Squideo’s Characters

Our first collection of characters for 2023 has been completed, which we debuted in our video for Turtle Blue. These bold designs were created by our Creative Director Ben Underwood and animated by the rest of the team. They’re ideal for businesses that want to show off a diversity of characters whilst maintaining a bright and bold colour palette. 

Squideo routinely updates our collection of animated characters, which compromises original and public creations. This is to keep our videos looking unique and fresh, whilst offering our clients an ever growing number of options to choose from. All of our characters are completely customisable based on the requirements of the client.

Check out Squideo’s Animated Explainer Video Examples page to see the range of characters we use in our animated videos. 

The Process

Creating a set of animated characters is no small feat and a lot of hard work goes into designing a unique set. When Squideo creates new characters, we typically follow four steps that take us from preliminary designs to a fully animated character. 

Keep reading to discover the process. Alternatively, get in touch with our team today and let us take care of the entire process for you!

01. Brainstorm

To figure out the style you want, you first need to decide on your characters’ personalities. For example, if a character is an evil supervillain then they’re typically designed using sharper shapes like squares and triangles. If a character is a happy teacher, you might use softer shapes like circles. 

02. Sketch

Once a style has been chosen, sketch the characters out. Focus on the main design elements and less on proportions, these can be amended later. Sketches can be done with pencil and paper or using software like Clip Studio Paint, Adobe Photoshop and Procreate. 

03. Digitally Create

Use the sketch to form the basis of the animated character. Using the software of your choice – Squideo uses Adobe Illustrator – create the main body of the character. With software like Illustrator, features can be altered down the line like clothing and colour. 

04. Create Variations

Finally, it’s time to create variations of the character in preparation for animation. The character should have several main poses – for example, sitting down, walking and pointing. Animation will then be added to these poses to create movement. 

Now your character is ready to make their debut in an animated video. Although you’ll have to repeat the process a few times to build up a complete character set before you start.

Get Started with a Squideo Video

Does creating a set of characters from scratch sound like a lot of hassle? Let Squideo take care of the work for you and get in touch with our team today!

Watch the video below to get a better understanding of how Squideo works and how we create explainer videos to suit your project brief.