Welcome to my character design page! This page is to showcase my design capabilities. Below is my artistic process for creating Keana, who is meant to be a part of the "Avatar: The Last Airbender" universe. I will include a small explanation for each collection of images below as I walk you through my design process. My final design is shown above, but is also shown at the end of this page as I conclude my process.
The first step was to create an inspiration board so I could get a feel for what I wanted the character to be. The series following "The Last Airbender", was "The Legend of Korra" and it took place many years after the events of the first series. This series had a 1920's feeling to it based on the technology available to the characters. My thought was that logically, following the events of "The Legend of Korra", the timeline would continue and the next series could possibly have a 70s or 80s feeling to it. So, I began a Pinterest board of images that gave me an 80s feeling/vibe. This was just to get an idea of what kind of feeling I wanted the character to have. Some of the images below are fashion oriented, some are more about the beauty standards of the time, and some are just images that make me think of the 80s. The only thing I knew that I wanted at this point was that I wanted my character to use skates to somehow enhance her bending ability (some of the characters in these series' can control the elements, they are called benders). I later decided she would be a fire bender.
By the way, if you are interested in seeing the board on Pinterest, here is the link: https://www.pinterest.com/bgreer16/avatar-80s/
The first step was to create an inspiration board so I could get a feel for what I wanted the character to be. The series following "The Last Airbender", was "The Legend of Korra" and it took place many years after the events of the first series. This series had a 1920's feeling to it based on the technology available to the characters. My thought was that logically, following the events of "The Legend of Korra", the timeline would continue and the next series could possibly have a 70s or 80s feeling to it. So, I began a Pinterest board of images that gave me an 80s feeling/vibe. This was just to get an idea of what kind of feeling I wanted the character to have. Some of the images below are fashion oriented, some are more about the beauty standards of the time, and some are just images that make me think of the 80s. The only thing I knew that I wanted at this point was that I wanted my character to use skates to somehow enhance her bending ability (some of the characters in these series' can control the elements, they are called benders). I later decided she would be a fire bender.
By the way, if you are interested in seeing the board on Pinterest, here is the link: https://www.pinterest.com/bgreer16/avatar-80s/
After I made the board, I started brainstorming some ideas. I wanted to draw inspiration from the board, but keep it true to the style of Avatar. I did a couple of studies on the art style of Avatar before beginning this project. Some key things that I noticed were that it had very clean looking line art, the character design could be very complex at times, but even the complex designs were broken down into simple shapes. There's also simple shading and a variety of colors are used for skin tones. There are specific sets of colors used for each nation as well. The fire nation mostly has various shades of red and gold; and grey, brown, and white are used as accent colors.
At first, I started thinking that perhaps my character would not adhere to the fire nation color palette, because there are so many bright colors in my Pinterest board. Also, a main theme of the show and follow-up series are all of the nations coming together to live in harmony. I then realized that another reason for having specific color palettes could be due to the nature of the show. Since the shows are aimed at a younger audience, it is probably much easier to tell what kind of bender each character is if they have set colors that they wear. So then the problem became how can I show a blending of the nations while still keeping the fire nation colors? I decided that the solution should lie in the design itself. I could incorporate the styles of other nations into my design. This element, in hindsight, is something I could have probably pushed more. I noticed that the Earth Kingdom characters had lots of layers of clothing, and usually had long garments. The Air Nomads had baggy, breezy clothing. The Water Tribes had lots of furs and coats since they live in a cold climate. Lastly, the Fire Nation had lightweight clothing because of the hot climate. A lot of nobility also had very large shoulder spikes on their armor and I noticed a popular style for younger women was to have their midriff showing.
Keeping all of these styles in mind, I sketched my first three designs, shown below. My first idea incorporated a lot of layers of clothing, but the design didn't feel like it fit in the universe. My next design hit a little closer to the mark, it included an 80s style hairdo and I found a way to incorporate those shoulder spikes, as shoulder pads were also in style during the 80s. My last design was Air Nomad influenced. I really like how air bender pants look and I wanted to include something breezy in my design. I think it would make sense for a skater to want to wear lightweight clothing! These sketches were initially intended to be just that; sketches. But, before I knew it I was practicing my line art and adding color!
At first, I started thinking that perhaps my character would not adhere to the fire nation color palette, because there are so many bright colors in my Pinterest board. Also, a main theme of the show and follow-up series are all of the nations coming together to live in harmony. I then realized that another reason for having specific color palettes could be due to the nature of the show. Since the shows are aimed at a younger audience, it is probably much easier to tell what kind of bender each character is if they have set colors that they wear. So then the problem became how can I show a blending of the nations while still keeping the fire nation colors? I decided that the solution should lie in the design itself. I could incorporate the styles of other nations into my design. This element, in hindsight, is something I could have probably pushed more. I noticed that the Earth Kingdom characters had lots of layers of clothing, and usually had long garments. The Air Nomads had baggy, breezy clothing. The Water Tribes had lots of furs and coats since they live in a cold climate. Lastly, the Fire Nation had lightweight clothing because of the hot climate. A lot of nobility also had very large shoulder spikes on their armor and I noticed a popular style for younger women was to have their midriff showing.
Keeping all of these styles in mind, I sketched my first three designs, shown below. My first idea incorporated a lot of layers of clothing, but the design didn't feel like it fit in the universe. My next design hit a little closer to the mark, it included an 80s style hairdo and I found a way to incorporate those shoulder spikes, as shoulder pads were also in style during the 80s. My last design was Air Nomad influenced. I really like how air bender pants look and I wanted to include something breezy in my design. I think it would make sense for a skater to want to wear lightweight clothing! These sketches were initially intended to be just that; sketches. But, before I knew it I was practicing my line art and adding color!
This next set of drawings was a true brainstorming session. I took what I liked and left out what I didn't like from my first three ideas and made a new set of ideas. I made a list of things that I wanted to make sure I included and labeled my drawings as I saw necessary. I had a lot of fun drawing different poses and thinking about how this character would fire bend using her skates. It was important for me to think about not only how she would skate but also what makes sense with her outfit from a functional standpoint. Take my first drawing from above for example. It would not make sense for this character to wear a dress because if she is skating she is probably falling down a lot or getting close to the ground. A dress just doesn't make for as much mobility. It would, however, make sense for her to wear kneepads or elbow pads for that exact reason. I still wanted to experiment with this character having more of a girly side though, so I included a skirt in some designs. I eventually decided on no skirt, as you will see in my final design. I also had the thought that maybe this character is a roller derby player. There are lots of examples of different games in the Avatar universe and I think that would be something that fits the feeling of the show. It also gives her a reason to wear skates all the time!
Ta da! Here is my final design. I named her Keana, following the style of the show's Japanese influenced names. I looked up different Hiragana when deciding her name. This is my first time making a character turn around, but I have come to realize the importance of doing so when working for an animated show like Avatar. A character sheet tells animators exactly what the character looks like, and facial expressions give limits to how far their face can express emotions. Overall, I had a lot of fun on this project. I enjoyed the challenges that came along the way, and I'm very happy with the end result. Please feel free to check out my other artwork, digital or otherwise by browsing the categories under the "Artwork" tab at the top of the screen. Thank you for looking!