ILV_1 — ART OF KUSH

Kush Sharma | Illustrator

English Learning (ILV)

A visual blueprint for animation — combining character design, layout strategy, background detailing, and production-ready workflows.

Character Line-Up

The character design follows a ‘modern cartoon’ art style. They are created based on simple shapes and strong silhouettes. The idea was to have memorable characters that reflected the humor that is conveyed in the story.

Character Design & Rig

Since the stories are varied and cover a whole range of topics, the exaggerated and slightly unexpected characters compliment this well.

Character Shapes

The characters are crafted from simple, rounded shapes with tapered arms and legs that allow for smooth, flexible movement without sharp joints. Slightly oversized heads provide more room for expressive, exaggerated facial animations, adding personality and charm.

Gimmix and Bento are designed as frenemies, with contrasting shapes that visually emphasize their opposing personalities and dynamic interactions. The use of opposing forms helps communicate their tension and chemistry through design alone.

Character Rig

The rig of the character is separated into the components that will have to be animated individually. The layering structure is set in such a way to make animation easier for the animator and to identify the parts of the character.

Character Structure

The ‘Head’ will be a group containing:
-Hair and HairBack
-Eyebrows
-Head
-Nose
-Mouth Left eye and Right eye

-The’ Body” will be one layer
-The ‘ Waist” can be a separate layer
-The legs will be named L_Leg and R_Leg
-The arms will be named L_Arm and R_Arm

Expressions

The shape of the main human characters have a ‘bean’ shape. The expression is also dependent on the eyebrows.

The shape of Gimmix eyes are a little different as they are one solid shape and do not have pupils. The shape can be manipulated.

Bento has round eyes and very geometric eyebrows.

Turn-arounds

Gestures

Background – Interior

The interior background art follows a brown-yellow palette for day light settings. The animation centers around the midground of the backgrounds. The elements within the background are minimal style. Once the colors are decided, over which block highlights and shadows should be added. Use of gradient is not required as the style is completely flat. All the backgrounds follow a basic one point perspective, the elements may be slightly skewed to give it a cartoon feel.

Background – Exterior

The exterior background art follows a yellow palette for normal light settings. But in certain scenarios, it can also follow a blue/green palette, for a night setting. While elements follow a sharp skewed design, the organic elements like trees follow a fluid shape design. Most backgrounds for this format follow a one point perspective. Dynamic angles are not preferred.