Skillshare – Character Design Crash Course: Develop Expressive Characters Through Caricature

Welcome to Character Design Crash Course, a series of illustration classes meant for beginning cartoonists or intermediate character artists looking for a refresher.

In this course, I focus on all things caricature and how it relates to character design. Spoiler alert: you can’t have character design without caricature. The principals and ideas overlap so much that I believe it is absolutely necessary to study caricature in order to become a great character designer. I’ll take you through my process for creating a traditional caricature of a real person, as well as share some exercises that should, hopefully, help make starting a caricature a little less intimidating, and which can help you apply the principles you’ll learn to your own original characters.

What You'll Learn

What is Caricature? I explain what exactly caricature and exaggeration is and why it is essential to understand in order to be a good character designer.
The Masters of Caricature: I share some of the all stars of caricature, how studying their work helps you build your versatility, and talk about the importance of being influenced by more than one artist.
The Sections of the Face: I demonstrate how identifying the spacing of the different sections of the face helps you determine how to exaggerate successfully.
The Process of creating a traditional caricature. Hint: Use lots of reference!

English | 56m | Video: 720p