Stylized Character Illustration: From Reference to Drawing
A course by Tasia M S , Illustrator and Character Designer
Learn to use reference images to design and create digital illustrations of captivating characters that tell a story
Learn to use reference images to design and create digital illustrations of captivating characters that tell a story
No matter how old you are, you will have memories attached to certain films, TV, or book characters who fascinated you. Such as you, Tasia M S has been passionate about fantastical characters since she was just a young girl. Inspired by her fashion designer mother, Tasia got into drawing by copying illustrations from style magazines and books. Her illustrations took off once she started sharing them on social media, and she has since collaborated with the likes of DC Comics, Mubi, Clip Studio Paint, 3DTotal Warner Media, and HBO.
In this online course, Tasia teaches you how to create a character that can mean just as much. She will guide you through all the character design, from creating fictitious people or animals to conceptualizing, sketching, outlining, and drawing them from scratch. You will learn how to transform a reference some not notice of and create a stylized drawing of a character with life, meaning, and story!
What will you learn in this online course?
12 lessons & 26 downloads
- 96% positive reviews (27)
- 2,473 students
- 12 lessons (1h 33m)
- 26 additional resources (6 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English
- English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch
- Level: Intermediate
- Unlimited access forever
Recommended software for this course
ProcreateWhat is this course's project?
The course project is a fully developed illustration of your own original character.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone of any artistic skill level looking to improve and deepen their character illustration skills.
Requirements and materials
Procreate software, Ipad, and an Apple Pencil or paper and pencil.
Reviews
Tasia MS is a freelance illustrator and character designer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a self-taught artist who’s love for drawing comes from a young age, when she would sketch the models from the pages of her mother’s fashion books.
While studying 3D and 2D design, she noticed that the illustrations she had created in her free time were getting a lot of attention on social media and getting her jobs. It was then that she realized her true passion was character design and opted to go at it full-time. She has since worked with large studios such as DC Comics, Mubi, Clip Studio Paint, 3DTotal, WarnerMedia, and HBO. She has also designed book covers and comic covers.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
Preparation for the Character Illustration
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A Procreate Demo and Tools I Use
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Creating a Mood Board
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Creating References
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U3
The Project
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Rough Sketches and Planning
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Sketching with Colors
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Light and Shadows
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The Rendering 1
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The Rendering 2
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U4
Final Details and Edits
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Adding Final Details
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Sharing Your Work
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FP
Final project
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Stylized Character Illustration: From Reference to Drawing
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.
All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.
You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.
Procreate
lilyt88
PlusTasia is a very talented artist. Her style is inviting and the characters are full of personality. It was interesting to see her process for the illustration, however, as an instructive video it didn't quite hit the marks. She explains *what* she's doing but not always *why*, her thinking behind it or how she arrived to certain conclusions. Halfway through rendering, the entire illustration has been reworked, and you can only see the process by watching the timelapse from the QA section.
kalanicarzola
Wow this class is super interesting to me, and the instructor is very talented!
wen29
I enjoyed the curse, it gives you great tips for the process, and is also a closer look to the artist’s process, however what I really wanted to see is how to achieve those smooth but noticeable strokes, and the way she illustrates faces, but she jumped all that, and I think those are the most important steps when it comes to rendering and finishing the piece. I don’t understand how she went from the face before rendering and the final piece. I feel disappointed. Don’t expect to learn it here.
annmish1504
Very well put together. In particular, I learned how to handle colors for the character.
micaelagaleno
Ótimo curso. Tasia tem uma didática incrível!
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