Anime Character Design For Beginners

1. What's In Store For You: Enemy or Japanese cartoons hold a special place in my heart as they bring back cherished childhood memories. They were my first inspiration to pick up a pencil and express myself through. My artistic journey began with copying characters using pencils and overtime. I ventured into the captivating world of watercolors. Now, I find immense joy in creating fine arts, designing my own characters, and bringing them to life with the fluidity and vibrancy of watercolors. Hi, I'm beyond pollutes GI, but Angus Philippines. And I'll be your teacher for today's class. Throughout his grave session, we will embark on an exciting journey of crafting our own unique anime character and bring it to life with watercolors. Are process starts with crafting a mood board, creating reference images to set the tone and style for our character's design. Then choose the appropriate facial features. Discuss the proportions of the face. Create thumbnail sketches and color study, practice different watercolor techniques, and then paint our artwork. Allow me to share this simple workflow I've adopted for designing enemy characters. Before, I've hesitated, degrade Fan Arts or invented my own characters. But this I broke down the steps into manageable actions. The process became a delightful experience. By the end of this class, you'll be the proud creator of your very own unique anime character, reflecting your personal preferences in color, costume, and overall appearance. When some experience in both pencil and brush handling is beneficial. Beginners are more than welcome to join in defined. This class is meant to be and enjoying and enriching experience for all. So let's embrace ourselves and enchanting or Lyft enemy. Grab your materials and let's get started. 2. Class Project: Our goal in this class is to design, draw, and paint our own animated character. For your reference, please download the class guide in the Resources tab, which contains different inspirations for the facial features. The phase proportion guide, scanned copies of the sketch and studies and the finished artwork. This class is divided into four major parts. Character design, where we will decide on how our character looks and the facial features appropriate for drawing phase. Where we will create small studies and finalize the sketch. Watercolor techniques, where we'll practice necessary techniques in rendering the character in color. And finally painting, where we will bring the character into life. Here's what your lead to prepare for this class. An app like Pinterest or Canva for our mood board. Pencils, one heart and one soft. I use to H and six B. Eraser. A sketchpad or sketch paper transfer paper, backing board, masking tape. Watercolor paper. Watercolor brushes. A small and a big round brush will do. Watercolor paints. The colors will depend on the palette that you will decide on later. While they're jar. And a rag or paper towel. And watercolor pencils or colored pencils for the outline, though these are optional. So download the class guide, prepare your materials, and let's create a mood board in the next video. 3. Character - Inspiration: In creating your own character, it is helpful to reference a real person or another anime character as an inspiration. For me. It wasn't my daughter loved the shape of her eyes and the fact that she was born when the first rain of summer cord down. So when you create a mood board, please give this things in mind. You can either use Canva or Pinterest and any other image editing software. Or if you want to go for the traditional step up, then print out their reference photos for the character's pose. Important facial features. The color palette that you wind. Elements are markings like in my case. These clouds and rain drops will help me define and shape my cat. Once you're done setting up your mood board, Let's get into the next video and discuss facial features. 4. Character - Eyes, Nose, Mouth: The shape of the face determines if your character is feminine, masculine, or a young wine. Usually female characters have a marker V edge and the features are closer to each other. While the opposite is true for masculine characters, where the jaw is really defined and the chin has a sharp edge. Eyes are farther to the nose compared to the female version. While, when dealing with young characters or what legal GB characters, cute version, we usually have rounded shapes and the features are really close to each other and the eyes are really big. Enemy eyes are generally big and expressive. And more often than not, the color of the eyes also tell us something about the character. Black and brown are the most common. While red eyes signify power. And blue ones are generally used for happy characters. Purple is considered mysterious, while green is associated with nature. The shape of the eye also gives the character its unique look. You can go for something as complicated as this, or as simple as this one. Whichever design you choose, make IT personnel. And remember that the eyes are the window to the soul. If you're a character doesn't have a dominant or a weird nose, then this creature is the simplest to draw. You can even leave it out in the face will still make sense since our brains can fill in the gaps. If we see a set of eyes here and the mouth over here, we automatically issue that these characters nose is somewhere around here, even if we cannot see it. Here are some of the most common nose shapes you can see in anime characters. In anime characters, the lips are not really defined. A couple of broken lines will do. But for my style, I love using Manuel characters lives as a reference. The shape of the mouth greatly depends on the emotion you want to portray is your characters are prized, trying, happy, upset, or oblivious. Here are some of the most common animal lifts that you can use for your own character. 5. Character - Ears, Hair, Etc.: Ears often used to tell us something about the current thirst race. Most of the common ones are elms and cat ears. You may also go for a rabbit's ear or show this feature if you wanted to showcase unique earrings that could be used to identify a character from the others. Female characters usually have smaller ears, while male lines have bigger and sharper edges. Whether it'd be a scar, a gym, or tribe markings. These additional elements can further define the character that you are designing. Scars signify battle experience. Hence, strength. Gems can be used for a celestial beings and tried markings to identify unique group of people. Anything is possible when it comes to animate hairstyle, which makes Gosling a lot more challenging. From the shape of the hair to the collar and accessories. You can go from really simple, too extravagant, once. Just remember to match it with all the other facial features that you decide on. The clothes are costume of your character greatly depends on the style that you're after. Are you drawing a school girl, a princess, a villain, fairy, or other rural dB? Whichever you decide on. You can add reference photos in your mood board to serve as an inspiration. In my case, I use this rain drops as her halo, this clouds as her background. And a symbol just for a rain god is look. We're now ready to design our own character. See you in the next video. 6. Character - Sample Designs: Here are some of the characters that I designed. This is Rhea. She's inspired by the bougainvillea flowers. Here are the images I use as reference. I also use a limited palette and decided on red eyes. That gave her a sort of vampire vibe. This is Keiko, inspired by the forget me not flowers. I don't want this chest over the details of the eyes, so I just had her eyes closed. I use a different painting style for her. But you can see that the reference influenced how she looks. This is the one that I'll demonstrate in this class. As mentioned before, she's inspired by my daughter from the eyes, the rain halo and the clouds, her clothes, and the color palette is a personal preference. They are proof that designing a character doesn't have to be complicated. Once you think of a person to use as an inspiration, all the ideas will start flowing from divine post, features, costume and color palette. In the next video, let's discuss basic facial proportions 7. Drawing - Study: I have already made other studies of my character, but I am leaning towards this look. It's simple, charming, fit for my character. Now let's discuss the proportions of the face. Using a to H pencil. I start with a circle divided in half horizontally and vertically. I'm not really too concerned about drawing a perfect circle, but also making sure that it is not lop-sided or egg-shaped. Then cut out a bit on the sides for the ears and draw a line just below the circle for the chin. Using the lines for the ear is a guy. You can then connect this to the chin and jaw, the jaw of our character. The horizontal line at the center is for the brows. And in-between that and the chin is where I'll draw the nose, the ears from the brow line up to the nose, and then the neck. You can then plot the brows and refer to them later for the width of the eyes. In between the nose and the chin. Draw the lips. Now for the eyes, you may design them as big as you want or as small as you prefer, as simple or as complex as you need them to be. This is the base proportion that I follow for my female characters. Once you're satisfied with the guidelines, you can now switch to a softer pencil. I love using six B and finalizing my sketch as it glides down smoothly and produces a dark enough mark. For the final drawing. I also draw the hair. Once I have switch to my softer pencil, draw the hairline in-between the brow and the top of the circle. Now, all that's left is retracing the features on the face, adding details on the eyes and shadows. I love to add shadows on the nose, lower lip, upper part of the nose bridge beside the eyes. And you can also add some contact shadows where the hair touches the face. Don't forget the ears and the neck. Finish it off by completing the hair shape. I've dusted the scholars ahead of time. I don't really like how the character turned out. There's just too much here. So let's try again. I love using a limited color palette to avoid what they call the fruit salad effect. Where all the colors on your palette are present on your painting. I'm creating a quick thumbnail sketch on the character following the facial proportions that we discussed earlier. Again, starting with a harder pencil and shifting to a softer want to finalize the sketch. It's a simple post with her head slightly tilted to the left. And she's surrounded with clouds and rain drops on her head. Following the theme that I decided on earlier. On your palette, make sure to include a skin tone color. Mine is like read, along with other colors for the hair, eyes, loans, and the elements that they include to develop the character. At this point, I'm not too worried about creating a perfect painting as this is just a columnar study. We're only testing the color combinations and see if they work together. So I suggest spending only 10 min or so in doing this. I'm also using a student grade paper here. So there's a little bit different with the final painting. But again, what's important in making this study is deciding on your colors. I find it really hard to change the colors once I have already started painting. Just because I did plan my color palette ahead. And more often than not, I end up with a messy painting. So I strongly recommend that you do a quick thumbnail and scholars study too. I'm also guessing out watercolor pencils that I'll use for the app lines later. Let's scrape or actual sketch in the next video. 8. Drawing - Character: Since I don't want to draw directly on my watercolor paper, I'll draw on a sketch paper first. I'm using Oslo and transfer later. If you are doing the same, remember to draw the actual size of the character. But if you prefer, using a drawing pen and tablet to sketch digitally and print it directly on a watercolor paper, or even using a lightbox to transfer your sketch. Then please do so. Maximize whatever resources are available to you. Let's get started. You'll notice that I checked the size of the sketch paper and watercolor paper earlier. So give me an idea on how big the character should be. The beauty of this approach is that you can draw and paint the same character over and over again using a transfer paper. So if in case you didn't like what you create on your first try, you can transfer it again on another watercolor paper and paint to your heart's content. Be mindful though, to take extra care of this sketch paper. You can repeatedly use it. If needed. Scan this drawing first so you can recreate and retrace later. I'm using the same approach as I have demonstrated on our thumbnail sketch earlier. Starting with the circle, drawing the guidelines for the facial features with a hard pencil and then switching to a softer line to finalize the drawing. You might have observed that I almost have to touch the eraser to make adjustments. This is only because I have drawn this characters so many times now, starting with a quick studies to decide on her *****. Then do the thumbnail sketches for the color study, and now for the final sketch, put simply, this is not the first time that I am drawing her. So now I'm more confident in sketching my character. I hope you are experiencing the same. I'll see you on the next video and let's transfer this drawing 9. Drawing - Transferring: I've always struggled before with a messy drawing done directly on my watercolor paper because I didn't have a light box. Glad I have this covered, this affordable and generic graphite transfer paper. Be sure to test it out first to find out which side is the correct side for transferring. Use this. Simply secure your watercolor paper on any backing board with masking tape. Place the transfer paper on top of your watercolor paper and secured to the nato under drawing and fascinated with masking tape, apply just enough pressure when retracing the lines. I like to use a different colored band when transferring my drawing as it is easier to see which parts were already traced. You can check whether the pressure you use is enough or not by carefully lifting up the drawing and transfer paper and taking a look at the sketch. Continue tracing and checking from time-to-time. Like what happened here. I thought I covered everything, but I forgot to draw the face shape. I should've used a writer Ben for MRF is involved marks. There will also be times when you'll need to retrace some lines to make them darker. Just be careful in lifting up the papers so they will stay in place. I prefer taping the transfer paper at the left and right sides, while the sketch paper at the top and bottom parts. Using a kneaded eraser. I would like in some parts aren't too dark to my liking. And now we're ready to graph this different watercolor techniques in coloring our character 10. Watercolor - Wet on Dry: This technique is useful when layering the first wash, adding the shadows and painting the details. The technique is pretty straight forward. Your brush is wet, the paper is dry. Hence the pigment will only spread where it is intentionally painted. So for example, I wanted to do the first wash on the face. All I need to do is wet my brush loaded with pigment and carefully paint on the area I want covered. You may want to lift up some excess water like this, as it might produce looms later. So what you can do is grab a paper towel, back your brush dry, and use that to lift the excess paint. One thing that you have to consider though when doing this technique and all the other watercolor techniques that I will demonstrate is the size of the brush. So for example, if we use a brush bigger than the size, it would take mastery and experience for you to be able to use just the right amount of pressure to cover the intended area. On the other hand, if you use a brush that is smaller than the size, then it would take longer to cover the shape. Since you will run out of pigment and water and you will need to reload your brush. You can also use the same technique with two or more colors. For example, I want this braid of hair to have a gradient that changes from blue to pink. So what they'll do is paint the first half with blue, rinse my brush, tap the excess water and load it with a second color, and immediately paint that on the hair. Now, what you really want to practice, painting thin lines. For example, I have to paint the bands. This character will have to apply light pressure to achieve thin lines. This looks symbol as I am doing it. But I've been painting with watercolors since then, the team, so I have enough experience and I know how my brush work. I know just the right amount of pressure it needs for me to be able to paint the thin lines. And from time-to-time, you should also change from big brush to small brush or vice versa, depending on the shape and the size that you want to cover. That is wet on dry. In the next video, let's discuss about wet on wet. 11. Watercolor - Wet on Wet: In contrast to the technique discussed earlier, both the paper and the brush are wet for this technique to work. This works well when adding a blush on your characters cheek, or a hint of color on the nose and lips. But it is harder to control where the pigments will spread. But there are factors in play to make this technique work for you. First, you can use a smaller brush when adding the colors. The smaller the brush is, the easier it is to predict how much the pigment will spread. For example, I am going to color in the base color for the skin. And then I will switch my colors and add scarlet lake for the blush, and a hint of red on her nose and on her lips. So using this brush, I will call her in these areas we'd skin tone. It's pretty easy to determine whether your paper is wet or not. Just look at it on an angle and it should have a shine like that. Now, to add a blush, we'll switch to a smaller brush loaded with scarlet lake. And carefully drop my color. While it's still wet. You can sort of manipulate how that shape looks. So I can make it bigger, but it is harder to make it smaller. Okay. And just a teeny tiny bit on her nose and a bit on her lips. The second factor is if your paper is lying flat or in an angle. Of course, if I'm working on an angle, for example, like this, the pigments will travel downwards faster depending on the wetness. And that happens, you can just grab your brush and lift up the color to correct it. As mentioned earlier, the size of the brush matters to, for example, I'm going to color in her lips. And I'm using the same brush to load it with scarlet lake and paint the lips. It will spread farther and faster since my brush is pretty much loaded. But watch what happens when I switch to a smaller brush. This is so much easier compared to earlier. I can just dab with the tip of my brush and the pigments don't spread farther and faster then what's happened earlier? Another factor is the consistency of the paint you are applying if you want more control than add less water and vice versa. So here we have started lake into consistencies. One here has more water. Well, this one has more paint. So let's see what happens when we use both consistencies. I'm using a small brush but see how far this pigment spreads. So this one has more water. Then since I want to control how far the pigment spreads, on the second example, I will just dab my brush on my paper towel to get rid of the excess water. Then again, we apply paint. So this is So much thicker now and carefully paint the shape. Now I have more control where my pigments will go. Lastly, you have to observe how wet the paper is by looking at it at an angle. So the, whether it is, the farther the pigments will spread and vice versa. You can, by the way, use clean water as the base color. You can see how shiny that is, right? There's also a pool of water at that part of the eye. Now when I grabbed my brush, pick up a color, it spreads easier. But then let's try to dry it by lifting up some of the colors. You can now look at it at an angle and see that it is less shinier than earlier. Now when I add a thicker pigment, this is what happens. Of course, I use more pigment this time, so it is much brighter. The pigments also don't get too far compared to earlier. That is wet on wet technique. In the next video, let's discuss how to layer watercolors 12. Watercolor - Layering: Watercolors, dry, lighter, so layering technique is useful when you want to add shadows, redefine shapes, and make the colors more intense. You can use the same color to add another layer. For example, I use light red for the base color or my skin tone. Then I can use the same color just with less water this time, and veins and my shadows. You can also use another color and the color will work as an underpainting. For example, this blue hair I want to layer it with, let's say pink and the seat. What happens? Since watercolors are transparent will still show some of the colors underneath. Which I think is unique to this media. Of course, this will produce a different effect if you mix your colors directly on your palate. Here's for comparison. As always, the size of the brush Mathers. For example, this braid. If you want to add another layer but with smaller shapes, then you can switch to a smaller brush. You can also add another layer by using the wet on wet technique. For example, on this line. I'm going to re-wet the whole area would clean wonder first. Then I can now go to the same color I used here and drop it in the same area. So this time instead of a hard edge, we get softer edges. Depending on the type of watercolor paper you are using. You can add as many layers as you want. I have a painting where I use around ten layers of paint, but it looks good. That paper is made of 100% cotton and from a known brand. In the next video, let's talk about how to soften and control your edges 13. Watercolor - Softening Edges: Edges in the painting are important too. For instance, some shadows have soft edge, while some have hard ones. You can easily control your edges with watercolor by directly painting on it so that one has a defined or hard edge. Or you can soften or kill an edge by using a clean brush. Grey sample, this one underneath the eye. Instead of leaving that, I will rinse my brush, get rid of the excess water, and slowly, carefully soften that edge. To demonstrate more. Here's another one. Example. This is the shadow. And they want this side to have a hard edge, but this side to have a soft edge. So what they'll do is I rinse my brush again, get rid of the excess water and use the tip, touch that edge to soften that. This is also useful on features of the face that should have a soft fail to it. For example, the lips. I can kill the upper part to give it a softer look. It takes practice to master this technique, especially if you want to play in just the right brush to do the trick. So you've seen me earlier using the same brush, both to paint the hard edge to soften it. But you can also grab another brush to soften the edge. If you still don't know which brush works best to soften an edge, then I suggest a loving some time to find out which brush is perfect for the job. In the next video, let's discuss how to correct mistakes. 14. Watercolor - Correcting Mistakes: Just like any other medium, accidents can happen with watercolors. Some common mistakes or looms. Painting outside the shape and accidentally drawing thick lines instead of thin ones. Let's start with this one. I have intentionally painted over this shape. Now to correct this, I will use a flat synthetic brush, wet it with water, a paper towel ready? Carefully. Frog that area that I want to reactivate and read my paper towel dry. It's Dr again on this scholar and this one is carved Bezos violet and it is more staining than my cobalt blue. So you can see that I wasn't able to lift up all the colors perfectly. But this is better than earlier. It also depends on the pigment that you are using. Now. This one is on the second layer. Let's try if we can correct this mistake. Looking closely, I also lifted up some of the base color. I think it's better to just let this go. Another one is accidentally painting thick lines. This happens when you are not familiar with the brush that you're currently using. And you are not used to drawing thin and thick lines yet. For example, adding eyelashes and you accidentally added more pressure than you intended to do. You can correct this by immediately lifting it with a paper towel. If it doesn't come off completely, then you can use the technique I showed earlier. It isn't 100% erased since the color I'm using is neutral tint and it is free the staining. But it is so much better than earlier. Now we have to wait for this to dry before drawing another set of lashes. Another one is blooms. So looking closely, you can see that I accidentally created blooms on this eye. It looks great. But if you did not want that effect on this part, you can use a clean, damp brush and scrub over the area and tried to erase the blooms or the cauliflower shape. Then add and drop the same colors that you used or near for the eye. Or you can let this dry and then add another layer for the fact that you are after. To cover up the mistake that we did earlier on this part, I'm just adding another layer of shadow. And then this one, since this has dried completely, we can paint the eye lashes again. Of course. The last and most important technique in correcting mistakes with watercolor is to just let it go and let it be a part of the final artwork. I'm so excited to get started on working on our character. See you in the next video and let's start painting 15. Painting - Skintone: I like to start painting with a base skin tone color for when not sure where the color that I have mixed. I will paint the small area on the paper first. Adjust my color by adding either pink or yellow to the brown mixture. Then try again. One satisfied with the color combination. I will cover the whole scheme area except for the eyes. If my recommended color palette is not available to you. You may also try other colors. It's just burnt sienna, John, Brilliant, or burnt umber, depending on the skin tone that you are after. Or test by mixing three primary colors, pink or red, blue, and yellow to achieve brown. Now with a thicker and darker mixture, I will paint the shadows on the ears, eyes, nose, lower lip, contact shadows from the hair, neck, and contact shadows from her clothes. I also switched to a smaller brush for more control. It's time to apply the watercolor techniques that we have discussed earlier, such as wet on wet, wet on dry, and softening the edges. The work on the shadows. Make sure that the shadow is darker than the base skin tone color. To make it believable. Let's continue painting her hair and clothes in the next video. 16. Painting - Clothes and Hair: Well, I think the skin area dry completely. Let's work on the other parts of our drawing, like her bubble halo. Beginning with bank and living out a small circle for the highlight, then dropping purple and blue to vary the colors. Next, I'll work on the clouds surrounding her, making sure not to touch the skin and the clouds. I will paint the clouds with clean water and use the wet on wet technique. Loaded my brush with bank and drop the color on the bottom parts of the clouds. Vary the tones when painting the background to achieve a more interesting look. While still wet, I will jump blues and violets and blend them together. But using the tip of my brush, you can use the same technique on your own character, or just let the colors blend naturally with a clean brush and softening some edges while that is still wet. I've done the same on the clouds on the left side. Now, I'll paint Haroche loads. I'm mixed with my blue and violet to achieve this color. And from time-to-time, L Drop pure blue or violet to make it look more interesting. At this point, I'm only focusing on painting triangles for the shadows on the clothes. Next, I find that too hard. So I'll soften some edges on the shadows using the lifting technique with a damp, flat synthetic brush. Scrub the areas you want to soften and immediately paddock jive with paper towel. I've added more water on my blue violet mixture as the base color of her dress. It's time to work on the hair. Just like what I did in my color study, I want to achieve a gradient starting from purple to a dark blue color. Feel free to share from big brush to a small line as you work on Tinder areas like the tips of the hair. Please observe your paper carefully before painting the hair or adding another layer. Make sure that the skin tone colors have dried completely first. Or the hair color might bleed accidentally on the face area. It could look messy, or it can create happy accidents. Either way, it's always best to check your papers wetness first before adding another layer, like how it did with our watercolor exercises are in here. This is starting to come together. Now, let's work on her facial features in the next video. 17. Painting - Facial Features: I only use a combination of watercolor techniques to work on the eyes, nose, and lips. Starting with direct painting for the base color of the eyes and dropping blue at the bottom part for variation. I also left a small circle for the highlight. But if it is too hard for you, you may also paint the whole shape for the I, let it dry and later use pure white paint or gouache for the highlight. And then adding a darker color for the bill. I mentioned earlier that wet on wet works well with the lips, nose, and blush. So that's what I'll do now. With clean water. Wetting the area surrounding the lips. Just enough wetness for your pigments to spread a bit. Thicker red veins, start dropping the color carefully. If you make a mistake, use a paper towel to lift up some colors or use your brush, clean and damp and let it absorb the excess paint. I'll keep working on the lips until I'm satisfied. Now with the same color, scarlet lake. I will bring her to life by adding blushes on her nose. And under the ice. These blush is also a personal preference. So if your character has a different vibe than you may skip this step. Let's wrap up this painting in the next video. 18. Painting - Final Details: But first, I plan to use a small brush to paint the outlines of my character, but that might take too long. And to give you another option, I'm going to use mixed media. This is a watercolor pencil. I'll use three colors to outline my character. Dark violet for the hair and clothes, dark brown for the facial features, and light violet for the clouds. Oh, and one more thing. Outlining is purely optional. But since I'm going for the traditional enemy look, I think these thicker and darker lines would give her that this thing, right. Please check if you're painting has dried completely before using a Ben marker, pencil or other leave you for the outlines. Using a brush for the outline is also challenging and time-consuming for beginners. But if you want to take this opportunity to practice your brush strokes and get more brush mileage, then please feel free to do so. I also use these pencils to add finer details like hair strands, eyelashes, and some lines in her ironies. In the next video, Let's discuss what we can do from here. 19. Sharing Your Work: Share my work. I just usually scan my paintings, crop, then post. Another effective method is to create the flattening presentation, where you arrange your art work alongside the color and some nails studies. This not only showcases the amount of effort you put into the project, but makes it more relatable to the viewers. Additionally, I encourage you to share your project in the projects gallery. It's an opportunity to share not just the final piece, but also the story behind your character. So please include a short description, your inspiration, and even their name. Let's celebrate each other's great DVT and appreciate the unique stories we've brought to life. Furthermore, I value your feedback and would love to hear your honest, Glasser view. Your input helps me improve and better tailor future classes to meet your needs. Throughout this class, we explored the process of designing our own characters. We started with the mood board and then mixed and matched facial features. Learned about facial proportions. Thumbnail and color studies have this rendering techniques. And finally, brought our characters to life with paint. If there's one key lesson that I want you to take away from this class is the importance of making your artwork. Personnel. Base your decisions on your own preferences, whether it's the choice of colors, the Bose expression, or other elements that define your character. Remember, this doesn't have to be done thing. It is indeed an achievable tasks. You've witnessed some of the studies I create that didn't make it into the final artwork. But what truly made this journey enjoyable? What's the process itself? So I'll be waiting for your own animated character design. I'll see you on my other classes. And together, let's make this world a little bit more colorful with our art dorks