sketching things out, making multiple variations, which I then choose a draft to finalize and add or subtracts aspects of it I like or do not like based on the other drafts I have drawn. I then use the draft as a guidelines for my work and change it as needed while finalizing my artwork.
I enjoy making creative works because that is how I express my interests to others and I want others to enjoy them too.
I really resonate with digital illustration because of the amount of things the software allows you to do as well as the incline in digital based artwork. But before I used digital, I was very into watercolors because of the texture and different techniques you could use but also the layering properties of watercolor. I am also now venturing into combining my illustration skills along with animation based in 2D work, as you can see with the project presented.I take a lot of inspiration from Anime and Video games, along with the genre of fantasy. I grew up with a lot of these subjects so they have impacted me greatly via my art style as well as the type of things I draw, with characters playing a big role in my artwork. I love working in this style due to the variety of hairstyles, outfits, and looks a character can have from these mediums. It makes the designs from said mediums unique, different, and interesting to look at. Some big inspirations I draw from are games by Square Enix as well as League of Legends. Both have unique character designs while Square Enix has designs that also contain a compelling story.

This capstone project is centered around the creation of a 2D animated character.

Applications

This project was illustrated in Clip Studio Paint and animated in Live 2D Cubism. Showcase videos were done in Adobe Premiere Pro and the face tracking application used was Vtube Studio.

Process

The character was first sketched out with different hair styles, clothing options, and color schemes:

After finalization of design, illustration starts. During the illustration process, parts of the character are drawn on separate layers to ensure smoother movement when animating. Everything that moves on its own must be illustrated in its own separate layer.
The illustration is then transferred into the animation program (Live 2D), where you can give motion to each desired part with parameters. After all the parameters are done, and each object is given its desired movement, it can then be animated with keyframes within Live 2D or transferred to a program like Vtube Studio where you can control the character's movement via face tracking.