Spanning 7 Chapters, in this course you’ll learn about character design, research, storytelling, refinement and loads more! But the coolest part of the course is that you’ll get to see how Kenneth Anderson approaches a real-life brief where he designs a 3D “undead pirate” for use in a children’s TV show.
Follow the unique design & creative process for working with clients when creating a character design. Kenneth helps you nail down the feeling of your client using a structure that they’ll appreciate – starting from sketches to final full colored characters.
Who is this course for?
Every design starts with a brief, an idea or a visual problem to be solved in the context of a story. Kenneth walks you through a simple character brief, and shows you how to create a short character biography. He touches upon style, character, limitations, context, and deliverables your client expects. This will give you a solid structure when you develop your own unique character design process.
You’ll learn to ask yourself important questions like: what does my client want? Who is the character? What is the character? Is it for a book? A TV show? A game?
It is vital to consider the character’s backstory before starting your design. You’ll learn why the story is so important and how it adds to the personality of your character.
Personality, conflict, desire, flaws, interesting characteristics, subtext. Simply answering the question: How do we make the character come to life? Follow along with Kenneth as he answers these questions and more!
Firsthand research brings originality and adds authenticity to your story. When it comes to design, preparation goes a long way. It leads to inspiration and new ideas.
When we draw straight from our heads, using memory as a reference, we tend to draw on old habits – potentially missing out on new unusual ideas which we wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. Learn how to avoid those cliches.
Kenneth shows you how offline research (not just online), can be very useful.
Research might seem boring, and you might be tempted to start drawing straight away – but once you get into it – it can be really exciting and lead to inspiring and memorable characters!
In this episode you learn how Kenneth uses his research and puts it in a mood board or a reference sheet to tie it to the original brief and character story.
Finally we get to start drawing! This is the most exciting stage of the design process.
Watch how Kenneth sketches his ideas from scratch. He explores shapes, posture, proportions and different ideas from the research phase. This is big picture stuff, trying not to get bogged down in the details…just yet! That comes later.
You will see him make several sketches, which he will eventually hone down into a few characters at a later stage.
Preview class 1Preview class 2
Preview class
Building on the previous thumbnail sketches you learn how to combine selected sketches into one. Watch how he goes from the general to the specific.
He reminds you to think how the sketches relate to the brief themselves. And encourages you to take a critical approach as you look and comment on each sketch. This is where you have plenty of room for experimenting. And for having fun!
Now the job is to present your work to your client. Here, you get some directions on how to best do this. You’ll learn how to get into the mindset of pretending to be a client.
Once the rough sketches are complete, Kenneth will show you to add a bit more detail to your refined designs, whilst still staying on target with your brief.
Preview class
It’s decision time! Kenneth shows you the process for choosing a general direction for the final design; how he took his favourite bits from sketches and incorporated these into the final character, focusing on subtle changes. But nothing too major, as your groundwork should already been done by now. This is where you’ll also learn about the coloring process.
You’ll watch and learn as Kenneth criticizes his own sketches, constantly looking for a more original design, and then refining those designs even further: tweaking, pushing shapes, and adding form. This is a relatively easy stage and you’ll find it super satisfying! You’ll learn how to explore your character and how to make an informed decision about which one to use in your final image.
Preview class
Finally watch the 1h 30 min session of Kenneth choosing one of the thumbnails and developing the final sketch into a full color polished character – The 3D Undead Pirate. Here, you will learn how to nail down your colors, backstory and overall design. As a bonus, you’ll also find out which brushes Kenneth uses.
The goal is to paint up a “hero” pose which conveys personality and ties together all the design choices within the brief. A pose that sells the idea of who the character is, and making your client want to come back for more! Happy drawing!
Preview class
Kenneth is a professional freelance character designer with 14+ years experience. Based in the UK, he has worked with companies like the BBC, Disney, Tandem films and Axis Animation. He also worked on Sylvain Chomet’s Oscar nominated film “The Illusionist” and the French feature Titeuf: Le film. His specialties are story-driven character-based illustration and design for a variety of mediums, in particular children’s television. In his spare time, he enjoys creating characters, illustrating magazines and making games.
Currently, the Masterclass includes the following 8 pre-recorded courses:
You can see an overview of all 8 here: https://www.21-draw.com/masterclass/illustrator-masterclass/
They are on-demand (pre-recorded) video tutorials that you can watch online to any of your devices (unlimited times), anytime! Therefore you can easily watch (and rewatch) them at your convenience and at your own pace.
Some basic drawing skills are required to fully follow along & learn from the lessons in all our courses. The courses vary in level, and in general are suited for beginner, intermediate and advanced levels.
If you are an absolute beginner with no or very little art experience we recommend checking out our books instead.
Many lessons in our courses work for both digital and traditional art. However, there are a few tutorials where a digital drawing software will come in handy for example Photoshop or Procreate for iPad. But for the majority of lessons it is more about the underlying concepts.
It is a one-time payment. No recurring fees, no subscription fees.
You can download most of the course resources (exercise sheets, assignments, PSD files etc) from the site, but you cannot download the video lessons to your computer.
With your one-time purchase you have lifetime access to the course(s).
If for any reason at all you are unhappy with our courses or feel it isn’t helping you improve your drawing skills— then just email us at [email protected] and we’ll be more than happy to give you 100% of your money back within 30 days of your purchase. No questions asked. No excuses. Just a guarantee you can trust.
We don’t offer a certificate of completion at the moment but this is something we are looking into.
Check out our Knowledgebase where you will find more answers to your questions.
21 Draw offers online courses and books on how to be a better artist for students of all skill levels. Our contributing artists and instructors are the best in the world.
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Superb course. Takes you from design brief to the finished piece. I particularly love the fact that it doesn’t solely concentrate on drawing, but also goes into the breakdown over the decisions behind the creative process.
Although what made me put down my money was how much content was in the masterclass and seeing how much effort was put into making them, especially Character Design and Creature Design. I knew I was paying for quality.
The amount of detail and steps he took to walk through the drawings were awesome
I liked your techniques of character designing it was awesome and used it with my characters.
Hope to see more of your courses
❤️
Excellent video with regards to creating a character from scratch. Loved the don’t just work from memory/imagination. Reference is key. Some sections may have been a bit long, for others, not for me. Well worth my time and $. Thanks Kenneth Anderson.