Kwanzaa Owes Character Design
About the Artist
Kwanzaa Owes
Kwanzaa Owes was born and raised in Harlem, New York. Kwanzaa’s art experience started at the age of 8 with sculpting, drawing and filmmaking; he didn’t take it seriously until high school where he started to perfect his craft. Kwanzaa’s first arts job came in the form of summer work when he did murals for Creative Art Works. Kwanzaa learned a lot of different approaches in character design, like how to start conceptualizing, how colors express the personality of a character and their emotions, and how essential a backstory is. Kwanzaa describes his colleagues as inspirational, encouraging and always giving good feedback. His teacher, Monica Wynn, is always uplifting and a true role model for aspiring artists. Kwanzaa graduated from Mohawk Valley Community College in 2020 with an Associates in Illustration. His film “Fatherhood” was submitted to the Tribeca Film Festival in 2014 and was shown at City College in 2017. He recently made an Instagram dedicated to his own art and upcoming projects at @_keyztothefuture. His inspirations for character design are “Rick and Morty”, “Amphibia”, and other experiences in his personal life.
Character Design: Dill the Frog
Work in Progress
Dill the Frog is a character that oozes personality - he’s chill, courageous, stubborn, and likes a good challenge.
Final Art
I focused on the facial features and the emotions that he’s expressing - I really wanted to show that in the character.