CHARACTER DESIGN WORKOUT
COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COM- 45 -
JUNE 2019SPRING 2018
COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COM- 45 -
E
lenor Kopka has carved a highly unusual,
very original approach to animation and
illustration, using grainy textures and
shades of black, white and grey to
delineate characters that are both simple
and incredibly expressive.
Kopka’s distinctive style isn’t something she
says she does “on purpose or tactically,”
although the artist reckons it makes life easier
when working with commercial clients,
because “it certainly makes them trust you a bit
more, when they see what they can expect of
you. It makes people reach out to you, that
already like what you do so they know right
away that it will go well with whatever mission
they have in mind,” Kopka says. “Nobody ever
contacts me when they look for an animator
who does neon-coloured vector-based
infographics, and that’s great because I would
be terrible at that.”
Her process, while technically adept, is
largely based on instinct. Her characters are
deceptively complex: how else could
something like, say, an egg with a line for a
mouth and two inky black dots for eyes feel soalive? “Sometimes I get a character right on
the first sketch, sometimes it takes ages for me
to feel happy,” Kopka says. “It’s hard to tell
exactly why it works when it works, but I
believe that I need to feel some connection to
the character. It might feel alive or like it’s
coming from a ‘real’ place. When it finally feels
right, it’s undeniable and I know that I don’t
want to change it any more.”
A few years back, Kopka founded computer
games studio Ghostbutter with her brother
Konstantin. She’s learned a lot from gaming for
her multidisciplinary approach: “Things have to
be thought through in literally all directions [in
gaming]. There can’t be any gaps or holes in
the systems because the player will find them
all,” she says. “You can’t get too attached to
pretty visuals – if something doesn’t work in
the gameplay, it just gets thrown out again.
“So overall I learned how to let go of a bit
of control about how my graphics look once
they’re in the game. Then I started to really
enjoy the surprises that can occur, once all
graphics are implemented and suddenly get
combined in an unexpected way.”Opposite page (top)
Character tests
(below) still from
unofficial video for
Timber Timbre.Above and below
right MTV ident.Left Elenor’s
concept art for
Count Turnip.Most of Kopka’s work is created using
a mix of Photoshop, Aer Effects and
occasionally TVPaint Animation. “When
I started out, I wanted to do everything
manually. I come from a prey old-
school art academy where I did mainly
drawing and print graphics such as
lithography and woodcut for years,” she
says. “When I started experimenting
with animation, I soon realised that you
can be much quicker and go less insane
when you work digitally.
“It’s important that you are totally
comfortable with the soware in order
to use it freely. The programs I use now
feel like second nature. I don’t even
have to think about them anymore, and
to me that’s key.”
Kopka’s animation skills are mostly
self-taught through the plethora of
internet tutorials that are available.
Her advice for people starting out
in animation is to be unafraid to
constantly show your work to others –
”not wait until you feel like it’s perfect.”
She used to post her GIFs on Tumblr
every day: “Some of them were okay
but most were probably prey bad. But
it was ultra-motivating to know I was
puing my work out there and receive
real reactions to it.”ELENOR ON
GIF-BASED
ANIMATION