English Learning (K3)

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

Character Line-Up

The characters here are made with no outlines. However, lines are used inside the base shapes to give it definition. Some small features are kept distinct between different types of characters like the kids and the male characters don’t have the upper eye lash while the older female characters do.

Character Design & Rig

The characters have very organic and round shapes to show softer appearance. Facial features are shown using basic lines and shapes. The proportions of the designs are kept closer to cartoon-y forms by making the heads slightly larger and limbs thinner and curved in required areas. No shadows are used for this art style.

Character Shapes

The overall construction of the characters is made using very basic shapes like squares, circles and triangles. Head sizes are slightly larger than average to keep the designs away from realistic proportions. For animations on the limbs, the characters have rig points or pivots at the joints with soft ends.

Character Rig

The characters are rigged based on the areas that will have to be animated separately. It’s important to maintain the layering and structuring of the design for easier identification during animations.

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 lay
-The legs will be named L_Leg and R_Leg
-The arms will be named L_Arm and R_Arm

Elements

The elements follow the same approach as the background and the characters. It’s composed with basic shapes and flat mid-tone warm colors. Lines and patterns are used on it to fill up the negative spaces on the flat base colors. One thing to note is element based characters has round shaped eyes as compared to the eyes of human-based characters.

Turn-arounds

Character Variations

Background – Interior

The details are minimal and little to no shadows are used. Distant elements are shown using a slightly faded colors while elements with higher focus in the foreground has brighter and bolder colors. A flat style is maintained in this art style as much as possible. Patterns and lines are used in some places to break the flatness of base colors. No gradients are used anywhere.

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.