How I design characters.

A Moose, a Racoon and a Pika

The winners.

How I design characters from a picture book text.

1. I. Read the text and sketch or write my impressions

2. I make a style map, to give myself some parameters to stay within, the narrower the better.

3. I do research and find reference. I learn about the subject both intellectually and visually.

4. I draw the subject from reference

5. Then I imagine each character, with out reference, and draw them over and over. I think mainly about shape and particularities on the character. For example a Pika cuts grass and stores it for the winter, so I gave it a grass hat. A moose has a hump so I gave it a backpack.

6. At some point one of those drawing might stand out. I hone in on that one, maybe redraw it a few time

7. Once that rough sketch feels believable, I take it into procreate and add line work, texture, light and shadow. Here’s a video of step 7.