Visual Communication Staff | Vector Characters

For starters, here is the final image! To view my process, keep reading=) *click to enlarge*

For this final project we had to showcase our skills with a final object. I wanted to do something with people if I could because I know I’m not strong at them. So I asked if I should make characters of all our Visual Communication Faculty, or a city that bleeds into a forest, and everyone loved the Visual Communication Faculty idea. So get ready to meet Caryn Esplin, Joel Judkins, Eric Lybbert, Cory Kerr, Ben Pingel, and Katie Anderson! So I came up with some drafts, and I knew what I wanted them to look like for the most part, so I sketched different hair types, eyes, clothes, etc.

The sketches were supposed to be simple. I wanted these characters to be like icons, since there were several of them, but I wanted them to have more detail. So I kept designs simple and small.

I then made basic drafts of gray blobs for each person.

I wanted to keep the outline of them/large details with a thicker stroke, and the details to be a thinner stroke. I found a design like that that I liked so I kept that style throughout the characters.

Some feedback that I received once I furthered the characters was some color changes, gap changes, and most of all character changes. I would ask each teacher what they wear, how their hair was, and creepily stare at them during class so I could design them later. I then came up with this final design! *click to enlarge*

I was impressed to see that it was a huge hit! People thought that it was not only hilarious, but a great design. This made me feel great because I knew making people was not my strongest point. I pleased my audience, my skills grew, and I was able to show my skills in a simple and sophisticated way.