Fundamentals of Character Design A by Stefan Hansson

This course is about getting your characters to actually feel like someone. It’s not about rendering a perfect final image on day one. Instead, you’ll build a solid foundation in the fundamentals: using shape language to define personality, capturing a character’s essence through gesture drawing, and learning how to iterate on your ideas until you find the one that clicks. It’s a practical, hands-on approach for anyone who wants their designs to tell a story.

🎯 What you’ll learn

• How to create volume and a solid 3D foundation for your drawings.
• The principles of gesture drawing to find the character’s attitude.
• How to use shape language to define a character’s silhouette and personality.
• Techniques for achieving balance in design through line weight, symmetry, and contrast.
• How to build relationships between design elements, props, and the story.
• Methods for expressing character through hands, feet, and facial features.
• How to use tonal focus and value to improve visual communication.
• The basics of color theory and how to make conscious color choices for your characters.

✅ Requirements

• Skills: Completion of Dynamic Sketching 1 & 2 and Analytical Figure Drawing, or a drawing portfolio review.
• Tools: Photoshop (or equivalent), Wacom tablet (or equivalent), sketchbook, pens & pencils, and a scanner or camera.
• Hardware: A computer capable of running your chosen drawing software.

📝 Description

This isn’t a “paint a pretty picture” class. It’s a “why does this character work?” class. The entire 8-week curriculum is built around the idea that good character design is a problem-solving process. You’ll start by getting your brain and hand working together to create solid, believable volume on the page. From there, you’ll move into gesture—not just copying a pose, but finding the attitude and story within a single line.

The real meat of the course is in the middle weeks, where you’ll dissect shape language. You’ll learn to see a character’s silhouette as a direct reflection of their personality. A round shape feels different from a sharp one, and you’ll learn exactly why and how to use that. The course also tackles the often-overlooked concept of balance: how to use asymmetry, line weight, and contrast to make a design feel dynamic and intentional, not just static.

You won’t just be drawing heads and bodies in isolation. The final weeks push you to think about the whole package: how props and clothing relate to the character, how to make expressions read clearly, and finally, how to use color theory to reinforce the mood and story you’re trying to tell. The goal is to give you a repeatable process for generating and refining ideas, so you can stop drawing the same thing over and over and start creating characters with real personality.

🧑‍🎓 Who this course is for

• Artists who have a basic grasp of drawing but struggle to create original, compelling characters.
• Students who want to move beyond copying references and start designing from their imagination.
• Anyone looking to build a strong, fundamental workflow for character design that applies to film, games, animation, or comics.

🧑‍🏫 About the Author

Stefan Hansson is a professional character designer with experience in the entertainment industry. He brings a practical, no-nonsense approach to teaching, focusing on the core principles that make a design work rather than flashy rendering tricks. His background allows him to guide students through the iterative process of professional character creation, from initial thumbnails to a final, portfolio-ready design.

🏁 Final Result

• A portfolio of character designs that demonstrate a clear understanding of shape language, gesture, and visual storytelling.
• A refined process for iterating on character ideas and making conscious design decisions.
• A final character design that incorporates all the principles learned, from volume and balance to expression and color.

📢 Guys, this is a Group Buy campaign, check the GBC forum thread to get access

You can find the course preview in the download section below.