Design Team RPG - Part 1/3

(Here are different ways you can play this game)

Author

nowayjermaine
March 17, 2024

Hey Past-me,

This year marks my 12th year working as an artist in animation. already?

Not sure when you get this letter, but when I first started, I had no idea what was going on dude. I just knew I wanted to make cartoons for a living.

I didn’t know what being an artist meant to me,

I didn’t know what jobs existed (there’s a lot)

or what skills I should learn (there’s a lot).

I was lost. And I had no idea how much. I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

The only thing that helped me make sense of this journey was to treat it like a game. One I could get good at, have fun with, play with friends. (and make money doing it) That’s the dream right?

Once you know what’s possible, you can choose your own adventure.

Heads up for today:

  • I was thinking about…how I wish I had a better heads-up on the kind of art I could’ve been making

  • My goal is to provide you with a cheatsheet for the different roles involved in making cartoons

  • Below are the first set of roles, starting from the top

Design Team RPG: Part 1

When I started working in Animation, it reminded me of playing RPGs like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, Mass Effect, where you might be on an adventure with a ragtag group of misfits with a particular set of skills, off to save the world…

Here are 3 roles you can play in a Design Team, starting from the top:

Production Designer (The Architect)

The one who envisions the world of the story, creating the blueprints necessary to replicate the visual language for the entire operation. They are first on the ground, building a team and seeing the project through to final production.

Mindset: Innovator and guide, laying the groundwork for the project's universe.

Skillset: Vision setting, world-building, defining the visual language.

Skill Tree: Drawing, Painting, Composition, Storytelling, Filmmaking, Cinematography, Design, Direction, Visual Development, Communication, Teaching, Leadership

Responsibilities:

  • Analyze the story and overall vision to explore the potential visual language of the project

  • Create art bible, style guides, to communicate how to reproduce every visual detail

  • Build and train a team with the ability to create all of the art necessary for production

Resources

Practice: Style Guide Case Study

Find a live action project you enjoy and go through the visual development process to create a potential animated remake. Nail down a specific style for the visual language, including characters, sets, props, and illustrating key moments and devices. Then breakdown the specific rules to replicate them successfully in a document or tutorial for an artist to follow.

(Bonus points if you give a friend a prompt to create an asset according to your guides!)

Styleframes and Character Designs by Alberto Mielgo

Art Director (The Strategist)

The strategist employs tactics, coordinates all moving parts, and ensures the team's efforts are stylistically and strategically unified. They communicate the plan, making sure everyone is on the same page and the execution is as frictionless as possible.

Mindset: The bridge builder, ensuring the seamless integration of artistic elements.

Skillset: Tactics, Team assembly, cross-department communication, vision alignment, systems building and execution.

Skill Tree: Drawing, Painting, Design, Composition, Storytelling, Filmmaking, Cinematography, Visual Development, Production Management, Systems, Leadership, Teaching, Communication

Responsibilities:

  1. Communicate and collaborate with department heads and design team to unify creative vision.

  2. Create mood boards, style guides, concepts, workflows to facilitate creation of production art.

  3. Continuously oversee production, supporting artists in creation of production assets, jumping in to fill the gaps as necessary.

Resources:

Practice: Design Shakedown

Find a Live Action or Animated project you like, choose a sequence and determine how many assets are involved: characters, sets, props, fx, gfx, etc. Build moodboards with different references and concept sketches and notes on how you could’ve arrived to those final designs.

Paintings by Patrick O’Keefe

Color Scripts and Production Notes by Robh Ruppel

Visual Development Artist (The Scout)

The adaptable recon expert who explores and sketches potential challenges and opportunities within the environment of production. They provide glimpses into possibilities across characters and costumes, props and worlds, moods, moments, and feelings.

Mindset: A curious adventurer, always on the lookout for creative and innovative solutions.

Responsibilities:

  • Conceptualize key story moments, characters, sets, props, etc., based on the script.

  • Create visual development sheets for each major concept.

  • Finalize artwork for production use, serving as visual reference for every department.

Skillset: Conceptualizing, experimenting with styles, and defining visual elements.

Skill Tree: Drawing, Painting, Composition, Storytelling, Filmmaking, Cinematography, Character Design, Background Design, Prop Design, Graphics Design, FX Design

Resources

Practice: Style Frame Challenge

Find a live action project you enjoy and choose three frames to redesign as an animated project. Experiment with different combinations of visual styles and aim to include at least a character, background, and prop.

Visual Development of SP//dr by Yashar Kassai

I hope that gave you a window into one of your potential futures.

I was scouring through one of the recent masterpieces, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, that changed the course of animation for the last few years. I tried to find art that represented the various stages of production and where it ended up.

I’ll be back with the next set of roles you could play: Character Design, Background Design, Prop/FX Design.

Talk to you soon,

Future-you

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