Ultimate Character Design Course with Adobe Illustrator-2025

Learn to use Illustrator's selection tools to move, resize, and rotate objects within groups and layers. Master regular and direct selection, multi-shape selection with shift, and anchor-point editing.

Explore paths, strokes, and fills, including creating circles, applying colors, and adjusting stroke width. Use the pen tool and selection tools to refine shapes.

learn to view and edit anchor points with the direct selection tool, adjust handles, convert points to corners or smooth curves, and add or remove points using the pen tool.

Explore expanded strokes in Adobe Illustrator to convert variable strokes into colorizable, paintable character shapes for tracing and drawing, by expanding appearances and managing anchor points.

Master the layers panel in Adobe Illustrator: rename layers, select contents with alt-click, lock and unlock layers, control visibility, and prepare for grouping layers to streamline character design.

Group shapes with Ctrl+G to move entire drawings as one, keeping layers clean and organized. Alt+click the eye to show a layer, and drag layers to push backdrops behind others.

Learn to master the pencil tool in Adobe Illustrator for drawing characters, adjusting fidelity for smooth lines, setting stroke color and size, and editing paths for precise outlines.

Use the pen tool on a new layer to place anchor points and create curves and corners. Adjust handles with Alt for precision and match the reference.

Compare the brush tool with the pencil tool on a drawing tablet, note that the brush tool doesn't auto-select shapes, and use Alt to draw straight lines or close shapes.

Master writing and styling text in Adobe Illustrator using the text tool, font selections, and size controls. Create text on paths, resize containers, and add strokes for path-based typography.

Convert text to vector in Adobe Illustrator to reshape it for logos, then edit shapes, anchor points, and add a fire effect with the pencil tool.

Learn to create a color palette in Illustrator using the swatches panel and global colors, then apply colors to a character by selecting parts with the direct selection tool.

Use color swatches to recolor your character designs by adjusting brightness, saturation, and hue in the swatches panel, with global options and RGB mode, ensuring precise artboard recoloring.

Expand appearance in Illustrator to convert paths into shapes, preserving the variable stroke and enabling live paint for coloring your character designs.

Color the illustration with the live paint tool to color all characters, expanding appearance when needed, and use the live paint bucket with swatches to fill each area.

Expand live paint to paths to enable later shadows and highlights. Use the direct selection tool to expand and separate backgrounds for accurate shadowing and recoloring in the next lecture.

Learn how to recolor artwork in Illustrator using quick actions and the advanced color editor. Double-click swatches to customize shirt and shadow colors, and adjust global colors with sliders.

Learn to add shadows to characters in Adobe Illustrator with the knife tool, eyedropper, and swatches; expand live paint, and cut shadow parts from outside shapes to color darker shadows.

Create a 1920 by 1080 document, insert a reference photo, and use 50% opacity for drawing in Illustrator. Choose link or embed, unlock and rename reference layer as you work.

Draw the face outline with the pencil tool on a new lines layer, then adjust stroke and fidelity to smooth, overlapping all lines for the overshoot technique.

Clean extra shapes by organizing line layers, duplicating and renaming, and adjusting colors; ensure lines are closed, expand appearance, and simplify paths before preparing for colorizing in the next lecture.

Duplicate and expand the live paint layer, cut outside shapes with the knife tool, and add shadow color and brightness to create realistic character shadows.

Create a 1920x1080 Illustrator document, import a reference photo as a template to set 50% opacity, then sketch outlines with the pencil tool using the overshoot technique and overlapping lines.

Trace and finish your character, hide the background, expand paths into shapes, then clean overlapped parts with the shape builder tool (Shift+M) and Alt to delete extras; colorize later.

create a color palette from a reference photo, duplicate your drawing to a layer, sample colors with the eyedropper, build swatches in Illustrator, and color with live paint and shadows.

Master finalizing a character in Illustrator by adding shadows with a refined overshoot drawing technique, using knife tool cuts, swatches, and the eyedropper to match colors.