Software Trials - Flash

Making a Character                                   

Tutorial Links:

Step 1: After opening the Flash programme I selected the Oval tool, then the colours I wanted for the skin tone of my character and the colour of the outer line. In the Properties panel at the bottom of the screen I made the outer line 3 pixels wide. I then drew my shape in the centre of the page and named my Layer as Head.

Please Note: At each step after this stage I inserted a new Layer and used the Padlock symbol to lock the Layer I had previously been working on. This was so that I didn’t select objects I didn’t want to by mistake.

Step 2: I then drew another shape, again using the oval tool set to the same properties I used for the head towards the bottom right off the head. This shape is used to create the chin, but I had to remove the black line so that it formed part of the face as opposed to two shapes with one on top of the other. By clicking on the Eraser Tool I am able to access some more tools to help with the erasing of the line.  The one I chose was the Eraser Mode and by clicking on the line I ‘rubbed-out’ the portion I desired. I then named my Layer as Chin.

Step 3: I then followed the procedure in Step 2 to create the ear on the left hand side of the head before naming the Layer, Ear.

Step 4: For the eyes I followed the procedure in Step 1, but this time I selected the fill colour as white and made the outline 2 pixels wide. I then selected both the outline and fill colour by double-clicking and then I Copy and Pasted the second eye. To ensure that they were positioned where I wanted them more precisely I used the arrow keys to nudge them up/down/left/right. I called this Layer, Eyes.

Step 5: To make the Pupils I again used the Oval tool and made a small circle which I Black to fill the shape. I then moved them into position individually by double-clicking and using the arrow keys. I named this Layer, Pupils.

 Step 6: With the nose I first attempted to draw one with the Pencil Tool as demonstrated in the tutorial. However, when I attempted to do this the lines were too straight and I felt it didn’t give the correct look of a nose. Instead I created on out of an Oval and erased the line as I did for the Chin and Ear in Steps 2 and 3, and inserted nostrils in the same manner as I did for the Pupils in Step 5. This Layer I renamed as Nose.

Step 7: I again attempted to draw a mouth as shown in the tutorial, but again the lines were too straight. I decided again to use the Oval tool to create the mouth. Before I filled in the colour, I used the Pencil tool to mark out the teeth and coloured them white, as one would expect, and the mouth red using the Paint Bucket Tool. The Layer is named as Mouth.

Step 8: Using the Pencil tool I drew some the outline of some hair and used the Paint Bucket Tool to fill the colour. This Layer is named, Hair.

Step 9: For the Eyebrows I drew the one on the right side of the head using the Line tool. I made the right hand side of the brow thinner and by using the Paint Bucket Tool filled it with colour. I used the arrows keys to position it correctly. For the brow on the left, I highlighted the brow that I had just created and used the Copy and Paste method to duplicate. I then selected the second brow and then positioned it above the left eye. I then flipped the eyebrow horizontally by selecting Modify > Transform > Flip Horizontal. I named this layer, Brows.

Step 10: To create the Neck I used the Rectangle Tool in a similar way to how I used the Oval Tool. I selected the colours for the line and the fill and made the outer line 3 pixels wide in Properties.  I drew the shaped I desired and then using the Free Transform Tool I am able to change the size of the object I have made, or as I did in this instance, rotate the object. After I moved it into position I named the Layer, Neck and then by clicking and dragging on the Layer I placed the Neck layer at the bottom on the Layer stack. I did this so the neck did not appear on top of the head, but now is behind the head making it appear as if the head is attached to neck.

Step 11: For the body I used the Pencil Tool throughout. First I drew a triangle near the base of the neck. This will later form part of his shirt under his sweater. I then continued to use the Pencil Tool to draw the shape for the characters body. Near the bottom of his body I added another line across it, with the Pencil Tool, which is going to create the waist for his trousers. I then filled the shapes using the Paint Bucket Tool. This Layer is named Body.

Step 12: To draw the leg I used the Pencil Tool to draw the desired shape. I then used the Paint Bucket Tool to colour it. I then used the arrow keys to position it more accurately. This Layer is named Leg Left.

Step 13: To draw the foot I used two tools. I first used the Pencil Tool to draw the front of the shoe, effectively where the toes would be, to give the shoe a rounded front. I then used the Line Tool to draw the straight lines which made up the sole, heel and the top of the shoe. Using the Paint Bucket Tool I filled the colour and then moved then this Layer, called Shoe Left, underneath the Leg Left layer so the top of the shoe couldn’t be seen.

Step 14: To create the right leg, I went to the Leg Left layer, unlocked the layer by clicking on the padlock icon, selected the right leg by clicking and dragging to highlight the object, Pressed CONTROL + C to copy the object, pressed the padlock icon to re-lock this layer, selected the new layer and pressed CONTROL + V to paste the object. I then positioned the object to the right of the body and using the Free Transform Tool made the object slightly smaller. This is because this leg is slight further away, but I ensured that the size wasn’t reduced too much. This layer I re-named Leg Right prior to dragging it down to the bottom of the Layer stack.

Step 15: I followed the same procedure in Step 14 to duplicate, place and resize the foot for the layer named, Foot Right. I then dropped this Layer underneath the Leg Right Layer.

Step 16: In this instance when I created a new layer I moved this layer to the top of the stack. To create the arm I used the Pencil Tool to draw the shape I wanted. The then drew another line towards the bottom of what is the sleeve to make a shirt cuff. I then used the Paint Bucket Tool to fill the arm in with red and the cuff with white. I positioned the arm using the arrow keys. I called this layer, Arm Left.

Step 17: The hand was created by using the Pencil Tool and filled using the Paint Bucket Tool. This layer is named Hand Left.

Step 18: The Pocket was used using the Pencil Tool. It was here when I learnt that when I select the Pencil Tool at the bottom of the Tool Bar are the sub-options. By choosing Smooth I can draw more ‘free’ and this prevents the lines appearing straight. This layer was called, Pocket.

The Final Layer Stack

My Character

 

Overall I feel, considering it is my first attempt of creating a character in Flash, it has turned out well. I feel that if I were to use this programme to create characters and scenes I would be able to do so competently. This character only has one arm, as it did in the tutorial I was learning from, which would be fine if this character does only have one arm for the purpose of the story. An additional arm could be created in similar manner in which the second leg was created… but not with a show on the end of the limb!!