This section describes how Susie was created and, as such, uses some artistic and graphic design jargon.
In order to draw Susie, I always begin with a sketch in a notebook. (For more information about how to begin sketching an anime character, Polykarbon.com offers helpful tutorials).
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| Susie, studying, with Wilde, dog of wit and wonder. |
After an intial sketch is complete, this is then scanned into the computer. Once it's scanned in, the picture is placed in a somewhat large, high-resolution Adobe Illustrator file and digitally inked. This inking process is done with the pen tool which creates lines known as Bezier Curves, smooth vector-based lines that can be scaled indefinitely.
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| A digitally inked version of the original Susie sketch. This was inked with Adobe Illustrator. |
Finally, this inked picture is saved as a high-resolution .png file with transparency turned on. The .png file is then opened in Adobe Photoshop and layers are created underneath the original layer—or the “pen” layer, as it is renamed—in order to color without disturbing the original line art. There are many good beginning tutorials with more information on how to color a character.
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| The final product, after it was colored in Adobe Photoshop. |
Each picture of Susie is created for a specific purpose. This particular picture was drawn during the last week of the spring 2013 semester for Susie’s Facebook page and shows Susie studying for finals in her pajamas. As with all her pictures, it was designed to connect with the population of the University of Houston-Clear Lake and was accompanied by a Facebook message wishing her fans luck on their finals.
Now that this image has been created, it must, of course, be protected from those who would steal it. For more information on Susie’s security issues, see our page on Security.
