@Samuel Cheung

Hello and welcome to the Blended Imagery Tutorials tab.

If you’re here, chances are you’re either new to our production—or just curious about how we make everything come alive on screen. Either way, welcome.

Images are a huge part of what makes our show work. Whether it’s video, still pictures, or glitchy loops stitched together with care, visuals are what help connect people to the heart of our world. They don’t just decorate the story—they are the story.

This tutorial will walk you through:

• How to build character sprites that feel like they belong in the world—thanks to a little creative teamwork with AI

• How to create your own immersive virtual backgrounds using a mix of editing, AI, and stock video

• How to design and make your own shadow puppet, from base shape to finished piece

Let’s dive in—and show you how the pieces come together behind the curtain.

When starting out with creating an immersive and fun story for any production, your characters' designs are one of the most important pieces of the puzzle.

Before diving into this part of the tutorial, make sure you know which characters will appear in your show. As a graphic designer, your job is to bring those characters (and any key items) to life based on what’s written in the script.

Tools You'll Need

Make sure to install, subscribe, or purchase the following tools. These will be essential throughout this stage:

• FireAlpaca – Drawing software. You’ll be designing and editing your characters here.

• RemoveBG – A simple background remover. Perfect for cleaning up sprites.

• ChatGPT – For generating base character images or ideas when you're short on time or inspiration.

• Scenario AI – Great for refining your characters and keeping their design consistent.

• A Drawing Pad – I personally use a Wacom tablet, but anything that works for you is fine!

Getting the Feel of Your Character:

Before sketching anything, take some time to study your character. What makes them unique? What do they want? What do they fear? Write down any traits or details that stand out—these will guide your design choices.

Take a look at these two characters from our 2025 production as an example:

Kunti, the older brother, has a stern, grounded personality. His puppet design reflects that: more traditional, firm posture, minimal movement—he wants a quiet, cultural life.

Karna, the younger brother, wears looser clothing and a flowing robe. His design is more fluid, hinting at his wild ambition to become a legendary archer.

Our show is set in a region inspired by ancient Asia, specifically drawing from Hindu mythology (like the Mahabharata) and Javanese culture. This mix helps influence not just the story, but how the characters look and move.

Setting Up Your Files:

Organization is key—don’t lose your work or your references! Here's how to set up your folders:

Create a main project folder – Example: Spring2025_BlendedShadowPuppetProduction

Inside it, make another folder called: Character_Workshop

Inside Character_Workshop, make a folder for each character you'll be working on.

Within each character’s folder, create the following:

Character_Concepts – for sketches, notes, references

FireAlpaca_Files – your working files from FireAlpaca

Final_Products – for exports, cleaned images, or files ready for use

Getting Started in FireAlpaca:

Open up FireAlpaca and start experimenting. It has a helpful layering system—you can draw outlines on the top layers, then add colors underneath without messing anything up. Layers make it easy to test, tweak, and experiment.

Once you're familiar with the layout, feel free to start sketching. And don’t worry—you don’t have to be a perfect artist. Even a rough drawing is better than nothing. If you're pressed for time or prefer working from a concept rather than a sketch, open ChatGPT and move on to the next step.

Image / Sprite Generation Using ChatGPT and Scenario AI:

If you’re here because you finished Part One—awesome! You're already on the right track. ChatGPT is a great place to begin when you're just starting out with sprite generation. You can use it to brainstorm ideas or even generate base images if you're short on time or don't feel confident in your drawing skills yet.

But if you’re looking for more refined, detailed, and consistent sprite art—Scenario AI is where you want to go next.

Why Scenario AI?

Here’s what makes Scenario worth using:

** * Better character refinement – It can take your rough concept and turn it into something polished.**

** * Consistent artistic style – Once you start generating characters using the same model, your art will look like it all belongs in the same world.**

Heads Up Before Subscribing Choose the $15/month plan. It gives you 1,500 generation credits per month.

If you cancel your subscription, all your generated files will be deleted within 30 days, and you’ll lose any unused credits, no matter how many you had left. (Yeah… not ideal, but good to know.)

How to Use Scenario for Sprite Generation:

1. Once your account is set up, go to the “Images” section and click Generate.

2. Choose a model to start with. We recommend trying “Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy” if it fits your theme, but feel free to experiment.

3. Write your character prompt – Describe how your character looks, moves, or feels. Example: “Teen archer in forest robes, green-gold color scheme, layered armor, wind-tossed hair”

4. If you have a reference image or a sketch, drag and drop it into the Reference Image tab—or just paste it using Ctrl + V. Scenario is especially good at using these as a base and polishing them into a clean design.

5. Select how many images you want per batch (up to 4 images per generation, each costing 20 credits), then click Generate.

6. Don’t use Scenario’s AI to remove backgrounds—it will charge you credits, and you can remove them for free using other tools like RemoveBG.

A quick note about character poses:

Make sure your generated character has both arms and both feet clearly visible. Avoid images where arms are cut off, hidden behind the body, or look glitched. These kinds of issues can cause problems later when animating or rigging the sprite.

If your character keeps generating with weird or missing limbs—don’t stress. Sometimes AI gets a little stubborn. Just do your best for now. We’ll figure out a workaround later

Creating Your Shadow Puppets:

Feeling stuck on how to turn your character into a shadow puppet? Don’t worry—I’ve got you.

Start by using a threshold remover tool online (or if you have access to Adobe software, you can do it there too). The goal here is to convert your image into a clean black silhouette.

🖤 Black areas = solid parts of the puppet

⚪ White areas = holes (these will be the cutouts made by the laser cutter)

You can also leave light shapes or impressions where joints or special features will go. These can help guide where you’ll eventually attach moving parts or add detailing.

Once you’re happy with how it looks, download the image and drag it into FireAlpaca to start cleaning it up or preparing it for print.