JUNE 2019 CHARACTER DESIGN WORKOUT
COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COMT
he work of Julian Glander is instantly
recognisable: pastel hues, cute, strange,
occasionally blobby character designs
that are entirely his own. For him, a
signature style is crucial.
“It’s important to have something that’s a
designator, whether that’s the visual style, the
sense of humour, or the way they play with the
forms or mediums they’re working with. There
are artists who reinvent themselves and do
something new with every project, but being a
chameleon is a style, too. Having a continuity
online is nice, so that people know it’s you.
Having a signature visual style means I can
focus on the writing, and what’s happening to
my characters, not just what they look like.”
For Glander, the beauty of using Blender to
work in 3D is that once you’ve made the
models, you can work pretty quickly. “You can
get the characters in as many angles and
poses as you like without redrawing them.
“My advice is start small, keep it
simple and save your files a lot. I think
Blender’s biggest advantage is you can
prey much do whatever you want in
it. You can spend all day ensuring your
textures look different or building up
layers – there are infinite possibilities.
What’s important is going in with
some constraints. I always limit myself
to three colours and make sure certain
things always look the same. Having
those defaults means I’m able to
concentrate on unique elements in my
art. I also give myself time constraints.
It’s fun to keep adding detail and make
them dense and keep adding layers. It
can make your art look beautiful, but it
can make things messy, too.
If you’re interested in 3D you don’t
have to wait for someone to teach
you. It’s all online for free. I learned
everything from YouTube tutorials.
Blender is a free program and it’s open
source. I’ve had times were I can’t do
something and I’ve posted in a forum
and someone posted a script in there.”3D CHARACTER DESIGN with Julian Glander
JULIAN
ON
USING
BLENDERI have a whole pipeline figured out that’s very
specific: part of my focus and practice is
making that [process] really quick, so I’m
always looking for shortcuts.”
So what makes an effective character artist
today, in a world of characters and images?
Glander recommends that to make things
stand out, “a big face is good: the classic baby
stuff like big eyes or a simple silhouette.” He
adds: “I don’t want to sound like an expert in
character design as I’m very instinctive. I think
about what they have to have: so if someone is
going to pick something up, I’ll give them
hands; if they’re walking, they’ll have feet.
Otherwise they might just be a floating head.
“I know I’ve hit on something good when a
bell goes off in my head. I might put a triangle
on a character’s head, and that doesn’t work;
then I put a square there instead and it does.
I follow my instincts. I’m just completely
goofing around. I have no proper experience.”This page (clockwise from
left) Peeking, Existential
Void, Footpad, Muscleman- all examples of Julian
Glander’s humourous
character work.