Prelude
Hello, I'm Terebell, illustrator and streamer!
This tutorial aims to share with you my working method when I create a PngTuber avatar. I obviously use this method for other types of content, but today, we're going to focus on PngTuber avatars!
Please note:
• I used the software PngTuber Plus at first, but the recurring bugs of the application made me switch to Veadotube, so it is for the latter that we will create an avatar.
• I am writing this tutorial with my mother tongue, French, because I do not think I have enough vocabulary to write it in English.
1 | Preparation
Before we start drawing, we must first take an interest in our file and our workspace.
1.1 | Creating the file
Whether it's for a Twitch emote, an illustration to publish on social networks or an avatar, I like to work in large format. This ensures a good quality of the finished product and above all, the possibility of reusing the illustration for other media: if I want to print my illustration or display it on a tote bag, I wouldn't need to redo all the work!
So I start by creating my file.
I often work with a square format (for emotes in particular), with a format of 2000*2000 pixels.
Rather than working on a white background, I advise you to work on a gray or light beige so that it is not too aggressive for the eyes.
1.2 | The different tools
In this tutorial, I will use different tools that will certainly be useful to you to create your creations, including:
• The color set
• The symmetry tool
• Vector layers
• The clipping mask
• Blending modes
• Filters
2 | Sketch: the basic concept
Get out your stylus, let's get started!
Every illustration starts with a sketch.
2.1 | The character
I often start drawing with at least a vague idea of what I would like to achieve, whether it is a simple concept or a more precise idea.
For this tutorial I did not need to think of a concept, since we will be working with Scott, a fox from my story “Tinkle’s Curse”.
The sketching stage allows you to define many things that give character to the avatar:
• The proportions
• The posture
• The expression
I made 3 sketches before being convinced, but don't hesitate to do as many tests as necessary because the avatar must correspond to your character and your desires!
However, creating the posture and expression is not enough: now we have to dress our character. You can also do several tests to find the perfect outfit. Personally, Scott already has a defined outfit, so it was not very complicated to find!
Once your sketch is selected, make a new layer for each outfit you try on and work with a different color, this will allow you to:
• easily switch from one outfit to another to make your choice
• always see your character's body so that the physics of the clothes is logical
2.2 | Colors
When you are satisfied with the character and his outfit, it is time to choose his colors!
The choice of colors is as important as the character itself, because it is thanks to the colors that you will be able to add even more personality to your character and give him depth. Look at these color suggestions and see for yourself!
I believe that there is no miracle method for choosing your colors. Go with your instinct, try and you will find a color combination that you like.
To help you, you can for example draw inspiration from photographs, atmospheres, color palettes or even the color of your pet!
For my part, Scott's colors were already defined (the red palette at the bottom right), the other proposals were made for this tutorial and some colors actually suit him very well!
The color set
A very useful tool in Clip Studio Paint is the color set.
Very easy to use, it allows you to save your colors to be able to reuse them later: practical when you draw the same character several times like in a Webtoon, or for the animation of an avatar for example!
3 | Character Sheet
The character sheet is not mandatory in the creation of a PngTuber avatar, but it can help you keep precious information. It can take different forms and even be published on your networks to present it.
Personally, I create sheets for the characters of my stories, in order to keep several pieces of information:
• The illustration
• The name
• Basic information (which varies according to the story)
• A brief description
• The colors used
3.1 | L'illustration
For a character sheet, you have 2 solutions:
• Make an illustration of your character in context
• Make an illustration of your character from the front, like a “T Pose”
Personally I prefer to put my characters in context, it makes the sheet more lively, but the second solution allows to have a better vision of the body and the different elements associated with the character. For the time being, it's as you prefer.
Symmetry
To achieve a "T Pose", the most practical tool is the symmetrical ruler.
For a sheet, it is not necessarily necessary to have different points of view of your character. In my opinion, it all depends on the drawing and its complexity, but it also depends on the use you intend to make of the character.
In this case, for a PngTuber avatar, I consider that I do not need to see the back of my character, so that will be enough.
The shadows
I really like to make very simple drawings with flat tints, but I also sometimes add shadows and lights, which help create an atmosphere or depth.
To make neutral shadows, I usually choose a pale pink for warm colors (e.g. yellow, orange, red) and a pale blue for cool colors (e.g. green, purple, blue).
With Scott and his warm colors, I can make all my shadows with a single color, by adding a shadow layer above my color layer.
Product mode and clipping mask
Shadows allow me to talk about 2 important features.
• Product mode: is a blending mode that allows you to color the lower layer. The selected shadow color will then adapt to your different flat colors, creating consistency in your illustration.
• Clipping mask: it allows your shadow layer to adapt to the lower layer. To put it simply, your shadow will never overflow the color!
Both of these features can be enabled directly in your layers.
The filters
I mainly use 2 filters for a specific element: eye reflections.
• Chromatic aberration allows me to add color effects in the reflection.
• Gaussian blur makes the reflection bright.
I combine these two effects with the “Add (glow)” blending mode to get this result!
The contours
The last step that I think will bring your character to life is the outline color. Transforming your black outlines into colored outlines will absolutely change everything!
To color the outlines, simply place a new layer as a clipping mask above your outline layer, then color.
The difference is obvious, right?
3.2 | The sheet
As I said before, your profile can take many forms. Personally, I like to have graphic and textual information, since I make profiles for the characters in my stories, but you can just use illustrations for an avatar.
To give you an idea, Scott's profile looks like this:
4 | The PngTuber avatar
Now that the character is ready, all that remains is to create the animations so that the avatar can be used on the Veadotube software.
Veadotube allows you to add 4 images to make the avatar move:
• Closed mouth and open eyes: the basic state
• Open mouth and open eyes: when speaking
• Closed mouth and closed eyes: so that the avatar can blink randomly
• Open mouth and closed eyes: so that the avatar can blink randomly when speaking
4.1 | The eyes
There are many methods and ways to make our character blink. Obviously, I will present my own method here.
I make the blink with 3 images:
• Eyes half closed
• Eyes closed
• Eyes a little more open than the basic state
4.2 | The mouth
To give the illusion of speech, we use the same principle as for the eyes by creating 3 different mouths representing sounds:
• A mouth for the sounds in A
• A mouth for the sounds in I
• A mouth for the sounds in O
4.3 | Assembly
Once the eyes and mouths are ready, it's time to put all these elements together to create 4 separate images:
• 1 PNG
• 3 APNGs (animated PNGs like GIFs, but better quality)
Export all your images as PNGs and go to a website, like this one, to merge some of them into APNGs. You should end up with all the images below.
The images with a pink cross for example, allow you to create APNG file number 4, marked with a pink circle.
I recommend you to use the same speed (Delay time) for the blinking and the mouth speed since one of the APNG must associate the movement of the two!
When you have your 4 images (1 PNG and 3 APNG), you can go to the Veadotube application and place them in order, like this:
All you have to do now is test your avatar by speaking into your microphone to get this result!
5 | Some additional tips
Before we leave, I would like to give you some additional tips that will help you in your avatar creation.
5.1 | The naked character
The PngTuber avatar works in the same way as characters used in a Visual Novel for example: the character can have different expressions or different clothes.
With our avatar, we could imagine adding expressions like anger, fear or sadness by modifying the eyes and mouths, then adding a new state in Veadotube.
For the PngTuber avatar I use in stream, which is a little owl, I added a second state, anger. I can define a key on my keyboard or create a macro to switch from one state to another in one click!
For the outfit change, it's the same principle, you just have to draw a new outfit and export all the images again.
I therefore strongly recommend that you always make a "naked" version of your character, as in the example below, to be able to easily change his outfit without having to redraw everything each time, it will save you time.
5.2 | The vector layer
One of the key features of Clip Studio Paint in my opinion is the vector layers.
Vector layers allow you to draw like on a normal layer, but to be able to modify the thickness of a specific line or to enlarge and reduce your layer without risking losing quality for example. Personally I use vector layers for my outlines, which allows me to easily add clothes on a naked body!
Duplicate your entire naked character folder (on my side, this folder contains the color, outline, outline color and eye highlights) and create a new vector layer for the clothes. Once the clothes are done, you can delete anything that is sticking out or has become invisible thanks to the vector eraser.
As you can see in the timelapse below, I first finished the whole naked character cleanly, before making a clothed version, then I made different eyes and mouths for the animation!
6 | Conclusion
Congratulations, you made it to the end of the tutorial!
This is my very first tutorial and I thank you for following it to the end. I hope I was clear enough, precise enough, I hope I was able to help you create your avatar and answer your questions!
Thanks again for following my explanations, kisses ♥
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