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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Character Design for Video Games by California Institute of the Arts

4.7
stars
962 ratings

About the Course

In this course you will explore concepts and approaches involved in creating successful character designs that can be applied to video games. Following a first week delving into some foundational concepts for successful character design, each of the remaining three weeks are structured as a master class where you will observe three professional character designers at work in the studio: Andy Ristaino (Adventure Time), Jacky Ke Jiang (Journey), and Robertryan Cory (SpongeBob SquarePants). Each designer will take on two different design challenges on the fly and address the various issues in designing characters for games, such as movement, expression, and technical limitations. At the end of each week you will have an opportunity to try out some of the concepts from that week's lesson on characters of your own design. This is a fun and engaging class especially useful for students interested in animation in film and TV as well as games, and is suitable for students of any drawing ability....

Top reviews

JM

Dec 21, 2016

As I said earlier, I recommend this course for everyone; doctors included (:

I like how this course was treated in a different way. We see people doing the job on there ground, that's interesting.

JJ

Jul 16, 2023

Concise coverage of fundamentals with great interviews and process from working artists. Could probably do with a little more about the application and styles in games but a great course nonetheless.

Filter by:

226 - 250 of 254 Reviews for Character Design for Video Games

By truth t

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Jul 22, 2018

lectures are knowledgable, homework are interesting

By Void_Null

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Jan 25, 2023

Character design, not only art, but also text

By TARUN P I L S

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May 16, 2020

best for the beginners in character design

By Lin J

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May 22, 2016

This course is quite enjoyable and useful.

By Julian A

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Nov 26, 2018

There's effort placed in this course.

By Alyson D

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Apr 2, 2017

Suporte de legendas em mais idiomas

By Mufizul I A

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Jan 28, 2017

Absolutely help me!

By Rodrigo F C H

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Jul 1, 2021

nice course

By Ruhel A S P

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Jul 1, 2021

buenardo

By Maria J d C M

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Nov 19, 2022

I very much enjoyed this instructor in the first course of this specialization. However, for this Character Design course, I struggled through the "lectures" - specifically, through the rambling that went on and on during the interviews. I think taking viewers through the creative process IRT is super interesting for people who want to be character designers themselves, and somewhat useful for their managers. But I aspire at and am neither, and moreover, this is not a specialization in design and illustration - it is a specialization in videogame design and concept. A much more appropriate course would be rudimentary programming to make a simple game app. I enjoyed making the assignments and catching a nugget of useful info here and there. Even among the most useful concepts - some were left to the viewer to decodify on their own, the designer didn't explain and the teacher interviewer didn't pause the rambling to clearly explain - eg, "head's tall", or "shape language". Additionally - reviews were not useful at all, nothing specific. Also, one reviewer managed to fudge with the software somehow to replace 2 and 3 in the points system by respectively "1.5 because of a tie" and "3.5 because of a tie". What does that mean?! And how could they interfere with the points questionnaire form??? All in all an okay course, but to me, out of the four completed courses in this specialization, this is the runt of the litter.

By Kahlia L

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Feb 3, 2023

I did learn new stuff from this class, and it was pretty well planned out, but the peer reviews could have been better. I try to give actual helpful feedback and thoughtful answers when reviewing my peers' assignments, but almost every piece of written feedback I got was "cool" "nice" or "ok". That is not helpful at all! Someone also docked me points on an assignment, but then didn't say why or give me any constructive criticism on what I could do better - they just commented "cool". So why did they grade me down then?? That's not very "cool" of them.

My suggestion to fix this would be to give a character minimum for feedback! If people had to use at least 50 characters in order to submit their peer reviews then they would hopefully put some actual thought into their feedback instead of just saying "nice" over and over again.

Aside from that, my only other issue is that some of the links for the guest artists don't seem to work anymore, and I think an update on where they are now/what they would have done different in their designs today would be cool!

By Irene P

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Oct 26, 2016

I liked the assignments and the creative ideas discussed in the class. However, I wish there had been more practical, step-by-step instruction in approaching design work; game artists of more diverse styles; and some discussion of game character design as a career.

By Ricardo D

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Nov 22, 2016

I would like a different approach on the way this course is given to the student. The first couple of classes were really cool and inspiring, but the later two became more of the same and kinda took my inspiration and motivation down to finish the course.

By Yasmeen Y

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Feb 4, 2024

I wish there had been some more experienced designers giving lectures. None of them talked about basic design considerations like silhouettes, using a line of action ect.

By Mohsen A

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Jul 6, 2023

Could've been much better. It was just couple of interviews with designers which you can find in youtube also. Nothing really instructed here.

By Gastón N M

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Dec 5, 2016

First week and last week were pretty useful with some good tips from the videos... the other weeks not so much.

By Felipe C

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Jan 6, 2016

I believe that exaggerated the amount of minutes per video and lack of theory, but it was still a good course.

By Aurelija M

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Aug 7, 2016

While the information given by Fran was useful, the part where other artists talk is not presented well.

By samson h

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Jun 27, 2020

it was cool learned a few new things from the teachings however the critique system is kinda lacking

By Juan C D M

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Jan 21, 2016

It is cool. but it does not give any certificate of completion at the end as other courses do.

By Yomna B

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Jul 29, 2020

It was really fun and beneficial, hoped the method of grading was a bit different though.

By Benjamin H

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Sep 13, 2016

Instruction was through watching other characters designers talk about their process.

By Viola B

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Sep 27, 2016

It was a fun course, not sure about the educational content, but it was fun.

By Luca L

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Jul 26, 2017

Good course, fun to do, but the video quality is terrible.

By Vitor L

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Feb 23, 2023

it takes too long to receive reviews