Live Encore: Develop & Draw Illustrated Characters

Learn to design little illustrated characters with big personalities. 

Creating strong illustrated characters is partially about being able to draw them well, but it’s more about ensuring they have well-developed personalities that are reflected across your work. In this hclass—recorded using Zoom and featuring participation from the Skillshare community—illustrator Mimi Chao shares her simple process for designing and drawing compelling illustrated characters.

To start, she’ll walk you through some of the tenants of a good illustrated character, and share some of her work from over the years. Then, she’ll share a prompt to get everyone imagining a new character, and walk you through the design process from sketching to final colors. Mimi will be working in Procreate—and will share some of her favorite tools and digital drawing tricks along the way—but you’ll learn plenty if you’re following along with traditional materials. Along the way, students who participated in the live session were able to ask Mimi questions, so you’ll learn more about her inspiration and process.

Accessible to artists of all levels, you’re sure to learn something whether you’ve never drawn a character in your life or are just polishing up your skills. You’ll walk away with a cute new character, some new Procreate tricks if you’re drawing digitally, and a whole new way of looking at the world that will have you seeing potential characters at every turn.

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While we couldn't respond to every question during the session, we'd love to hear from you—please use the class Discussion board to share your questions and feedback.

• Introduction
• Why We Love Characters
• Mimi’s Character Designs
• Signs of a Strong Character
• Fully Developing Characters
• Finding Character Inspiration
• Starting to Sketch
• Adding Scene & Setting
• Adding Color
• Polishing in Procreate
• Using Pencil Brush Filters
• Q&A
• Final Thoughts