By: Viggo Kavermann

As part of my education at SiNTLUCAS, I was tasked with creating a custom character using Adobe Photoshop, and then color it in several different ways using color theory.

Here you can see the process of my work:

For the first step we had to create our own custom brush.
To do this we had to follow a tutorial which our teacher had made for us step by step so that we would get the correct outcome.

The first step of this tutorial was to edit the default brush settings until we had something that we thought we could use to create a good custom brush with.

I then used this brush to create the shape of a custom brush on a new layer, which I named "Custom Brush".
I wanted my custom brush to be dark in the middle, and then slowly fade away the further out it goes, while also splitting up in smaller dots.

I then clicked on "Edit", chose "Define Brush Preset..." and gave it the name "Wool Brush" so that it would be saved as a custom brush.

Finally, I tweaked the Brush Settings until I had a brush stroke I was sattisfied with.
I wanted my brush stroke to feel smooth, but also look similar to sheeps wool, so I set the spacing to a low number, made the rotation 100% randomized, and also made the scale of each stamp slightly randomized, but not too much.

For the second step we had to create several sketches of a bunch of different characters with our previously made custom brush, choose our favorite character from the bunch and draw it a second time with more detail.

First I made a bunch of quick sketches of different character types, each with different proportions and different styles.

I then decided to choose for the TV robot character, since I had the most creative ideas in my mind for how I could expand upon the design of that character.
I then drew a bigger, more refined sketch of that character, with more smaller details.

After I was finished with the sketch I traced its outlines with straight black lines on a separate layer, in order to create a smooth outline of the character.

For the third and final step we had to color our character in two different ways, using color theory.
For the first one I used a kind of color theory called "Complementair splitsen", where three different colors would be chosen from a color wheel, in the shape of the letter Y.
I chose for this kind of color theory because it allowed me to use two dark, but not too different colors, while also having access to a brighter color as well, which would allow me to make certain parts of the design appear as if they're emitting some sort of light and/or stand out from the rest of the design.
For example: This kind of color theory allowed me to make the warning symbol on the chest of the character stand out compared to the rest, which would draw people's attention to the warning sign more quickly.
In this case I chose for a color palette of magenta, yellow and blue, because I felt like those colors gave a bit of a futuristic/dream vibe, which I think would be very fitting with a robot character like this since we don't have those in real life right now, and they're commonly related with futuristic themes.

For the second one I used a color theory called "Complementair", where two different colors would be chosen which are both opposite from each other on a color wheel.
I chose this kind of color theory because I felt like it would be a bit of a challenge, and because I also felt like it would make the character's design a bit more simplistic.
In this case I chose for a color palette of red and green, because I believe those colors would commonly be used to paint scrap robots like these if they existed in real life.
This way, by only using two different colors, the design wouldn't become too complicated or distracting, and the colors would also fit well with each other, and also not contrast each other too much either.