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English, French, 4 more
Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese
English, French,
7 more
Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Polish, Turkish
Alix Hillmer is an Arizona-based illustrator and character designer with 10+ years in games, books, and comics. She’s known for her fantasy and magical-girl anime style.
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English, French , 4 more 
English, French , 7 more
Sketch expressive faces using simple structure and clear landmarksLearn how features interact with each other for realistic emotionsMaster dynamic poses with gesture, line of action, and body languageExaggerate and stylize expressions so they pop off the pageSimplify expressions down to the core details that actually matterDesign an original character with life and personality Build a story and context around your character to give them meaningCreate a clean character sheet with a consistent designColor and render a finished, portfolio-ready expression sheetDiscover tips for drawing faster and smarterImagine your character telling a whole story without needing a single word. A raised brow, a slumped shoulder, a sly little smile. That is the power of expression, and it is a skill you can absolutely learn.
If you think your characters look lifeless, here is the good news: Alix Hillmer has spent over 10 years drawing characters for games, books, and comics, and she breaks expressions down into simple, doable steps. She knows exactly why faces come out flat, and she shows you how to fix it.
You start with the building blocks of the face, learning how features push and pull to create real emotion. From there, you bring the whole body into it, using gesture and body language to say even more than the face alone. Then you push things further with exaggeration and your own art style, so your expressions really pop.
This is where Alix’s approach stands out. Instead of drawing a generic happy face or angry face, you build your own complete character, give them a story, and design expressions that belong only to them. A shy character smiles differently than a bold one, and you will learn to show those subtleties.
By the end, you pull it all together into a finished expression sheet, the same kind of professional piece used in animation, games, and comics. It is something you can drop straight into your portfolio or hand to a collaborator. Best of all, you will gain a newfound confidence in your illustration skills, with a clear understanding of how to design winning characters that tell a story!
So grab your tablet or sketchbook, and let’s bring your characters to life. Ready to jump in?
2+ Hours of on-demand videos
Reference images
Certificate of Completion
Meet Alix, known as Cyanali on social media, an illustrator and character designer with over 10 years of experience across games, books, and comics.
She shares why so many characters end up looking stiff or lifeless, what to expect across the lessons, and how you’ll go from facial basics all the way to a finished expression sheet. You’ll be itching to start drawing before the intro is even over!
This is where it all starts, with the structure of the head and face. You will see how the brows, eyes, and mouth push and pull against each other to create real emotion, and why a happy face is about so much more than the mouth.
Alix also takes you past the usual six emotions with a handy Wheel of Emotions, so your characters can feel a whole lot more. Then you put it into practice with quick studies from reference and from your imagination.
Turns out the whole body talks, not just the face! You will learn gesture and the line of action to capture the energy of a pose in seconds.
Alix shows how open and closed body language changes the mood, and why hand gestures act like little exclamation points. By the end you will be sketching quick, loose poses that say exactly what your character is feeling.
Now the fun part: pushing things further. You will play with squash and stretch to make expressions more appealing, from subtle and realistic all the way to big and cartoony.
Alix shares how to keep faces readable with simple shapes and smart choices about which details to keep or drop. You will also start shaping your own art style by studying artists you love and borrowing the choices that click for you.
Here is the secret that makes expressions truly yours. Using a simple mind map, you build a character, their backstory, and the world they live in. Alix walks you through the who, what, when, where, and why of your character’s story, then helps you brainstorm fun scenarios for them to react to.
Suddenly, an expression is not just ‘sad’, it is devastated because of a failed exam or crestfallen because a fav ice-cream flavor isn’t available.
Time to give your character a look that fits their personality. You will explore design basics like shape, silhouette, proportions, color, and costume, and see how each one tells part of the story.
Then Alix demos a simple character sheet with front, side, and three-quarter views. This becomes your handy reference for the big final project.
This is it, the final project that ties everything together! You will gather your references and sketch out six to eight expressions, mixing face, half-body, and full-body poses.
Alix guides you through cleanup, line art, base colors, and a bit of rendering, sharing pro tips like focusing detail on the eyes, face, and hands. You will walk away with a colorful, portfolio-ready expression sheet that is all your own.
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Alix Hillmer, known as Cyanali on Instagram, is an illustrator known for her style that blends fantasy, horror, anime, and 2000s pop-culture.
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