Character Design Masterclass: Design your own characters

Explore shape design by analyzing simple forms like squares, circles, triangles, and organic shapes, and learn how different geometries convey meaning in Pixar characters.

Explore how cube and square shapes convey stability, strength, and rigidity, guiding boxy silhouettes for robotic or knight character designs.

Explore how the circle as a basic shape conveys innocence, friendliness, softness, and movement through round forms, open structure, and approachable faces, guiding character design decisions.

Examine the triangle and its stable and less stable versions, linking balance, danger, and the mystical or divine through sharp edges, horns, and symbolic cues for character design.

Explore organic shapes that defy rigid boxes—evoke nature, water, flow, and freedom in character designs, emphasizing authenticity, creativity, and unconventional forms through practical exercises.

Stack simple shapes to design characters, fill the canvas with silhouettes by stretching and sizing, mix organic and boxy forms, and break down designs to reveal a deliberate, well‑thought process.

Explore three pose ideas by layering basic shapes—circles, ellipses, triangles, and boxes—clipped to a gray background to craft futuristic, witchy, and modern silhouettes and outfits.

Learn the 70/30 design rule, balancing colors and light-dark values to shift emphasis and make the main element stand out, with variations like 60/40 and 80/20.

Explore readability through the 70/30 rule, using light and dark values to guide the eye, emphasize important parts, and improve silhouette clarity in character design.

Learn how the 70/30 rule uses bright light values with dark accents to create points of interest and ensure the face and upper body read clearly, even at small sizes.

Guide the viewer’s eye with the 70/30 value rule, balancing bright and dark areas to create high-contrast focal points in character design and illustration.

Explore how to use high contrast and value relationships to guide the viewer's focus, using shapes, black and white palettes, and 70/30 and other compositions for character and environmental design.

Explore adjusting dark and light values to create contrast, guide viewer attention, and experiment with jackets, hair, gradients, and background contrast to develop distinctive character designs.

Explore the big, medium, small principle to guide character design and visual storytelling by balancing ratios of shapes, preserving emphasis, and directing the viewer's focus.

Explore separating character designs into big, medium, and small shapes to create readable, balanced artwork. Notice how varying shapes and spacing in clothing and jewelry adds interest without overwhelming detail.

Explore the golden ratio and natural separation to balance big, medium, and small shapes, apply the 70/30 rule, and observe nature-inspired design in art and character concepts.

Eliminate unnecessary details to create bold, readable character silhouettes, balancing big shapes, medium shapes, and small shapes with patterns to guide the eye and maintain interest.

Develop strong character silhouettes by starting with large shapes, then layer in medium and small details, refining lines, cuts, and color values to create dynamic, readable designs.

Develop a more interesting jacket by combining big, medium, and small shapes with shadows, adjusting color values, and adding details like buckles and stripes while keeping the silhouette readable.

Explore repetition as a design principle, showing how repeating a single shape family—circles, stars, organic forms—creates consistency, improves design communication, and informs character artwork.

Explore how nature acts as a role model for character design by repeating shapes and patterns, varying size and color, to create engaging designs across leaves and animals.

Explore how repetition creates harmony and consistency in character design and illustration by repeating shapes, patterns, and details to connect accessories, clothing, and background elements into a coherent, unified design.

In character design, explore how breaking repetition creates a focal point by introducing a unique shape or item, directing attention through contrast while preserving harmony.

Study nature’s patterns by photographing and analyzing how shapes repeat, vary, stack, and overlap. Copy these designs to inspire your own character designs.

Apply practical line work and repeated shapes to unify character silhouettes, refining jacket lines, folds, and subtle details, then preview variations in line weight and color.

Explore how red, purple, blue, green, yellow, and orange convey action, love, fantasy, water, health, warmth, and optimism to inform character design.

Explore color contrast and the 70/30 rule to create bold, attention-grabbing designs that guide the viewer to the main focal point, using opposite colors on the color wheel.

Experiment with color combinations and contrast to convey character expression, using gradients, glowy effects, and a 7030 rule, while exploring palettes and inspirations from other artworks.

Explore how color choices define character traits in popular animations, using Nemo, Dory, Ratatouille, and Wall-E to show how strong and desaturated colors convey mood and recognizability.

Apply a gradient map and color balance to transform black-and-white character designs into vibrant variations, experimenting with bold accents, skin tones, and jacket hues to discover compelling color schemes.

learn to use royalty free pictures for photo bashing, avoid copyright issues, and responsibly study and design by sourcing safe images from a royalty free database like Pexels.

Insert texture photos as texture layers, clip them to clothing, and use overlay and other layer options with adjusted opacity, saturation, and brightness to enrich your character design.

Learn to use photo bash to cut and integrate elements from other sources into your character design, matching perspective, clipping, color, and wrapping around the body.

Create clear silhouettes for readability by spacing limbs, avoiding overlaps, and using simple outlines for clothing and weapons, ensuring characters read instantly across poses.

Create dynamic silhouettes with flowing curves and strong lines through the body, using S-curves to guide the eye. Use expressive poses to convey movement in mermaids, birds, or fairies.

Explore how pose, silhouette, negative space, and body language convey character traits in three examples, revealing how to portray villain, heroic, or shy personas without facial exaggeration.

Apply negative space to keep a character’s silhouette readable by choosing backgrounds that leave key areas open. Use contrast and minimal detail to guide focus.

Learn how to use negative space, contrast, and silhouette to emphasize a character's face, hands, and weapon, guiding the viewer's gaze through deliberate lighting and background choices.

Learn to use negative space, background, and contrast to guide the gaze toward the main character, enhancing readability and focus in character design.

Learn practical rendering advice to clean up sketch lines, build depth with layered shadows and folds, and ensure silhouette readability for a stronger character design.