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Ryan Pardee

BFA in Illustration - Entertainment Arts — Illustration
Course:
Character Design, Portfolio Design Lab
Faculty:
Ron Velasco, Dawn Yamazi, David Tillinghast, Paul Cohen, Eric Nyquist
Term:
2025 Fall

Faraway

The original project outline was to create a character model pack for an original character, with rough sketches included for two additional characters. As part of my grad project, I expanded the character lineup into a cast of six total characters, and painted a scene including everyone.

Process:

First, I began exploring story themes. I have always had an interest in medieval fantasy, as well as ancient Egyptian mythology; and I decided to combine the two worlds in a retelling of an ancient Egyptian myth with a more fantastical twist.

After sketching some character ideations, I moved forward with my chosen design for the protagonist, a little hairless cat named Fhara. I created a full model pack for him, including a page of ideation, a page of poses, an expression sheet, two turnarounds (one with a costume change), material callouts, and a full-color finish. Then, I began to ideate and expand the cast of characters into a full lineup of six characters. After polishing the full cast, I sketched some thumbnails and value compositions to ideate the look of the final illustration. I then took the composition I believed worked best and brought it to a full-color finish.

Learning Outcomes:

This project was a very fun challenge in fully developing my own story and cast of characters, as well as practicing all of the technical sketchwork and ideation skills necessary to create a more formal model pack and key scene.

Tags:
2D Design,
Character Design,
Concept Design,
World Building
Character ideation sketches for Fhara.
Pose sketches for Fhara.
Expression sheet for Fhara.
Character turnaround for Fhara, with one outfit change.
Color roughs for Fhara.
Color and material callouts for Fhara.
Thumbnail ideation for a scene of Fhara arriving to a new city for the first time (with additional alternate scenes of Apep following close behind).
Fhara arriving in a bustling city for the first time, marking the start of his adventure.
Character ideation sketches for various other characters.
Final version of Apep, god of the underworld and central antagonist of the story.
Final version of Ra, king of gods and of the sun, as well as Apep's brother.
Final version of Sekhmet, daughter of Ra and goddess of fire and war.
Final version of Ibis, demigod and scribe of Ra and Thoth, and companion of Fhara.
Final version of Ramses, a burly tortoise and devoted friend to Fhara.
Final version of Fhara, the central protagonist of the story.
Full lineup of characters.
Thumbnails and ideation for a scene involving all six characters.
Final illustration including all six characters.