Global Creators: Arina Shabanova

Arina Shabanova is a visual artist in the suburbs of Moscow, Russia. When she isn’t working as an animator and illustrator, she and her husband explore the theme of home through textiles in their Galka project where they create blankets, quilts, and pillows. Arina shows us how she uses the Liquify filter in Adobe Photoshop to find the right shape and personality for her character sketches.

Meet Arina.

See where Arina creates her characters.

Liquify a sketch.

To explore how Arina creates her playful characters, start by bringing a sketch into Photoshop. Duplicate the sketch layer and go to Filter > Liquify. Then, use the Liquify tools and the Brush options to start stretching, shrinking, or warping your sketch to create unique proportions and shapes.

Arina repeats this process several times until she finds a character shape she likes.

Illustrate a character.

Get the Creative Cloud Library with Arina’s brush available at the top of this page. In Photoshop, create a new layer above the sketch art. Then go to Window > Libraries, locate the library, and click on Arina’s brush to use it. Outline your characters to give them a wiggly, playful look.

“My characters are usually anthropomorphic which allows me to translate mood through body shape.”

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