How to draw charming story characters using pencils and watercolours

You can create characters for stories using many tools and media, but I love to draw characters with pencil and watercolours because I think these traditional techniques makes them feel so charming and alive.

If you need the tools for this, see our guides to the best pencils for artists and the best watercolour paints. In the meantime, if you're looking for some pointers for your character illustrations, here's my advice for creating strong, expressive personalities for stories.

Stephanie Marzian

Stephanie is an author and illustrator located in Germany who loves developing cute and funny characters.

01. Look at historical styles

(Image: © Stephanie Marzian)

Look to art history for inspiration, alongside your contemporaries. With the painting of my beautiful pig lady, I wanted to recreate a typical portrait from the Victorian era.

02. Consider colours

(Image: © Stephanie Marzian)

When you’re colouring a character, Be sure to think about the overall setting. For example, muted colours would be ideal for a story of Christmas yesteryear, like in this image of Christmas Knight.

03. Make creative choices

(Image: © Stephanie Marzian)

Pick your media for its strengths. I wasn’t sure whether to paint these mice with watercolours or digitally. Digital won out in this case because of the more powerful colours available to me (see our pick of the best digital art software).

03. Enjoy your art

(Image: © Stephanie Marzian)

Art shouldn’t just be done for commercial reasons – make sure that you take time to draw for fun and practice. For example, I like to create birthday cards for my friends sometimes.

05. Get experimenting

(Image: © Stephanie Marzian)

Switch tools to develop new skills. This Teatime Turtle is a lovely little guy who likes to dance around with his teacup shell. I drew it with aquarelle colours.

06. Adopt a thematic focus

(Image: © Stephanie Marzian)

Find a theme that sells your narrative. Christmas is my absolute favourite time of the year, so I love drawing characters with Christmas clothes.

07. Push for clarity

(Image: © Stephanie Marzian)

Use black and white drawing to enhance contrast and make details clearer. As you can see, the fur of this charming fellow can be worked out perfectly.

08. Look inwards

(Image: © Stephanie Marzian)

Use your own mood to add authenticity to your art. I think I was very tired at the moment I was creating this sleepy mouse.

09. Time for you

(Image: © Stephanie Marzian)

Work on personal projects can help you find fresh ideas. This scene is from an unpublished fable that I wrote for my kids.

10. Be playful

(Image: © Stephanie Marzian)

Try thinking outside the box for your scene to really push the interest. Why wouldn’t a dragon use his tail to pour tea?

For more advice, learn how to use visual language to convey mood with these children's book illustration tips from bestselling artist Tony DiTerlizzi.

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