Digital Drawing Course: Character Design & Techniques

One of the main purposes of this course is to provide the students with all the tricks necessary to shave time out of their artwork. Drawing directly on a good picture it is possible since most of the work is already done for you.

However, there is only certain situation that this should apply. It would be bad practice to rely on this technique for all your drawings. Drawing directly on the picture should be used as one of your many tools. This should only be used if there is not that much time in the project. If the pose desired is achievable by the Figma figurines and if figurines fit the vision.

One of the drawbacks of drawing directly on the drawing is that the artwork can easily get to look still if not careful. And another drawback will be that there will be more editing towards the end.

Color is one of the most important parts of a character design. But there still some common mistake that are done all the time when it comes to coloring. Here are some of the mistakes to avoid.

#1 Artists will frequently stay in the same hue and will pay little attention to the colors around the character.

One thing to keep in mind is that light and colors bounces of off everything, and colors are 100% affected by their environment.

#2 Color pallets don’t match with the world.

When contemplating the color pallets of your character you should always take in consideration the color pallet of the world or else your character will stand out like a sore thumb. Your character can and should have a different color pallet than your world, but it should easily be able to blend in as well

For example, cotton candy, strawberry shortcake in a desert in a desert. That will not go. But cheesecake, that’s a totally different story.

#3 A complete disregard for the color wheel.

The color wheel is one of those fundamental must. Without it, it will be exceedingly difficult to create a good composition. Unless you are good at guessing. But you don’t want to be guessing when it comes to your art. The color wheel is great tool that every artist should be using. Every now and then there will be an artist that doesn’t know about the color wheel, and that’s ok. But there are some that have heard of it and paid little attention to it, and that’s not ok. Unless you have been drawing for 15 maybe 20 years and you no longer needed because it’s embedded in you.

#4 Warm color ascend while cool color recedes. This is crucial for a good composition.

For example, a lot of artist inadvertently have a cool color at the front of the image, not that it can’t be done, but it shouldn’t be done if your background will have nice a warm color. You will instantly lose depth.

Shadows and highlights are a tricky thing to do. Because you can overdo them easily and underdo them just as well. In both cases the will cause your finish illustration to look out of place and quite amorous. One good rule of thumb when adding highlights and shadows is to keep the environment in mind. As you start adding highlights and shadows is good try to imagine in what kind of environment, they will be in.

You can also go ahead and add the environment before you start adding the shadows and highlights that way you can have a clearer idea of where to start.

As for my case, I usually tend to add the backgrounds mid-way through the drawing, just so that I won’t be distracted with the background and I can really work out the mid-tones.

The pen tool is one of those important things to learn and master when it comes to design as it allows you unmatched control over your creation. And yet, the pen tool is one of the most feared tools in the digital word. But in this video, I’ll show you how to master it so that you won’t longer be afraid to use it ever again.

Learning to switch between apps is a must in today's day and age. You shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket and most definitely only rely on one app. Switching between apps is a great way to flex your mental muscles and to stay up to date with new and refreshing technology. Technology is always changing, and most of the time glitches aside, it usually is for our benefit.

There are a few types of artist out here, the kind that wants to do everything with one app, and doesn’t even like to update the app, just because they have become so used to the location of each induvial tool. In their mind, the tools they have is all they will ever need to produce great quality artwork. And it in many ways that is true. But they are also limiting themselves to be able to reach new potential.

When you start a drawing, you should start with a goal in mind. This can be to make a poster, to make a portfolio piece, perhaps it's just a warm-up or in this case, we are making a magazine cover. You need to know what the end goal of your drawing is so that you know just how much time you should spend on it. Generally speaking, you should spend long hours on an illustration if it’s going to be sitting in a corner somewhere just collecting dust. Put your artwork to use, have a clear goal.