I’ve been spending a lot of time in Animal Crossing lately, and like many others, I’ve become obsessed with the custom design feature. Today, I wanted to share my experience with creating some detailed animal-themed designs.
So, I opened up the Custom Designs app on my NookPhone. The first thing I did was to choose the “Change Design” option. I felt like making a really cute panda design, and I had something in mind already.
I started with a basic black and white color scheme, and I drew a rough outline of a panda’s head. It looked pretty wonky at first, I won’t lie. The 32×32 grid felt so small when I was trying to get the details right. I kept erasing and redrawing, trying to get the shape of the head and the ears just right.
Making the Panda
- Drew a basic outline of a panda’s head.
- Added circles for eyes, making sure they were symmetrical.
- Filled in the black patches around the eyes and the ears.
After I got the basic shape down, I started working on the details. I added some smaller circles for the eyes and filled in the black patches around them. Then, I added a little nose and mouth. It was starting to look like a panda, but it still needed something more.
I decided to add some shading to give it more depth. I used a slightly lighter shade of black to add some shadows under the eyes and around the edges of the face. This made a huge difference! It really made the design pop.
Finally, I added some little white highlights to the eyes and nose to make them look shiny. And there it was, my detailed panda design! I was pretty proud of how it turned out, considering I’m no artist. I displayed it as a painting in my house, and it looks super cute.
Then I thought, why stop at a panda? I tried my hand at a tiger design next. I followed a similar process, starting with a rough outline and then adding details and shading. The stripes were a bit tricky, but I managed to make them look decent.
I have to say, creating these designs was really relaxing and satisfying. It’s amazing what you can do with just a few pixels and a lot of patience. I’m definitely going to be creating more animal designs in the future. Maybe I’ll even try to design my own animal crossing character. Who knows?
I found that the key to detailed designs is to start simple. Don’t try to do too much at once. Start with basic shapes and gradually add more details. And don’t be afraid to experiment with different colors and shading techniques. You might be surprised at what you can create!
