Digital Illustration: Create Manga Characters
A course by Catalina Carlesi , Cartoonist and Illustrator
Learn how to use digital tools to bring your own detailed and expressive manga heroes to life
Learn how to use digital tools to bring your own detailed and expressive manga heroes to life
Want to design characters like the ones from your favorite manga, anime, and video games? In this online course, digital illustrator Catalina Carlesi teaches you how to bring your own heroes to life.
Under her guidance, learn to draw expressive manga characters and tell a story through their clothing, accessories, and environment. Discover digital techniques to help you create charismatic illustrations rich in light, color, shadows, and intricate details. Get ready to build fantasy worlds and make them a reality with Procreate and Photoshop.
What will you learn in this online course?
15 lessons & 25 downloads
- 98% positive reviews (360)
- 22,805 students
- 15 lessons (2h 52m)
- 25 additional resources (8 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: Spanish, English, Turkish
- Spanish · English · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch
- Level: Intermediate
- Unlimited access forever
Recommended software for this course
Adobe Photoshop
ProcreateWhat is this course's project?
Create an illustration of a manga character surrounded by narrative context.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Drawing enthusiasts, especially those interested in Japanese illustration.
Requirements and materials
All you need to take this course are basic notions of digital illustration, as well as the programs Photoshop and Procreate.
Reviews
A course by Catalina Carlesi
Catalina Carlesi, better known as Alpaca, is a Chilean cartoonist and digital illustrator specializing in manga characters. She began her career as a graphic designer, but soon decided to pursue her dream and devote herself full time to illustration.
She's always been a huge fan of manga, anime, and video games, especially JRPGs, as well as Japanese culture in general, which have heavily influenced the style and content of her drawings. She loves creating original characters and weaving their stories into her illustrations through the use of light and shadows, colors, and expressive details.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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Presentation
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Influences
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U2
The Manga: Bases of Digital Illustration
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The Characters: the Human Figure 1
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The Characters: the Human Figure 2
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Character and Expressions
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Digital Inking
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The Color
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Elaboration of the Character and the Environment
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U3
Narrative Illustration
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The Sketch
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The Drawing: Scale, Gray Scale and Color
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Lights and Shadows 1
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Lights and Shadows 1
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Final Details: the Render
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U4
Projection and Diffusion
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Illustration Projection
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Empower Illustration
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FP
Final project
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Digital Illustration: Create Manga Characters
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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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.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.
All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.
You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.
Adobe Photoshop
Procreate
black_sorato_art
PlusAdoro como la maestra Alpaca explica su historia como artista, y como nos muestra sus referentes, sus técnicas de dibujo y de donde podemos inspirarnos para convertirnos en grandes artistas, ciertamente un curso que vale muchísimo la pena.
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doethjm
buen curso para aquellos que buscan saber mas sobre el proceso en si sobre la ilustración.
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oliviajoybiring
PlusI really enjoy this course and relate to the artist/ teacher.
captainlightning
Excelente para aprender sobre la edición del color y las luces y sombras :3
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october_by_nature
Paid full price and so far I find it quite fun and educational! I’m a “self taught” artist and wanted a structured class to help me get out of my comfort zone and try some new things that, in the past, didn’t have patience for and just skipped. Now I’m ready to “do it right” and strengthen my base skills to catapult my art to the next level 🤩