mollycarroll

Thank you!

Wow, thank you so incredibly much for your kind words and all the likes!!! It really means a ton, I'm very grateful my work spoke to you.

There are certain skills that a character/creature designer need to have a solid grasp of to work commercially. You will need to practice these skills though out your life and continue to develop. Even when you are working professionally, you will need to find time to work on these things:

- Learn to really "see". You can draw from anatomy books and copy the styles of other artists, but unless you are actively analyzing your subject and applying what you learn to your work, the full potential of what these activities can teach will not be reached. Something I really wish I started doing sooner was studying animal anatomy. I've been visiting zoos, studying books, sketching, doing anatomy studies, etc for around 5 years now and I feel more capable than ever. I always struggled with structure, form and my work feeling consistent. I thought the exercises to improve these aspects were boring or that they might hinder my personal style. But as I slowly, painfully slogged through it, I started to enjoy these exercises and learned to work what I had observed into my personal work.

- Do you want to be a character designer for games? animation? toys? All three? What goes into creating art for these fields? Why do turnsheets, key poses, animation tests, etc exist and why are they presented the way they are? Really dig deep into the processes of these fields and create work that helps you learn how to do these things. A few basics skills a character designer has to be able to demonstrate include: drawing characters consistently, exploring a wide range of potential character designs and being adaptable to the needs of a project. Look at making ofs, concept art books, interviews, etc and try to create work that serves a similar purpose to the production of a project.

- Work with others. Many character design jobs require you work in a team, so practice the skills needed to work with other artists. Short collaborative projects, like comic jams and game jams, are a good place to start.

- Explore your creativity and figuring out your personal creative voice. The fundamentals learned through the previous points will be your base, but what you offer that is uniquely your own is ultimately what will get you hired. That appears to be exactly what you are already doing: your drawing a lot, creating work in styles that appeal to you and drawing subjects that interest you. Keep that up!

I did a Ted X Talk a while back about my creative journey and how I came to the point I am at now. It might be helpful to you to know what struggles I encountered and the lessons I learned along the way: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf95Qn…

If you have any other questions then please let me know!