Capture every little detail to bring your characters to life through their facial expressions and body language
Small details like facial expressions and automatic gestures are what bring an illustrated character to life. Omar Lozano, Mexican illustrator who has worked on projects such as Marvel and DC, creates characters including all these details and more with incredible results.
In this course, learn to truly bring your characters to life through their facial expressions and body language. Come to understand the importance of reflecting their character and attitude in their movements and poses. Using pencils, colored pencils, and watercolors, Omar teaches you to design dynamic and expressive characters, each with their own distinctive style.
What will you learn in this online course?
14 lessons & 9 downloads
Introduction to character creation
4 minutes, 14 seconds
Definition and documentation
7 minutes, 18 seconds
Character construction
15 minutes, 18 seconds
Tips to improve the composition
9 minutes, 29 seconds
Brainstorming
3 minutes, 14 seconds
From idea to sketch
14 minutes, 35 seconds
What's included in this course?
Start off by hearing a little bit about Omar's career so far and about the passion for drawing and the world of comics that led him to become a professional illustrator. He also shares the influences that have enriched his work from the very beginning and helped him find is signature style.
Study the foundations of character creation starting with the languages of shape and color. Learn the importance of how the protagonist's surroundings influence their behavior before doing some exercises to help you reflect on how to express this and how they'd move in various given situations. Then Omar reveals the secrets to improving the composition.
Now it's time to get your ideas down on paper with some initial sketches! After hearing some more advice from your teacher, bring your characters to life in as much detail as possible, considering their poses, gestures, gait, etc.
Lastly, choose the ideal color palette for your illustration and apply it using watercolors and some final tips for adding volume. End this adventure bringing out the final details using colored pencils and adding a few extra effects to increase the expressiveness of your protagonist.
What is this course's project?
Illustrate a dynamic and expressive character using watercolor and colored pencils.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Illustrators, animators, and comic strip artists interested in perfecting the facial expressions and body language of their characters.
Requirements and materials
Basic drawing knowledge is necessary for this course.
In terms of materials, your teacher uses a mechanical pencil, a waterbrush, pan watercolors, colored pencils, and a white pen, but you can follow his steps using your preferred materials, whether pastels, acrylics, dip pens or fountain pens, and colored inks.
Reviews
- joelrafael27_1PLUS3 months ago
El curso está muy bien explicado detalla todos los temas de manera que se hace facil de entender le doy 10 de 10.
- 6 months ago
Ótimo curso!!
- listartryndamerePLUS10 months ago
Me parece simple pero bonito a la vez.
- 1 year ago
un gran curso bastante completo y explicado los recursos que ofrece son bastante ricos y muy complementativos a la hora de manejar las herramientas que se dan
- 1 year ago
Me encanta cómo un simple dibujo puede expresar tantas emociones. Excelente curso!
It all began with comics when he worked as a film colorist for DC, Marvel, and IDW projects, to name just a few. He worked as an artist in the remake of Ultraduck (a Mexican comic known for its '90s-style inspiration) before training as a conceptual artist for video games. He went on to illustrate children's books, some including DC characters such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and the Justice League crew.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- Presentation
- Influences
- U2
From imagination to expression
- Introduction to character creation
- Definition and documentation
- Character construction
- Tips to improve the composition
- U3
Develop the idea
- Brainstorming
- From idea to sketch
- Pose and gesture
- Cleaning and finalizing the drawing
- U4
Color and final details
- Define the color palette
- Apply base colors
- Apply volumes
- Final effects and details
- FP
Final project
- Advanced expressiveness for characters
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
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
You’ll learn techniques for designing expressive characters, using silhouettes and gestures to convey emotions, applying color and dynamic composition, and adapting styles inspired by anime and contemporary artists.
The course is aimed at an intermediate level, perfect for those with basic drawing skills who want to deepen their understanding of emotional expression and character design for comics.
You’ll need paper, pencils, watercolors, colored pencils, kneaded eraser, and inking tools like gel pens. Having access to a visual reference library is also recommended.
The course teaches through techniques like gesture drawing, poses, clear silhouettes, color use, and composition, as well as adapting styles and visual influences to reflect emotions and attitudes.
This course focuses on expressiveness, visual storytelling, and blending cultural and stylistic influences, while also teaching composition and color techniques for children’s and young adult comics.
Yes, you’ll learn how to apply watercolors and colored pencils to create visual effects, volume, contrast, and convey emotions in your illustrated characters.
You’ll be able to create coherent, expressive, and dynamic characters, mastering composition, color, gestures, and silhouettes to tell visual stories tailored to different editorial contexts.