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Tutorial: Species Design
Published: 2011-04-29 14:59:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 63359; Favourites: 2289; Downloads: 974
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Description
A tutorial going over some of the concepts I try to follow when doing species and character design. It's pretty general suggestions so that it can be applied towards different types of characters.I hope you enjoy!
Disponible en espaΓ±ol aquΓ: [link]
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Edit: Holy crap. A DD!
Thank you SO much to =Sarky-Sparky for the suggestion and to `FantasyStock for the feature. Of all the pieces in my gallery, I'm really thrilled that it was this one. I love creating characters, and I hope that people find this useful in making their own!
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Comments: 243
Thanks! I really hope it comes in handy! 
In Photoshop, select the layer that you want to mask. At the bottom of the Layers panel next to the "New Layer", "Fx" and "Delete Layer" buttons there's going to be one that is a white rectangle with a black circle in it. That's the layer mask button. Click on that to apply the layer mask to your layer.
You'll notice that it doesn't do anything on its own, but you should have a second layer icon on the layer you masked. The one to the left is your actual layer - the one with the content - the one on the right is black and white only and is the mask itself. Whichever one you have selected is the one you'll be drawing on, so make sure you select the mask, then set your brush/pen/tool to 'black'. Black areas will be covered by the mask while white areas will remain as they are.
If you want to edit your layer, remember to select the layer (not the mask!) before painting.
Hope that helps!
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Thanks a lot! I'll try this later.
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Very helpful, as im both learning to create species and also work better in photoshop
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Well thank you! I hope that it comes in handy. I looove character creation!
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same here i hope to get into the game/ film industry XD currently studying graphic novels at university XD
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Ooh, exciting! I am studying Game Art & Design.
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who knows XD my main dream is getting my book done (possibly making a self adaption to graphic novel format) and seeing a movie done peter jackson style XD
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Hehe, that would be amazing.
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Very helpful and inspiring thing. I really like geometric sketches.
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Thank you so much! I usually use a combination of geometrics and just rough organic planning in my sketches. Don't usually do an entire goemetric sketch, but they are so helpful when planning out the shape of something!
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I rarely do them... Definitely should take up such a "hobby", haha.
Very helpful thing it's like you see instantly how this pose could develop.
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it's a good guide for creating Role Play species as well. Though I'd meantion it.
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Thanks so much! That's a good point.
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You're welcome~ =3
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Thanks so much! I hope it's helpful or at least enjoyable
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Very nice tips to give some thought to species creation. Thank you.
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My absolute pleasure, I hope that it helps!
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You should use these charactors to make a game!
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I actually am! lol It's a bit of a test project that I use for all of my assignments. I'm enrolled in Game Art & Design at the Art Institutes. I have a game design document, some character sheets, some UI designs, some 3D models.
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Thank you so much for making this, it's really helpful!
One question though;
What's the name of this species? Do they have a name at all, and if so, how did you figure it out?
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I named them the Talzah, and I'm not a linguist or anything, but I tried to keep a distinct sound and some specific rules to each species. For example, the Talzah all have the same naming format "first name" ka(which means of) - Clan Name". Example would be "Teaan ka-Jolik". I also tried to use similar sounds, lots of harsh syllables that give them a rough 'edge'.
Professional companies and big projects often create their own languages, but I'm not nearly that far, haha.
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This will definitely help me out a lot! I've been struggling with character/armory design for a long time...
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It'll help me a lot~ <3
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This is a fantastic tutorial! It was easy to follow, and I found those Tips embedded within it to be particularly helpful as well.
Definitely saving this one. Thank you for sharing this!
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Thanks! I'm so glad you enjoyed it, and I hope it comes in handy.
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Thats amazing!! love those lizard creations they are pretty sweet, my creatures tend to be simple but look good take these two Species I made for example
The characteres from left to right:
*Shikon
*Dahmi
*Brodie
*Reid
*Katina
*Jake
Brodie, Jake and Katina are Salamandron's and Reid, Shikon and Dahmi are Akauraitatsu's.
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Thank you so much! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you, I'm on an extended trip and there's been flying and family visiting and all sorts of stuff.
Simplicity can be the greatest asset in designing something. Making something complex doesn't mean it will be successful, so it's good that you know how to edit.
I like your combination of different animal features, the tiger markings with the horns and the almost wide reptilian tail, very cool!
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^^ thats oki, and sooo glad you like them they wernt to hard to come up with they are jyst simple designs but I hope to make something more complex in the future
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Great tutorial, very informative.
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Thank you so much, I hope you enjoyed.
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omigosh! this is so helpful! thanks!
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Hey, my pleasure! Thank you for taking a look.
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This is great!! Just the kind of thing i needed. 
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My pleasure, I hope it comes in handy!
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I'm sure it will! Thanks again.
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I think it's important to make a list of features but feel free to abandon it at any time. "Well I really wanted my character to have long wings but then I realized that because he's flying in a forest it would be evolutionary beneficial to put on shorter wings", or "now that i see this character with hair I'm starting to think that it would be a lot more interesting to just take off the hair and give him a crest of some kind," or "Oh my god you know what would be great, let me just push the chest out a little to make the curve of the spine a little off kilter." Essentially what I'm saying is that 90% of Character Design is revision (and I can't over state that.) Also just because you've come up with a final design that you like doesn't mean you're done, Now you have to keep drawing the character until you know it from all angles.
And that's basically all I have to add :
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You make some excellent points! I'm planning on updating this tutorial since getting a Daily Deviation brought in a lot of traffic and some people had some great suggestions for improving, so I'll definitely add in that though it's good to have a plan, you are not required, not expected, to stick to it!
Lawd only knows how often I go back and change things, so I am right there with you, hehe.
Thanks, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I'm planning on doing a tutorial more specific for clothing and individual characters and renaming this one to species only.
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I can't wait! No seriously I can't, do it now
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lol
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Congratulations once again on your Daily Deviation! You've been featured in the August 2011 Resources DD Summary . Thanks for sharing your resources with the community!!
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