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Character Design: A Complete Guide to Drawing 2D Characters
Rating: 4.4 out of 5(176 ratings)
17,361 students

Character Design: A Complete Guide to Drawing 2D Characters

Learn to Design & Draw Your Own Characters: Drawing for Animation, Manga, Anime, Cartoon, Comics, Video Games+
Last updated 10/2024
English

What you'll learn

  • Download a 100-page PDF with Skill-Testing Worksheets!
  • Use a 2-Step Character Design Workflow
  • How to Create Amazing Characters From Scratch
  • How to Draw Better Muscle Anatomy
  • How to Give Your Character a Dynamic Pose
  • How to Understand Fabric Folds for Clothes
  • How to Produce Lineart, Add Color, and Cel Shade Digitally
  • How to Draw the Human Face Accurately

Course content

18 sections106 lectures18h 28m total length
  • Introduction | Character Design Course0:18

    Welcome to our comprehensive online course, "Character Design: A Complete Guide to Drawing 2D Characters." We're thrilled to have you on board as you embark on an exciting journey into the world of character design. Whether you're a budding artist or a seasoned creator looking to enhance your character design skills, this course has something valuable to offer.


    In this course, we will equip you with the essential knowledge and techniques to transform your character design capabilities. You'll not only gain confidence in your character creation abilities but also learn to make informed decisions about the tools and methods you employ. Think like a true artist as you dive into the fascinating realm of 2D character design.


    Key Learning Objectives:


    1. **Fundamental Principles**: Discover the foundational principles of character design, including proportion, balance, and perspective.


    2. **Character Development**: Learn to breathe life into your characters through in-depth development, backstory, and personality traits.


    3. **Sketching and Anatomy**: Master the art of sketching and understand the basics of human anatomy to create realistic and visually appealing characters.


    4. **Expressive Characters**: Unleash your creativity by exploring various expressions, poses, and emotions that will make your characters relatable and engaging.


    5. **Tools and Techniques**: Explore a wide array of digital and traditional tools and techniques for character design, enabling you to choose the right ones for your projects.


    6. **Storytelling Through Characters**: Understand the role of characters in storytelling and how to design characters that seamlessly fit into narratives.


    7. **Feedback and Improvement**: Learn how to seek and implement feedback to continuously enhance your character design skills.


    As you progress through this course, you'll not only become a proficient character designer but also build a portfolio of captivating characters. Whether you aspire to create characters for animation, comics, games, or personal projects, this course will empower you with the knowledge and skills you need.


    Keywords & Keyphrases:

    - Character design

    - 2D character drawing

    - Character design course

    - Character design techniques

    - Character development

    - Sketching and anatomy

    - Expressive character design

    - Tools and methods for character design

    - Character design principles

    - Storytelling through characters

    - Character design for animation

    - Character design for comics

    - Character design for games

    - Character design portfolio

    - Improve character design skills

    - Character design feedback

    - Digital character design

    - Traditional character design

    - Character design for artists


    Enroll today and let your creativity soar as you master the art of character design!

  • How To Get The Most Out Of This Course | Character Design Course0:28
  • [ACTION ITEM]: DOWNLOAD THE COURSE WORKBOOK PDF0:19

    Before you dive into the next section, don't forget to grab your PDF workbook. This invaluable resource contains all the worksheets you need to actively participate and learn alongside me. In one of the upcoming exercises, I'll guide you through the process of enhancing your human frame drawing skills.


    By the end of the exercise, you'll have a beautifully crafted human frame that you can proudly share in our creators forum. This is where you can showcase your progress and gather constructive feedback from fellow creators and enthusiasts.


    So, ensure you have your PDF workbook ready to make the most of this hands-on experience. Your journey to mastering character design is just beginning, and we're here to support your growth every step of the way.


    See you in the next section!


    Keywords & Keyphrases:

    - Download PDF workbook

    - Worksheets for character design

    - Human frame drawing

    - Improve human figure drawing

    - Creators forum

    - Feedback for character design

    - Hands-on character design exercise

    - Character design support


    Prepare to elevate your character design skills and participate actively in our engaging community of creators.

  • Start Drawing: Instantly Draw a Better Human Frame! | Character Design Course9:27

    Welcome to the first drawing lecture in our course, where we'll dive into the fascinating world of character design. In this lesson, we'll kickstart your character design journey by exploring the essential foundations of creating a human frame. Whether you aspire to craft lifelike characters or delve into the realm of anime, understanding the mathematical relationships and proportions of the human figure is your starting point.


    Key Learning Objectives:


    1. **Wireframing Human Body**: Quickly grasp how to create a wireframe of a human body, setting the stage for realistic character design.


    2. **Proportions and Math**: Learn the mathematical relationships governing human body proportions, including the ideal height-to-head ratio for different character types.


    3. **Anatomically Accurate Mannequin**: Get introduced to Sticky Bones, an anatomically accurate and versatile posable mannequin, which will be your companion in understanding body structure.


    4. **Joint Placement**: Learn the precise placement of joints, collarbones, ribcage, and pelvis, ensuring symmetry and anatomical accuracy in your character designs.


    5. **Creating a Human Skeleton**: Discover how to create a basic human skeleton using circles, lines, and simple shapes, forming the foundation for detailed character work.


    6. **Forum for Feedback**: Understand how to share your work in our Creators Forum on Facebook, where you can connect with fellow learners and receive valuable critiques and support.


    By the end of this lesson, you'll have a clear grasp of how to start a character design with the right proportions and structural foundation. You'll be well on your way to creating characters that not only look visually appealing but also adhere to anatomical accuracy.


    Keywords & Keyphrases:

    - Character design foundations

    - Human body proportions

    - Sticky Bones mannequin

    - Joint placement in character design

    - Anatomically accurate character design

    - Creating a human skeleton for character design

    - Proportions in character design

    - Character design symmetry

    - Creators Forum for character design

    - Character design critique and feedback


    Remember to take a picture of your human wireframe and join our Creators Forum on Facebook (password: Academy) to engage with a supportive community of fellow learners, share your artwork, and receive valuable feedback to enhance your character design skills. We look forward to seeing your progress and helping you grow as a character designer. Join us in the next lecture for further insights and exciting character design adventures!

  • [ACTION ITEM]: Post Your Sketch! | Character Design Course0:18
  • [ACTION ITEM]: DOWNLOAD the "Learn How to Learn" Poster PDF0:02

Requirements

  • A pencil and paper!
  • Optional: Digital drawing tablet and Photoshop

Description

Do you want to be able to draw characters from your imagination?

Perhaps you want to draw characters for video games or movies? Or start your own comic series?

If you said yes, this is the perfect course to learn character design.

You'll learn the entire process from understanding shapes and shape language, to drawing the human head & figure. You'll learn how to draw several poses for your characters; understand how lighting can effect the mood and style of your character; and transform your hand-drawn character into digital art.

Enroll now and get instant access to:

  • 18.5+ hours of video lessons

  • 100 page workbook PDF

  • Student drawing community

  • Premium Instructor support

  • Lifetime updates to the class

How does the course work?

Jump right in with drawing warm up exercises. Then, learn our recommended tools and jump right into drawing character silhouettes. From there, you'll learn how simple shapes can give off different feelings - friendly vs. mean, good vs. evil, etc. You'll then learn how to draw the human head and figure.

Once you've learned all of these basics, you'll put it all together with some full character designs. After drawing your first full characters, you'll learn different poses to draw your character in.

The rest of the course covers some advanced drawing techniques, lighting styles, Photoshop skills, as well as deeper dives into character elements like hair, cloth, armor and more.

This is a very practical course! You'll be drawing and sketching your own characters throughout the entire class! And by the end of class, you should have several characters drawn, and the skills to draw any character from your imagination!

Why take this course from us?

Being able to create characters from your imagination is a sought after skill that is required by most major media companies in some aspect of their creative process. Whether it is to create films, games, or comic books, there is always a spot for someone who can draft up new, innovative, and magical ideas to bring the project to life. Even in the 21st century where much of the world's entertainment is in 3D, a skilled 2D illustrator is a vital asset in providing the initial designs that later become sculpted and rigged assets in 3D software.

The purpose of this course is to provide the student with theoretical and practical knowledge that will be immediately useful when trying to get better at character drawing. This course is targeted towards hobbyists as well as beginners who seek to be professionals. Each topic will be taught at a comfortable pace and reiterated multiple times throughout the course. Students who enroll in this course will learn to think like an artist and adapt to a workflow that will allow them to produce designs that can be used by a 3D modeler in the studio pipeline.

Who is your course instructor?

This course is led by Kevin Gardin, the founder of Drawcademy, in partnership with Video School, creators of several top-rated courses in the fields of art, design, photography and video creation. Kevin has been drawing his own characters for years, both professionally and as a hobbyist. He is excited to share his knowledge and passion with you.

Are you ready to start your own character design journey?

We're so excited that you're here reading this course description, and know that once you enroll you won't regret it.

Click that enroll button and start drawing today!

Who this course is for:

  • Anyone new to drawing who wants to learn how to draw better characters
  • Anyone who wants to learn character design for movies, video games, comics, or cartoons