Creating iconic characters entails more than just drawing 2D objects and stacking 3D shapes. Whether you are creating cartoon characters, comic books, manga, video games, anime or mascots, good character design and detail lends personality to your work. This art form is essential because it touches on many aspects of the creative process, including its principles, theories and the actual design process. This introductory course teaches you how to create memorable, engaging and visually stimulating characters that allow great storytelling.

We explain how to apply principles that draw on shape language, colour theory and general psychology to refine the visual attributes of a character. The course outlines the key components of character design and demonstrates how to use the tools offered by Photoshop and Clip Studio Paint. We navigate the user interface of Clip Studio Paint and show you how keyboard shortcuts can help you create object sketches and illustrations more quickly and easily.

Finally, the course explores the fundamental components of visual art, including the concepts of shape and form. We show you how you can improve your skills at drawing objects and shapes via observation studies. We also discuss vital subjects like perspective, positioning and detailing and demonstrate their practical relevance to character design. To further help you master these skills, we create robots and humanoid shapes as a practice exercise. Small details and touches can make the difference between a ‘flat’ character and one your audience cares about so sign up for this visual design course to unleash your creativity and acquire a potent new artistic skill.