John Abbott College / 7th Gen Character Design+

In this three day workshop, Indigenous students from John Abbott learned the basics of character design, from initial iterations to eventual production in professional-grade, digital media. On Day 1, over dinner we gave a background to character design in general, a lesson on The Future Imaginary and how Indigenous Futurisms can fit into it and an overview of what the students will be up to in the coming days. A key consideration to their creative process was how action in present day can and will affect their ancestors 7 Generations in the future Once dinner was finished, students went right to brainstorming and drawing the first iteration of their very own character!

On Day 2, students came to Concordia University to continue their projects. After a quick snack, we gave the students a tour of our lab space and dove right into character creation. This time, we asked students to take their sketches to the next level by digitizing them! Students were taught how to upload their sketches onto an iPad, and into Procreate – a powerful tool for digital art. Laser focused, the students created the final iteration of their sketches on their iPads, which they got to keep!

On the final day, we returned to John Abbott with prints of their sketches, framed! Students were able to set up a pop-up exhibit to showcase their amazing characters and workshop instructors provided a brief introduction on how to set up their iPads and pencils so that they can continue to hone their skills in digital art on Procreate. Check the images below to see the process of sketching from paper to digital.