Breathe some life into your character designs!

Four teachers in one day explaining concepts and challenging each other on the topic of character design. This class is designed to help artists draw compelling characters which form the basis of any great story.

This class also includes a special "First Steps" session taught by Shane Lewis, a Disney artist who has worked on many video games including most recently Disney Infinity. Shane will walk you through the important steps of thinking and writing about your character that need to take place before you even start drawing.

This class is packed with over 8 solid hours of character design instruction, demonstration, and advice!

In this class you will learn:

  • How to start with a written description of a character

  • How to go through the process of character creation

  • Important design principles

  • How to get a good gesture

  • How to exaggerate from life

  • How to apply a shape language to your characters

  • How proportion effects your character design

  • How to use perspective to draw believable characters

  • How to draw your character in action

  • How to give your character emotion and expressions

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Or you can purchase the course à la carte

  • $100.00

    Breathing Life into your Character Designs

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About the Instructors

Brandon Jeffords

Brandon has been working in the film and television industry for the last decade in character design, visual development, book illustration, and storyboards. His clients include Disney, Warner Brothers, Hasbro, Nickelodeon, Sony Pictures, and many more. Brandon is currently working as a story artist at Sony Pictures Animation.

Illustrator/Cartoonist Jake Parker

For the last 25 years Jake has worked on everything from animated films to comics to picture books. For several years he worked for Reel FX and Blue Sky Studios on such projects as Horton Hears a Who, Rio, and Epic. He is the creator of the popular Inktober drawing challenge. Jake currently works as an illustrator and cartoonist on children's books and comics. He works out of his home studio in Arizona.

Course curriculum

    1. What this class is about

    2. Intro

    3. Line

    4. Pose

    5. Exaggerating

    6. Common Problems

    7. Brandon Jeffords

    8. Hands

    9. Critiques

    10. First Steps

About this course

  • 10 lessons
  • 10 hours of video content
  • 10 Video

Reviews

5 star rating

Perfect title

Alex Diaz

This is such a great course. I did love it. So much information that I think I will watch it another couple of times. It is very thorough and fun and clear. ...

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This is such a great course. I did love it. So much information that I think I will watch it another couple of times. It is very thorough and fun and clear. I can't believe how much my drawings have changed in such a short period of time. Love SVS. Thank you, guys!

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5 star rating

Thank you so much for this class

Cathlyn Driscoll

So many items touched on in this class applied to me. Showing a unique stance or outline, and being able to convert it to black and still be recognizable is ...

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So many items touched on in this class applied to me. Showing a unique stance or outline, and being able to convert it to black and still be recognizable is brilliant- I knew this about logos and icons, but for some reason did not apply them to characters! "Common problems" section- This is the second class I have seen this in and it applied to me yet again. Thank you for not only mentioning these common issues without judgement, but showing us simple solutions. Showing us your process and how you render things was amazing! One of the best classes. I have referred back to this class several times already.

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5 star rating

Love!!!

Christie Drahnak

Thank you so much Will and Jake! I have been looking for a class on Character design and this was so great! I learned so much! So inspiring to see Jake dr...

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Thank you so much Will and Jake! I have been looking for a class on Character design and this was so great! I learned so much! So inspiring to see Jake draw and hear his process and thoughts!

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5 star rating

Great class!

Tatiany Rocha de Freitas

This is a great class, I’ve learned a lot from it. It really helps to demystify and clarify the character design process. In fact, all the classes I’ve take...

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This is a great class, I’ve learned a lot from it. It really helps to demystify and clarify the character design process. In fact, all the classes I’ve taken at SVS have been amazing. Thank you guys for offering so much valuable information in such an accessible way.

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