Professional Character Design for Film

Creating characters and creatures for film and TV involves many processes. Ehsan Bigloo, a nominee for “Best Creature Designer” for two consecutive years by the Concept Art Association, presents his workflow for designing impressive creatures for the entertainment industry. He will be using his own IP, Dîv, a demon character with supernatural strength and powers that takes on a roughly human shape yet channels dark, supernatural powers, as an example.

The first part of the workshop focuses on how Ehsan starts his concept designs by finding initial thumbnails, shapes, and forms of a new creature using pencils and paper. He shares insights into his strategies and how he handles client feedback in the industry. This segment will help change the way you think about designing your next creature from scratch.

After laying down his initial ideas using traditional media, Ehsan takes his chosen concept design into the digital world. He uses ZBrush to create a 3D model of the creature, working through to the final render using KeyShot. Along the way, he shares industry tips, tricks, and insights from his experience as a Concept Artist in the entertainment industry.

As a bonus, Ehsan takes the final creature into the Unreal Engine to demonstrate the creative possibilities available when importing a character into Unreal and setting up atmospheric lighting.

This workshop is designed for aspiring and professional Character/Creature Designers, Concept Artists, Digital Sculptors, IP developers, and anyone interested in visual character-based storytelling.