Our Character Design Track will help you sharpen your fundamental skills in order to help you create your own innovative character designs. We will cover essential skills and topics like shape language, the psychology of color, turnarounds, expressions, poses, thumbnail sketches, silhouette, story, and more.
Visit our Character Design section for more related content.
Character Design Premium Track
Need more guidance, or someone to kick your butt? Purchase our Character Design Premium Track where you’ll get comprehensive support from Prof Lieu and the Art Prof staff through weekly voice sessions and critiques in our Discord.
Pacing
Do the track at your own pace! Taking the time to process the content is important, and so we don’t advise putting pressure on yourself to finish the track quickly. Remember to have fun and enjoy the process of learning! Hear Prof Lieu’s explanation of the track in this video.
Share your progress
Post your ongoing progress in the #artprof-tracks channel in our Discord, you’ll get support and feedback from the community! Tag us @art.prof on Instagram with #artproftrack so we can share your work.
Art Media
You can use digital media, traditional media, or even a combination of the two. Below are suggestions to explore, and get more ideas on Part 1 of our Drawing Curriculum.
SOFTWARE LIST: DIGITAL MEDIA
Procreate, Krita, Adobe Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Paint Tool SAI, Adobe Fresco, MediBang Paint, Gimp
SUPPLY LISTS: DRAWING MEDIA
ballpoint pen, gel pens, dip pen, brush pen markers, colored pencil, pencil, ink wash, Faber-Castell Pitt pens, Molotow markers, India Ink, Drawing Ink, Concentrated Watercolor, Rapidograph pen, alcohol brush pens, Fineliner Pens, Copic markers, Felt tip pen
Lesson 1
Prompt
Shape Language: sketch 3 characters (from other popular designs) and use shape to communicate the feeling of them being cute, strong and dangerous.
Lesson 2
Prompt
Story & Exploration: choose an occupation and/or title for your character and draw 6 thumbnail sketches of your character.
Lesson 3
Prompt
Style: draw your character in different styles, referencing shows and movies if you like.
Lesson 4
Prompt
Color psychology: color a thumbnail in 3 different ways.
Lesson 5
Prompt
Turnaround: complete a 3/4 front and 3/4 rear pose for your character.
Lesson 6
Prompt
Expressions & Poses: Draw your character in action, doing dynamic poses.
Finished?
- Submit your track images + info via this upload form.
- You can choose to receive a hard copy certificate from us via snail mail. (this includes international people)
- We’ll feature your track work in an Art Prof Share segment in one of our live streams on YouTube.
- We’ll post your name, a link of your choice, your slideshow, and video feature on the corresponding track page in our student gallery area.
