bought at gumroad.

com/mitchleeuwe
an introduction
How
How to
to start
start with
with to character design with
all the basic principles

character design
by mitch leeuwe
and examples
bought at gumroad.com/mitchleeuwe
Copyright © 2022 by Mitch Leeuwe
how to start with
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reselled, reproduced or used in any manner
whatsoever without the express written permission of
character design
the publisher. For personal use only

mitchleeuwe.nl
by mitch leeuwe
Printed in the Netherlands
First Printing, 2022

Graphic design: Harmke Leeuwe

harmke.com

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 Hi there!
Let me introduce myself. I’m Mitch Leeuwe and am an illustrator from the Netherlands. I always drew a lot as a kid. I
even had the childhood dream to become an animator at Disney. During my teenage years, I lost that dream. Luckily, I
slowly started drawing more and more. When I was 19, I began to do some freelance work as a graphic designer, which
made me consider picking up drawing again. I attended several drawing programs at schools but I learned most from
online resources. Now, I’m a freelance artist working on visual development. This means I design characters, props
and backgrounds for games, animation and toys. However, you probably know me from my Instagram where I release
tutorials and more. My goal is to create a place where people can learn the things I wanted to learn when I started out.

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about this ebook
Learning to draw can be overwhelming and challenging
but breaking it down into smaller steps makes it more
doable. That’s what we’re going to learn and do in this
ebook about the very basics of drawing characters.
It all starts with the fundamentals: construction and
line of action. This may sound a bit boring, and you’d
instead start with something more advanced. Still, these
fundamentals will make drawing the advanced stuff
easier! They are the foundation of your drawing skill set
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and need to be maintained your entire life. In the following
chapters, I’ll explain more about this.
You can decide for yourself how to study my tutorials
and breakdowns. The best way to learn how to draw is
by studying ‘drawing principles’ and developing this by
practicing a lot. For this, it doesn’t matter whether you use
a pencil, a tablet, or a computer to draw. Use whatever
works for you.
To learn the most from this ebook, I recommend
following the tutorials step by step. This way, you’ll
learn to understand why I make these steps and train
your muscle memory to remember these steps the next
time you draw. By “copying” my drawings and the steps,
I hope you learn how to apply the drawing principles
yourself. I’ve also put some extra exercises on some
pages; follow these to practice even more.
Let’s start with the most basic skill:
Drawing a head from a circle. When
you find it difficult to draw circles, I
would recommend practicing it. A lot!
Start the day by filling a page with
circles; repeat this for some days.
Maybe in the first few days, you
won’t see any progress. But if you
keep doing this (maybe daily), you
will start seeing improvement after a
while.

I totally understand when you don’t
like to draw circles all the time,
especially when you’re struggling
with this. You can practice both at
the same time: do your daily circle
practice, and at the same time, you
can still move on in this course. Over
time you will get better at drawing
circles.
So, to draw a head: draw a circle
(even when it’s not perfect) and draw
a cross inside this. Next, draw the
face with the cross as guidelines.
After that, we can draw the hair.
Notice how I start drawing the hair as
a big shape and define the shape in
the step after this.
Can you tell that I created six different heads with the same circle? It's really amazing to see how much variation we
can make using these shapes. Go ahead and try drawing these heads with the same steps as I did with the previous
heads. And once you can do this, start trying to come up with your own variations! Don't worry if you struggle with these
exercises. It's okay to fail. That means you are learning! When it's too complicated, take a step back and practice that
previous drawing with the steps or move on to the next page! You can always come back to this page again; it's okay to
go back and forth between these pages. Learning to draw is not a linear path! And that makes it fun (but also daunting)

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Let's draw another circle and draw another face inside it! But this time drawing a dog! Follow along step by step. First
the circle, next the cross, the nose, etc. See how I use basic shapes first. Trying to break it down as simple as possible.
Again, it doesn't matter if your drawing is a perfect copy; of course, it's good to aim for that. But the most important thing
is that you practice. Keep practicing these things until you get it right or when you feel you're really stuck. Then it's totally
fine to move on.

Try breaking these characters down as with the steps of the dog head. Try to have fun with it, even when it's tough. Try not
to be too hard for yourself when it's not perfect. And once you have practiced these, try coming up with your own versions!

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This is going to be a little bit harder!
First, we draw a circle. Next, draw
a skewed cross inside it. After that,
turn the circle into a sphere, like I did.
This creates an illusion. The circle
that first appeared as flat now starts
to look three-dimensional! Next,
we are adding a horizontal eclipse.
And we can draw the eyes and the
nose on top of it! First, draw it with
really basic shapes and next draw
the details on top of it. Just as I did Try to draw these characters the same way I did on the isn't built in one day! Practice it a couple of times, and
on the previous pages. Try to follow previous page. Don't get confused too much; this is a hard maybe try to draw it in more angles or even come up with
along step by step. Try it a couple of thing to learn, and it's not a big deal if it doesn't click right some of your own characters and draw them in different
times! away. I want you to get used to the idea of objects turning angles. And when you're stuck again, try practicing it with
in a three-dimensional way. And if you are even just the next page!
starting to understand that for a bit, that is great! Rome

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 Some different characters from different angles! Try they aren't looking perfect. We need to make a lot of "bad"
drawing these characters as well with the same steps drawings before we get better, we have all been there, and
I showed before. And again, try to make your own we all need to go through that.
characters in different angles after it. Again not a big deal if

Let's draw this bear head in this angle. Follow along step by step. See how I drew the nose and eyes just as basic
shapes on top of the big sphere? Next, I'm drawing the details on top of these shapes. See how I try to think of how
these smaller shapes follow the shape they are on? Try to observe these things also in the real world. Maybe you have
a toy; try to look at this toy from different angles. You could also draw this toy from different angles, as I did with these
characters.

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 This character has a bit more complex head structure. See how I broke down the head into a couple of shapes. I first
drew the ball as part of the cranium (the upper part of the skull). Then the jaw and the neck. On top of those shapes, I
drew the face and details. Also, notice how I started drawing the hair as one basic shape and broke it down into smaller
shapes in the following steps.

Of course, we don't only draw characters with perfect with a jellybean shape. Think of it as clay or dough: You
circles! I used round circles because it's easy to get can mold it. Follow along the steps to draw this character's
started, and it is an easy basic shape. Most characters head. After that, you could draw a different head from the
don't have perfectly round heads. In this example, I started jellybean shape.

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We can also apply these molded shapes to animal characters. Try following along and thinking of these shapes as
three-dimensional shapes instead of flat planes.

Here are two more. See the bird's beak being pointy and the elephant's trunk a curving cylinder. If you want, you can
look up some pictures of your favorite animal and draw them with this technique.

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 This girl has very complex hair. But again, when you break it down, it becomes more manageable. Still, it can be
challenging because there are a lot of shapes. But try to draw it step by step, and don't let it overwhelm you.

Here is an even more complex

character. If you look closely, you'll
notice that the foundation of this
character (the basic shapes) is
the same as for the more "basic"
characters. Follow along with the
steps to draw this fox. Following
along gently helps you to develop
your drawing skills. But also enables
you to analyze art, understand
construction, and eventually apply it
to your own drawings.

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We are going to draw some bodies! As I talked about before, I use basic shapes to draw my characters. I use these Another balloon character! I like to start with the head, then the torso, the feet, and finally the hands. I prefer to draw the
basic shapes because that helps me understand them better and makes it easier to draw them consistently in different feet before the hands because the placement of the feet determines the character's balance. The next step is to connect
poses. You can see a sphere, cube, and cylinder on the left. These are the main shapes I use to draw any character. the shapes with tubes and continue building the construction. Try drawing this character step by step. After that, you
You can also think of these shapes as balloons; as I did in this example, they are filled with air. could try drawing this character as the dog, pig, bird, or elephant from the previous pages. Have fun!

Try drawing the construction of this character. You can also draw the final character, but I find it more important that you
focus on the construction first.

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 See how the main shape of this chicken is really basic. It's one big shape, but inside you can also see the connected
spheres. Get these basic shapes right first before moving on to the next step of this tutorial.

Now let's draw this cute bunny step by

step. Really try to think of these three-
dimensional shapes that will later
help you draw any character from a
different angle or in a different pose.
That's why animators also like to think
in these shapes; it makes it easier to
draw a character frame by frame.

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Let's draw a dog! The first line
is a line of action, this is a little
sneak peek of what is coming
next. Just start drawing the line
and add shapes following this line.
Later, I will tell you more about
the meaning of this. Next, add the
smaller shapes on top of it and
connect them with tubes like in the
example. Don't worry if it's still a
little bit too complex; after a while,
it definitely will all click!
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Now let's draw this donkey. Again,
start with some basic shapes and
draw the secondary shapes after
that. On top of that, we add smaller
shapes like the ears, nose, mouth,
etc. By doing this one step at the
time, the process becomes more
manageable and easier.
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In this example, I added a rough sketch in the fourth step. This is what I draw on top of the construction before moving Let's draw a pigeon. You could also use this construction to draw another bird. All you need to do changing the
on to the clean-up and colors. proportions of the shapes.

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The line of action is a line to help you
draw the character's gesture or pose.
Start practicing this by drawing a line.
Continue by adding shapes that follow
the line of action, as you can see in
these examples.
You can see two approaches in the
"wrong" and "right" examples. The
first is very straight and stiff; the
second is more dynamic and flows
along the line. See how not every
shape follows the main line of action.
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But it does flow together. Don't worry
when you don't understand this
concept right away; I'll show more
about this on the following pages.
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Here I used the line of action to draw
a running kid. The first line already
shows this movement for a bit. In
the following steps, you can see
how I add the other shapes and let
them follow the line of action or let
it flow with it. This results in a lovely
dynamic pose of a running kid.
 Let's use the line of action to draw
a more complex character, like this
fox. See how I started with this basic
s-line of action. Even with complex
poses, I like to keep the line of action
simple. It's a tool that helps you get
the pose's foundation right and get
you started.

Of course, you can also apply this when drawing a human character. It doesn't matter whether the drawing style is
realistic or cartoony. Even with realistic drawings, it can be very useful to first think about the action line.

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It's also fun to apply a line of action to objects. This will show how much life a line of action can bring to anything. You
can see on any of these pillows what it is doing. Try it out yourself! You could also apply this to any other object.

By starting with a flour sack for the

pose first, it pushes you to think
of the pose as simple as possible.
After that, you can draw the
character in that pose. Of course,
you can tweak some things. Try
to draw some more characters in
poses using this technique.

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 I drew this character as a possible mascot for myself. I used the line of action to get the pose right. Create a fun mascot
of yourself; maybe it's your favorite animal!

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This example shows very clearly how the tail can flow through the pose as well.

Also, try to think of a strong silhouette when drawing a Having a good balance between it makes the character
character. When I draw a character, I try to balance the clear and readable.
negative and positive space. You have space that is
"inside" the character and "space" around the character.

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 Now let's use that design to draw this character in a pose! I wanted to create a pose that shows a bit about this
character's personality. So, I made her sit in front of a campfire with a marshmallow. This tells about her adventurous
nature (going camping) and her youthful character (happy eating a marshmallow).

I often start with drawing a character

standing. Because it's easier to
design the character that way. When
you're designing a character, start
with a pose that is most easy for you
to draw, like a standing character
or a character from the front. This
way, you can focus on the design. If
you want, you can design your own
character for this exercise.

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 Let's look at the difference between
a male and a female character. Of
course, this is super generalizing, so
feel free to use it in any way you like.
Let's start with the female character.
You can see the shapes at the neck,
and the torso goes inwards, see the
arrows. Also, the hips are the widest
at the top.
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With the male character, the shapes
are mainly going outwards, generally
speaking, the hips are narrower and
the shoulders wider.
You can also see how I approach
anatomy for my characters in these
images. I've learned about anatomy
by studying and drawing realistic
anatomy, but I really simplify it for my
characters. It can be beneficial for
you to know anatomy. The more you
learn about it, the more it will help
you draw characters, but you don't
have to become an expert in it.
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 This hand is a bit more detailed and has five fingers.
The hand gesture is the same as the previous one, but
there are some extra details. Also, the steps how I drew
this hand is the same as with the simpler one. See how
I started with the circle again and attached some basic
shapes to it. See how I grouped the fingers as one shape
first (step 2). In step 3, you can see I drew the fingers
inside this shape. This helps to get a nice flow in the
hands and to keep it easy to read.

Drawing hands can be tricky. What helped me a lot was
starting to draw the hand as simple as possible, like this
cartoony version. Did you ever notice that a cartoony hand
has four fingers instead of five? This trick makes it quicker
and easier to draw. This is also the reason hands in
animation often have four fingers. You could also draw this
hand with five fingers; it will only get a little more detailed.
See how I started with a simple ball.

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This is an example of how to draw feet. I picked the foot of an animal for this tutorial because a simple example and This is a more realistic human foot. I started with this geometric shape. This makes it easier to draw from different
thus good to get started. See how I drew a simple shape first, and in step 2, I made it a little more complex and rounded. angles. Once I have that shape, I begin to make it more organic by making the geometric shapes more rounded step by
I divided the foot into four parts; this helps draw the foot in different gestures. step. Once I have that construction down, I start with the final sketch. Try to draw this foot by following the steps. You
can also draw this foot in different angles and positions; maybe look at your own feet as a reference!

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 Let's talk about design! I like the you get a snowman. As you can see in the first example, by altering the shapes, you get an even more unique
idea of using a snowman to explain it becomes not that interesting when all the shapes are character like this crazy snowman on the right.
proportions to you. When you stack even. When you play around with the proportions of
three balls on top of each other, the shapes, you get a more interesting snowman. And

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Here is another example of playing around with proportions in the face. You can start really simple and push Let's try to draw these characters now from a three-quarter view. This makes it a bit harder, but drawing the front view
the shapes in each step even more. Here I started with a front view. first can make this easier for you.

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 Let's play around with proportions
a bit more! You could also use
cubes to draw a character and play
around with different proportions. Try
something that makes it easier for
you to focus on the proportions.
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Here I'm showing how to start with
the cubes and take steps to create a
character out of them. Try to practice
with these characters first. After that,
try to come up with a version of your
own by starting with cubes!
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 See how I used round, triangle,
and square shapes to create
different characters. Try thinking
in these shapes first before you
start drawing a character.

Just like I try to avoid even

proportions, I try to avoid things in
the middle. Sometimes it's okay,
especially if you want to make
something basic. But when you
want to create something more
unique, I try to push it way more.

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 Here are some more examples of
drawing heads with shapes. But here
are some animal heads instead of
humans. Try to think of your favorite
animal and use one of these shapes
to draw its head.
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It's also fun to draw a character's
whole body in these shapes. You
could do this with human bodies as
well; you only would need to push it
way more. Sometimes you see these
kinds of shapes in a subtle way in the
bodies and gestures of characters in
animated features.
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I really tried to come up with completely different designs/shape language of the snails. You can also see that it In this example, I applied the shapes and proportions to the ages of the turtles. For example, with the older one, you see
emphasizes their personalities. gravity dragging the shapes down.

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I like to think in a T shape for the relation between the eyes and the nose. You can play around with how long or wide Here are some more examples of what you could try! You could push the shapes even way more. These are all about
one of the sides are. the same length, but what I drew inside it is really different. From an old man to a young woman, to a cartoony dog!

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 In this eBook, I talked a lot about
construction and line of action. I really
encourage everyone to keep focusing
on that. But there are more things
to learn. Like clothing! Learning how
to draw construction and the line of
action also helps draw this piece of
fabric.
It could be that you don't like to draw
and practice construction and line
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of action so much. It's okay to come made. Of course, I made an optional
back once in a while to learn more order, but I believe it's good to go
about construction and line of action. back and forth because we are never
I try to see learning to draw as a done learning the basics.
garden; it's something you always
need to nourish and give water.
You're never done with it, and that's a
fantastic thing.
That's also why I think there isn't
a perfect order for all the eBooks I
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 conclusion
& thank you

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pick up your sketchbook
Before spending a lot of time on a design, I make doodles.
And I like to do that in my sketchbook. I can take my
sketchbook wherever I want. I can sit on the couch
watching tv and start doodling something in it. I like to take
it easy in the beginning. Not too much pressure. This is
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different for everyone, but I like to begin very relaxed.
That way, it’s easier for me to be creative and not listen
too much to those negative voices in my head telling me
my art sucks, etcetera. Find something that works for
you. I can only tell what works for me; for some people,
it works better to put some pressure on them and say to
themselves, like: “in the next 2 hours, I’m going to make
50 doodles of character x”. Again, try different ways. Look
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at various interviews of other artists to learn how they work
and see if that could work for you. In these images, you
can see a bunch of my doodles. I always draw neatly, but
it’s maybe even better to be very rough in this stage. This
stage is all about the ideas and less about the result. That
comes later.
 that's it!
Thanks for reading this book! I hope you enjoyed it and
that you picked up some new tips, tricks, and skills for
your artist journey.
Making progress in your drawing skills takes a lot of time. I
would recommend you take your time and realize it’s easy
to overestimate what we can achieve in a short amount of
time and underestimate what we can expect over a longer
period. Keep focusing on that long goal, take small steps,
and trust the process.
Personally, I noticed real progress when I analyzed
characters I liked and focused on construction. I learned
so much from “copying” art I admired and by drawing
those characters step by step. That’s why I like to break
my tutorials down into small, easy steps. I think the best
way to learn how I draw is to follow along with these
tutorials. Draw it step by step and understand why those
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steps are taken. When you study someone’s work, clearly
credit it.
After that, you can make a study from a character by
drawing a different character in that pose. This will help
you think about how to use the construction to draw
the character in a different pose. The next step could
be applying what you learned and designing your own
character using construction. When that’s still too difficult,
you can always go back to learning from simpler tutorials
that explain and show construction. You are never done
improving your skills!
Another thing I can recommend is to get a sketchbook
and try to fill a page every day. The cool thing about a
sketchbook is that you can bring it everywhere with you.
Maybe it’s hard in the beginning. Perhaps you feel stuck
about what to draw. You can always use this eBook, or
any other book, or maybe an Instagram
post from me to study. It’s not even
that important what you draw, but it’s
more important that you draw. What’s
also great for practice is drawing from
life, drawing people on the train, on
the street, in the park. Or just pick a
random theme like monsters, animals,
vehicles, and search some photos and
make cartoon versions of it (or realistic
versions).
Drawing is a lifelong process of
learning. So stay positive, don’t be too
hard on yourself, and have some fun!
Best,
Mitch Leeuwe
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