Character Rendering
A 10-week course where you learn advanced rendering and painting methods so your characters appear realistic, professional and industry ready
Teacher Artwork by Zach Cohen
This class will be offered in Fall 2023. Join our waitlist to reserve your spot and get priority before anyone else. Click on the button to secure your spot.
Character Rendering
Does your character rendering skill need a boost to get to a professional level? Would you like to learn the most effective painting methods for creating beautiful and realistic concept art and character illustrations?
In this course, you will learn how to pose and paint your characters to create the illusion of weight and 3-dimensionality and to render the face, skin, hair and clothing like a professional.
Through lectures, demonstrations, assignments, personalized feedback and correction, a veteran industry concept artist will guide you through the entire process of creating a beautifully rendered character painting.
You will push your level of realism to the maximum that you can achieve and far beyond what you thought possible.
By the end of this class you will have new portfolio-worthy character illustrations and, what's more, you will have learned how to render your character concept to a production-ready level, like an industry professional.
- Course Type Concept Art and Illustration Classes
- Duration 10 weeks
-
Skill Level
Level 3 Level 3
These courses are for people who can already draw and paint realistically and can create complete digital illustrations.
Level 3 classes will help students to give a new edge to their images, properly render their digital work, and bring them closer to a professional level.
- Language English
Class Formats
Live Online Class
- An in depth 10 week course taught by an industry professional
- A course brush pack
- 30+ hours of live interactive classes: Demos and lectures
- Constructive homework and assignments that will help you reach an understanding of class topics
- Live personalised feedback on your weekly homework and assignments
- A classroom of up to 20 peers
Video Access Only
- An in depth 10 week course taught by an industry professional
- A course brush pack
- 30+ hours of video content: Demos and lectures
- Constructive homework and assignments that will help you reach an understanding of class topics
(save $zzz!!!)
(save $zzz!!!)
Schedule
Note: This class will be offered online only
Class Timings: Fall 2023
Date of first class: TBD
Duration: 10 weeks
If you are unable to attend the class during the times listed above, you will still have access to video recordings of the class lectures and will still receive personalized feedback from your instructor.
It should be noted that students should set aside a minimum of 3 hours per week to complete assignments for this class. Students may even require a bit more time (4-5 hours per week) depending on how quickly they can work through assignments.
Prerequisites
Skill requirements
To enroll in this course you should have:
- Intermediate drawing and digital painting skills (use of proper perspective, proportions, shading and colour).
- Proficiency with all basic Photoshop tools.
- Ideally completed Digital Painting, in addition to drawing classes such as Analytical Sketching, and Drawing the Human Form (or have equivalent practice/experience).
If you are unsure of your skill level, please contact [email protected] for additional guidance.
Language and age requirements
You should have at least intermediate level English to take this class. *Please note that the following outline is subject to change slightly at the teacher's discretion.
Required Materials
Material List:
- A desktop computer or laptop with Photoshop installed*
- A graphic tablet with pressure sensitivity (from brands such as Wacom, Huion, or Xencelabs), OR a tablet-laptop hybrid (also with Photoshop installed) with pressure sensitivity (such as the Wacom Cintiq Companion or Microsoft Surface Pro).
Important note:
Please note that the vast majority of our digital classes are taught using Adobe Photoshop and that this is also the recommended program for students to use. You may consult our FAQ for more information on other software which may be potentially used for class, however, please note that no technical assistance will be provided by instructors on the use of alternative painting software as they may not be familiar with the program.
Please ensure that all of your hardware and software are functioning properly before the start of the term; there will not be any time to resolve technical issues in class.
*Please consult our Tech Requirements below for more precise computer specifications.
Tech Requirements for Attending Syn Studio Online Classes
Minimum Requirements
- A strong uninterrupted broadband wired or wireless (3G or 4G/LTE) connection with a minimum 600kbps bandwidth (up/down).
- A Laptop/Desktop computer equipped with a single core processor (at least 1 GHZ processing speed) or a smartphone/tablet with equivalent processing capabilities
- Good speakers/earphones to listen to the classes
- Browser - IE7+, Safari 5+, Firefox, Chrome
- Operating System - Windows XP, Mac OS 10.6, Linux distro based on 3.0 kernel, Android 5.0, iOS 10
Syn Studio Recommendations
- A strong uninterrupted broadband wired or wireless (3G or 4G/LTE) connection with a minimum 1.5Mbps bandwidth (up/down). You can also connect to the internet directly using your ethernet cable to improve your experience.
- Laptop/Desktop computer equipped with a dual core processor with at least 2 GHZ processing speed and a 4 GB RAM
- High Quality speakers/earphones to listen to the classes
- Browser & Operating System - We recommend using the latest version of the browser and operating system for an optimal online classroom experience.
Course Outline
*Please note that the following outline is subject to change slightly at the teacher's discretion.
Rendering the face and head is covered throughout the course, while other topics are covered as follows:
Weeks 1 and 2: Develop your ability to pose your characters and to work with shape and volume.
Weeks 3 and 4: Understand the subtleties of colour and learn to use them to create more captivating character illustration.
Weeks 5 and 6: Learn a powerful step-by-step method for rendering light and shadow. Become proficient in rendering clothing and folds.
Weeks 7 and 8: Acquire the best techniques for materials indication, painting believable skin, hair and reflections.
Weeks 9 and 10: Bring your rendering to production level under the guidance of the instructor.
Questions and Assistance
Feel free to send us an email at [email protected] or give us a call at 514-998-7625
Please consult our FAQ; most of the commonly asked questions are answered in detail there. If you cannot find the answer to your question, please feel free to fill out the form below, or, send an email to [email protected]