Your Personal Character

You've now finished Catgirl and she looks great (she does, doesn't she?), so now you will move on to creating a cartoon version of yourself. Keep in mind that when you did Catgirl you were learning the tools and practicing the skills necessary to create an awesome graphic. You will now put that knowledge and those skills to work creating a cartoon of yourself. Since you are applying skills learned over the past 20 tutorials, this section DOES NOT contain step-by-step instructions. Instead, it simply tells you what to do and assumes you know how to do it...because you did it already...or should have...if you didn't you are now flunking...sorry, but if that is the choice you made you'll have to live with it...of course, if that is the choice you made you are probably not reading this step right now, so forget I said anything... Remember that if you do not know how to do anything that you can always jump back to the tutorial where it was covered to refresh your memory - I've even included links back to the correct steps right in the directions below to make it easier on you...I know, I'm a great gal.

The information in this step is VERY IMPORTANT, so be sure you read EVERYTHING!!

Before we talk about steps and requirements, keep a few things in mind...

1. Your cartoon must convey a sense of story - in other words, a cartoon version of you simply standing still will get you a 70; your cartoon needs to be a snapshot of a larger event, with the action in the scene being easily identifiable by your pose and by the inclusion of background elements (believe it or not, the Catgirl's various incarnations [don't know that word? dictionary.com] all tell a story...one of a half-cat/half-girl and her love of restaurants)
2. When creating a background, you can choose to create either a photographic, custom, or cartoon version background (do not create a solid or artistic background - you will get NO credit for this), but keep in mind that how much credit you get for creating the background depends on what type of background you create (for example, a photographic background that requires no change to your character will get you very little credit, where a complete cartoon version background will get you the most credit)
3. You must show mastery and usage of all of the elements covered in the creation of Catgirl (these are discussed below)

Start thinking about what you want to do right now. If you are having difficulty coming up with something, I've put together a page of past student work to help get you started.

You will follow the same steps you followed when you created Catgirl to create your personal character...

4. Put your picture into your Personal Character folder. (NOT your main folder - actually go into your Personal character folder)
5. Open your picture in Photoshop and save it to your Personal Character folder as a Photoshop file named PC.PSD
6. Turn your picture blue (Step 02)
   • You don't have to turn it blue, but it will be much easier to ink if it is blue as the colors in the image will not interfere with your lines
7. Use freehand inking to ink the appropriate areas of your image (Step 06)
   • Do not ink on your blue image as you will be unable to remove the blue areas when you need to begin filling in color - add in a new blank layer above your blue layer and ink on that
   • Remember to only do the short lines; how much detail you add to your character is up to you (in other words, doing things such as creases in your clothes, etc. is up to you), but keep in mind that the more detail you add the more realistic your character will look and the higher your grade will be
8. Use path inking to ink the appropriate areas of your image (Step 07)
   • Remember that this is required for the longer lines in your image; do not freehand ink the entire image as this will get you no credit for the path inking requirement of the project
9. Create the Color layer (Step 08)
10. Color your image (Step 09)
    • It does not matter what colors you choose - in other words, you do not have to choose the same colors as the actual clothes you were wearing the day of the picture (in fact, you can change the clothes you had on if you really want to, you just need to draw in new ones); be careful using black as one of your colors as it will be impossible to differentiate the fill color from the black lines - this is true even if the clothes you had on were actually black; try using a different color...it will make this project go much easier
11. Include soft color (Step 10)
    • Use this to add definition to things such as your clothes and hair; remember that this color is generally a lighter color than the main color in the image (for example, if you have on a maroon shirt you might add a soft red color); keep in mind that your image may not lend itself well to the use of a soft color - it is ok not to have one...but it adds depth and definition if you do (translation: better grade!)
12. Include shade (Step 11)
    • You will need to define a light source (which way the light is shining from) in your graphic and use it to determine where to add shade - it is generally a good idea at this point to begin thinking about your background as this generally dictates your light source
13. Include highlights (Step 12)
    • The same thing for shade applies here
14. Smudge your hair (Step 13)
    • Your hair should look like hair and not a big colored helmet
15. Create an appropriate background (Steps 14, 15, 16, 17 & 18)
    • Your image must tell some type of story - in other words, it should be as if your image is a snapshot taken during a story - you have three options for creating your background:
      1. Insert a photograph (remember to adjust your character for outdoor lighting if necessary; resize your character to fit the scene; and add shadows as needed) - this will get you the minimum amount of credit
      2. Create a custom image from scratch, just as you did with Catgirl - this will get you the middle level of credit
      3. Create a cartoon version of an image (in other words, insert a photograph and go through all the same steps you went through with your own image to turn it into a cartoon version then put yourself in the background; remember to adjust your character for outdoor lighting if necessary; resize your character to fit the scene; and add shadows as needed) - this will get you the highest level of credit
16. Include your name (Step 19)
    • Create this in the same fashion as you did on Catgirl
17. Save the Photoshop file being sure you named it PC (you will loose credit if it is not named correctly)
18. Save the file as a JPG (Step 20)
    • Name your file Custom.jpg and save it in your Personal Character folder; be sure to optimize it for size and resolution
19. You will be graded on both the Photoshop and JPG versions of your image - remember that the higher level of detail you add to your character the higher grade you will achieve

Good work!