I've got another year until I send in a portfolio, so I have a lot of time to plan, but I have a question. I understand it's very easy to look childish when drawing in a cartoony style, but I think I have a plan to get around that background/coloring wise. The thing I need to know is- are copyrighted characters allowed (Like Pokemon for example)? I couldn't find any concrete info, all I could find was that materials are allowed so long as they aren't plagerized-Not sure if that covers characters
To be honest, I would strongly recommend you star away from cartoon style unless you are already relatively accomplished at it. It’s very hard to succeed with it.
As for doing other peoples cartoon characters, I am almost certain that is genrally not allowed. Particularly if you were just drawing the Pokemon exactly how they are drawn by the official Pokemon people. Do not do that. That would be plagiarism as far as I see.
I did do one cartoonish drawing in my design breadth. It was well resolved though and was referencing childrens book style illustration. I did use some recognizable characters but they were in there in my own form and part of a larger composition in which they were necessary. The trouble with this kind of idea is it does take considerable skill to not come off as childish. More traditional subjects are safer and if you’re gonna do cartoon I would say to only do one or two pieces in your breadth.
I am actually very hesitant to show this because it is very easy to misinterpret my advice. This is different than most cartoon work I do see people posting in the AP tag and this level of work is acceptable.
Another question: Are you doing the 2d design portfolio or the drawing portfolio?
This is pretty good to read. It validates cartoon in AP while still pointing out that you have to be VERY careful to not copy other works and that you must have enough skill to make the work your own.