Create Characters in Adobe Illustrator!Â
ABOUT THIS MINI-CLASS
Learn how to use vectors in Adobe Illustrator to design new characters. Jannie will teach you the basics and demonstrate how she creates her illustrations, thumbnails her stories, and exports files to share with editors.Â
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
Lesson 1: Adobe Illustrator & Vector Basics​
- Overview of Illustrator: Pros and Cons
- How to Use Tools
- Place a Sketch into Illustrator
- Practice Tracing with the Pen Tool​
Lesson 2: Play! Creating Characters​
- Draw Directly in Illustrator
- Use Grayscale and Color
- Play with Shapes and Sizing
- Design Characters with Guidelines
- Add Texture and Patterns
- Create Different Characters in a Lineup Sheet ​
Lesson 3: Set Up for Book Creation
- Customize Simple Backgrounds
- Play with Horizon Lines
- Move Elements Around
- Determine Best Character Placement
- Export in Different Formats
- Get Thumbnail Templates
- How to Save Thumbnails as a PDF
MEET YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Jannie Ho has been an illustrator of children's books for more than ten years. Her work has appeared in both trade and educational books, magazines, toys, crafts, and digital media. Currently based out of Boston, MA, she's also known as Chicken Girl. Jannie (pronounced Jane-nee) received her BFA in illustration at Parsons The New School of Design in New York. After graduating, she worked as an in-house graphic designer at Nickelodeon, Scholastic, and an art director at TIME Magazine for Kids. She left to pursue illustrating full time and hasn't stopped drawing since.