How to Illustrate Cartoon Characters in Procreate

Nikhil Arora
5 min readMay 31, 2021

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When we mention illustrating characters in Procreate, many of us think: “Where do I start?”

These questions are often frustrating. Fortunately, there is a sort of tools and steps which will assist you to get the method moving. learn today illustrations by the institute, search the best institute which has provided the best graphic designing course in Delhi, join there today. because of Procreate brushes, grids, and stamps, the drawing process won’t only be easier, but also fun.

With the assistance of the Procreate app and a couple of custom brushes, you’ll find out how to make beautiful, creative cartoon portraits in a short time. Drawing with brushes and stamps is superb thanks to tapping into your creativity, and is suitable for both kids and adults.

Using brushes and stamps to make cartoon characters

For a far better understanding of how useful Procreate brushes and stamps are often, let’s check out some samples of where these tools are often used.

Anyone who wants to find out the way to create realistic or cartoon characters can use Procreate brushes. It might be a pastry chef who wants to include cartoon characters onto cookies or a cake, a crafter who wants to embroider a personality onto a blanket or sew soft toys, or a filmmaker who wants to make stop motion animated cartoons. The list doesn’t stop there. Please share with us — where else can these brush creations be applied beyond Procreate?

Free Procreate Cheatsheet

What are custom brushes, stamps, and grids for Procreate?

Custom brushes, stamps, and grids can all be used as starting points to make illustrations. There are various sets of brushes — many of them offering an enormous number of grids, appearance elements, and textures.

If you would like to make a personality, you’ll start by choosing one grid. Then, you’ll select one face shape which can be the idea for the illustration. If you would like to draw a full character, you’ll select several grids and stamps. Then, you’ll start layering details sort of a face shape, body shape, emotions, countenance, hair, and more. This simplifies the method of drawing, especially if you are doing not have an art education.

Getting started

Beginning the method is sort of simple and artistic Market may be an excellent spot to start! There are plenty of Procreate brush sets to settle on from. Remember that this is often just a start line since you’ll have much room to point out your imagination and dexterity during the method.

If you would like help finding the proper products, you’ll browse this collection of brushes:

The Character Design Brush for Procreate includes body shapes, facial shapes, countenance, and more, which may be used as an honest start line for your project.

To demonstrate the method, I will be able to create a fast portrait of a woman using brushes and stamps. For this project, I used the Faces & Emotions Brushes as my foundation. I will be able to use several brushes from an outsized set and stamps to make a cartoon character.

Step 1:

First, you would like to work out the color palettes for the most color of the skin, hair, eye color, and tone for drawing shadow areas. this may make character creation easier.

Here is one among the interesting options which will be found on Сreative Market.

I also suggest using ready-made color palettes from the set or downloading the Pantone Studio app on your iPad, which can assist you to settle on colors for future illustrations.

Step 2:
Next, let’s choose the face shape and other details. Then, we’ll select countenance and hair:

Move the weather until you reach your required result. Then combine all of the countenances into one portrait. to scale back the search time for the specified grid, I counsel you to make each subsequent element during a new layer so you’ll easily customize your portrait or character. As a matter of fact, moving or adjusting countenance can significantly change the character.

If you suddenly decide that you simply don’t just like the arrangement of the eyes, mouth, or ears, remember that this may not appear as if a mistake, but will only determine the mood of the character. one among the goals within the process is to make the mood or personality of the character without fear about the anatomical correctness.

Exaggerating details can do different effects. for instance, enlarging the eyes of your character can create the design of a surprised face and frowning eyebrows can create a more somber-looking expression. Any human emotions that exist actually also can be expressed on the face of your cartoon character.

Step 3:

Next, let’s work on filling the illustration in layers. to try to do this, combine the layers into one and reduce the transparency of the resulting shape.

Then, you’ll set the tone of the face and hair by selecting a color palette and applying the colors to different layers. then, you’ll draw the eyes, nose, and various details.

Step 4:

Finally, let’s add shadows, highlights, and tiny details.

After you’ve finished coloring the illustration in layers, you’ll outline the situation of the shadows. Determine which side the sunshine source is going to be located on, then outline the shadows and highlights. you’ll see samples of the way to apply these illustrative details here. After adding those details, the character will look more realistic. you’ll even add more personal details like tattoos, moles, or freckles. For more inspiration on this step, take a glance at how Mitch Leeuwe creates his characters.

If you’re a beginner and don’t know where to seek out these settings, I like to recommend visiting the Procreate website and reading the user manual. you’ll also see the entire creation process here. It only took 15 minutes!

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