Bringing Characters to Life

WEBSITE: WWW.JONATHANSUNDY.COM, WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/JONATHANSUNDY

Like many subsets of Design, Character Design is a field that few have heard about but we see its results daily in animation, video games and books. The job of a Character Designer is to take a written description of a person, animal or alien cyborg chinchilla and illustrate a visual representation of that character. Through gesture, expression and props, the illustration should communicate the character's personality, emotion and context. This talk will cover how to create a character from scratch, the fundamentals of appealing design and why story should guide your design choices.

Jonathan is a Portland-based character designer, illustrator and author. He has designed characters for a myriad of freelance clients and illustrated 5 best-selling kid's books including "Where Are You?: An Iz and Norb Book" and the Pancho Bandito trilogy. Jonathan graduated from the University of Notre Dame with degrees in Design and Computer Applications. He was the Design Director of Metaphase Design Group in St. Louis before moving to Portland. He is married with one hedgehog.