An expert character artist shows how to take your character illustration to the next level.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
Get more tutorials in ImagineFX
This content originally appeared in ImagineFX magazine, the world's leading digital art and fantasy art magazine. ImagineFX is on sale in the UK, Europe, United States, Canada, Australia and more. Limited numbers of ImagineFX print editions are available for delivery from ouronline store (the shipping costs are included in all prices).
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