Henry Has
Character design produces figures that capture the imagination just as much, or sometimes even more than real-life characters. The mystery of character design is how even the simplest lines can produce memorable personalities. Their appeal reaches across cultures and languages. These characters take on a life of their own and artists who redesign them take care to maintain their original charm.
Character design can range from the simplest line drawings to fully fleshed out characters. They figure in stories, books, cartoons, comic strips, advertisements, animated movies, and now digital, computer-animated games and platforms. Charlie Brown, Hello Kitty, Pillsbury doughboy, and Michelin Man are examples of designed characters whose appeal, charm, personality has endured through the years.
The figures in the following tutorials may look deceptively plain, but each tutorial contains surprising techniques and secrets for rendering concepts and simplifying tasks. Even doodling or free sketching can yield the most unexpected ideas for character design.
How to Create Vector Mascot Characters Using a Graphic Tablet, by Iaroslav Lazunov
How to Illustrate a Cute Little Octopus Mascot, by Chapolito
Character Design Tutorial, by Apurba Debnath
Create a Cute and Simple Panda With Basic Shapes in Adobe Illustrator, by Nataliya Dolotko
Character Design Tutorial by Mademoiselle-Nuit
How to Create a Clean Vector Outline, in Five Minutes
Create a Cartoon Character Using Adobe Illustrator, by Mustag Firin
Create a Resting Owl Scene With Brushes and Pattern in Adobe Illustrator, by Jude Christoper Roxas
Create a Dirty Water Drop Character
How to Create a Fun, Red-Haired Boy Character, by Gavin Steele
Craft an Original Character in Illustrator
How to Improvise Cheerful Forest Character Design in Adobe Illustrator, by Mary Winkler
How to Create a Vector Character Using Adobe Illustrator DrawScribe plugin
How to Create a Cute Robot Game Sprite using SSR in Adobe Illustrator, by Michelle Todd
Fun Vector Monster Character Illustrator Tutorial, by Chris Spooner
A Cow As Chinese New Year Zodiac Character, by kailoon
Create an Angry Bird Character in Photoshop
Create Abstract Characters, by Zutto
Cute Monster Character Tutorial in Photoshop
How To Create Cartoon Dexter Character Illustration
Draw a Cartoon Monster Character in Photoshop, by Mohammad Jeprie
How to Create a Vector Character, by Michael Chanter
Create a Cartoon Car Similar to Cars Movie, by Aaron
Character Design 101 by JazzSiyArt
How To Draw a Character of Chinese Boy Using Photoshop, by Mokhtaar Faqeeh
Draw and Color Anime Girl Step by Step, by Xia Taptara
Creating Avatar Navi Character in Photoshop
Making Of ‘Pardon Me’, by Y. Soner Yurtseven
Create a Game Character: Jouster – Part 1, by Adam Fisher
Character Design: Making Of ‘Nyx’, by Dominus
Character Design Digital Painting Tutorial, by Xia Taptara
While it’s true that raw talent and art education are an ideal background, these tutorials present instructions about how to translate ideas to paper, that add to the basic foundation of anyone who wants to learn character design.
With Photoshop or Illustrator, or other bitmap and vector software you can employ various tools to render lines and curves, enhancing with brushes and strokes. Addition of simple shapes and keylines can lift characters from the feeling of flatness. You’ll also pick up essentials about poses, actions, expressions, perspective, color choices, lighting and shading, for more complex character design. Hope you enjoyed this selection 🙂
