Combining the expressive style of anime characters and the fluidity of watercolors brings us a unique mix. In this class, we will discuss the different stages of designing, drawing and painting your very own anime character starting from scratch to a finished artwork.

Throughout this creative session, we will embark on an exciting journey of crafting our own unique anime character and bring it to life with watercolors. Our process starts with crafting a mood board, curating reference images to set the tone and style for our character's design. We’ll then choose the appropriate facial features, discuss the proportions of the face, create thumbnail sketches and color study, draw the character and transfer it if needed, practice different watercolor techniques and finally, paint our artwork.

I will share with you the simple workflow I've adopted for designing anime characters fir for beginners. I, too, once hesitated to create fan arts or invent my own characters, but as I broke down the steps into manageable actions, the process became a delightful experience.

And now, I find immense joy in drawing fan arts and creating my own anime characters. It is indeed rewarding to see your creation come to life.

You will also learn how to express your creativity on paper by painting your character with colors using basic drawing and watercolor painting techniques such as wet on dry, wet on wet, layering, softening edges and correcting mistakes.

What will we do in this class?

To create our own anime character,

We will begin by collecting reference photos through apps like Canva or Pinterest for inspiration. You may also go the traditional way and print out the photos.
Then, we'll mix and match facial features that fit our character. These features greatly depend whether you are trying to portray a princess, fairy, villain, fighter or a school girl.
Learning basic anime proportions come next.
Once decided on the overall appearance of our character, we'll then create thumbnail sketches and color studies.
After that, sketching the character and transferring the drawing come next.
Before coloring in our drawing, we will practice watercolor rendering techniques to get us comfortable with painting,
Finally, we'll bring the character to life with watercolors and/or watercolor pencils.

By the end of this class, you'll be the proud creator of your very own anime character, reflecting your personal preferences in colors, costume, and overall appearance.

Who is this class for?

Anyone interested in learning how to draw and paint his/her own anime character is welcome in this class. Basic knowledge in drawing and handling paint brushes are needed to get the most out of this class. But beginners and hobbyists are more than welcome to join the fun

You are also free to use any coloring materials you want after drawing your own character. I even used watercolor pencils towards the end of painting my character to get the traditional anime look with dark outlines. Alternatively, colored pencils and markers would do or you can paint the thin lines using brushes, too.

What do we need to get started?

Paper, pencil, watercolor paints and brushes, eraser, transfer paper, water jar and the passion for anime, drawing and painting is needed.

You may also download the Class Guide for a complete list of materials needed, colors used, facial features inspiration, face proportion guide, thumbnail and color studies, scanned copies of the sketch and finished artwork in the Resources tab.

If you're ready, grab your materials and let's get started!

Music by Purple Planet.com

Lily Pylat

Anime/Manga Artist

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