Illustrated Characters with Paper
A course by Estrellita CaracolVisual Artist and Illustrator
A course by Estrellita Caracol, Visual Artist and Illustrator
Explore the medium of paper collage to bring playful and vibrant characters to life
Discover how to create fun, lively characters using only paper! Illustrator and visual artist Natalia Spadaro, better known as Estrellita Caracol, invites you to join her and explore the world of paper collage. Her illustrations have been featured in books and magazines from a range of publishers like Atlántida, Edelvives, MacMillan, Puerto de Palos, and more.
As a follow-up to her first course, Story Illustration with Paper, she teaches you how to play with collage to build characters with larger-than-life personalities. Learn creative craft and cut-out techniques to make paper characters who belong to the same story. Discover why mistakes can be a good thing and how to make the most of them to bring playful and vibrant characters to life.
What will you learn in this online course?
14 lessons & 28 downloads
Materials and tools
8 minutes, 43 seconds
Collages and cutouts for all tastes
15 minutes, 27 seconds
What is a character?
14 minutes, 55 seconds
From shapes and figures 1
11 minutes, 12 seconds
From shapes and figures 2
12 minutes, 41 seconds
From words and concepts
13 minutes, 34 seconds
What's included in this course?
Natalia Spadaro, better known as Estrellita Caracol, begins by introducing herself and telling you about her art and her professional career. She also shows you who and what inspire her work before giving you an overview of the course.
Jump into the world of collage by gathering all the materials you need to start working and learn some of the basic techniques. Your teacher demonstrates different ways to make cut-outs, including the conceptual and feelings-based approaches to cutting. Then, discover what a character is and how to define one.
Get ready to have some fun! Play a series of games and embrace the happy accidents, fun surprises, and mistakes you make along the way to create a variety of characters with larger-than-life personalities. Once you're done, lay them out and choose the ones that are best suited to your project.
Now it's time to bring those characters to life. Create sketches and use collage to add movement and give them different expressions. Decide what it is that connects them and elaborate on that idea to construct your scene.
Lastly, select a color palette and the type of paper you want to use for the final illustration. Learn how to arrange all the elements of your scene and then digitize the finished composition to share with the world.
What is this course's project?
Create an illustrated scene with multiple characters using paper collage.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Illustrators, designers, students, artists, and anyone interested in exploring their creativity and discovering the world of collage.
Requirements and materials
No prior knowledge is needed to take this course, just come ready to play and experiment.
For materials, you need scissors, glue, different types of paper, card stock, magazines, prints or photocopies, paint, India ink, and painting supplies.
Reviews
- 8 days ago
hermoso
- 1 month ago
Nuevas maneras de expresión y juego. Me llena de inspiración y alegría :)
- 3 months ago
It was a very fun, creative, and lovely course. I really enjoyed the invitation to play around with forms, shapes, and paper.
- 4 months ago
fascinante y muy divertido, tendré mucha inspiración para crear, gracias!! :D
- 5 months ago
I just love spending time with paper collagers; illustrating is a lonesome occupation (only as far as human contact is concerned) and the amazing paper collage characters. Thank you, this is a well structures and informative cource; and skills develop made easy.
Her illustrations have been featured in books and magazines from a range of publishers like Atlántida, Edelvives, MacMillan, Puerto de Palos, Estrada, Treintayseis, Gerbera, and Kalimat from the United Arab Emirates. She has also participated in numerous exhibitions. In 2013, her illustrations were chosen to compete in the Fourth Ibero-American Illustration Contest and the Guadalajara International Book Fair. She currently works as a freelance artist, designer, and illustrator and teaches workshops on collage and illustration for both adults and children.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- Presentation
- influences
- U2
Before starting
- Materials and tools
- Collages and cutouts for all tastes
- What is a character?
- U3
Game marathon to find characters
- From shapes and figures 1
- From shapes and figures 2
- From words and concepts
- casting
- U4
From the game to the final illustration
- paper sketches
- expressions and movement
- Staging
- Wonderful color and papers
- illustration construction
- FP
Final project
- Creation of illustrated characters on paper
What to expect from a Domestika course
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.
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Watch professionally produced courses
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FAQs
You'll learn how to craft original characters using collage techniques, paper cutting, selecting materials, and household tools, drawing inspiration from travels, books, and your own ideas to develop expressive illustrations and visual storytelling.
This is an intermediate-level course, perfect for those with some basic knowledge of illustration or collage who want to deepen their skills in character creation and creative techniques for children's visual projects.
You'll need a variety of papers (recycled, magazine pages, painted), scissors, a craft knife, glue sticks, paints, sponges, and recycled materials to create backgrounds and textures. Cardstock, pencils, and household tools are also recommended for experimenting.
You'll create children's characters by cutting, combining, and assembling different papers, adding features, accessories, and expressions to give them personality, exploring geometric shapes, spots, and textures to achieve unique, narrative results.
Yes, the course encourages using recycled papers, magazines, cardboard, and other accessible materials to enrich your compositions, add texture, and give your characters a distinct identity.
You'll learn smooth cutting techniques using scissors and craft knives, tearing effects, paper cutting methods, and assembling articulated figures, plus how to combine cutouts to create expressions, movement, and visual coherence in your characters.
Yes, the course covers strategies for creating illustrations and characters for children's books, including visual storytelling, page layout, color palette choices, and the relationship between characters and backgrounds.