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Sketch of a character design for a professional man, with red annotation notes on the right side, and a simple black outline version on the left. The character is wearing a suit, holding a smoking pipe, and has glasses, with detailed notes on stance, head position, and contrast.

CHARACTER DESIGN: ESSENTIALS

The Character Design: Essentials lecture course is designed to help you bring characters to life by combining technical skill with expressive storytelling. You’ll explore how gesture, expression, and visual clarity can capture mood, action, and personality, while design principles such as shape, form, silhouette, and line flow guide you toward creating appealing and readable characters. Structure and construction are emphasized through the study of anatomy, proportion, planes, and perspective, giving your drawings both believability and strength.

Beyond fundamentals, we’ll look at how movement, rhythm, and squash and stretch infuse characters with energy and flow. You’ll also consider staging, anticipation, and balance as tools of visual storytelling that heighten impact. Finally, the course encourages you to refine style and personality, incorporating caricature, texture, and shape language to develop characters that are consistent, expressive, and truly memorable. By the end, you’ll have both the confidence and the creative tools to design characters that feel dynamic, authentic, and uniquely your own.

COMING SOON

THE FACULTY

A black and white cartoon drawing of a man wearing a baseball cap backwards, glasses, with a beard and mustache, smiling. The image is labeled with the name 'David Perez'.

David Perez is a husband, father, and artist with over a decade of experience in the animation industry. He has had the privilege of working at some of the most renowned studios, including Disney, DreamWorks, Warner Bros, Nickelodeon, Sony, and Netflix.

Teaching and giving back has been one of the most rewarding aspects of his career. David occasionally offers online workshops, and he also shares free insights on his YouTube channel (@dzine555) to help aspiring artists on their creative journey.

Character design isn’t about being “advanced.” It’s about mastering the basics at a deeper level. Over the years, He has learned that great design always comes back to simplicity and that’s the foundation of my teaching philosophy.

You’ll not only learn how things work but also why they work. More importantly, you’ll gain the tools to deconstruct and rebuild characters in your own unique way. His goal is to make learning accessible, easy to understand at any age, and use his courses as a resource you can return to no matter where you are in your artistic journey.

David has a 100-page how-to book designed to teach anyone the fundamentals of character design. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your skills.

If you would like to see more of his work you can check out. www.davidperezdzine.com

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David’s Credits

Prerequisites

This is an all-level class. In order to have a productive learning experience, students need the following:

Traditional Drawing Tools or Digital Drawing Software/Tools (Adobe Photoshop, Procreate, ect…)
Access to Discord to join The Art Club’s Discord community, where students may share work created in response to the lecture and receive constructive feedback from both industry professionals and peers

A digital infographic titled 'Prerequisites' with a list of three items: 1. Knowledge of basic math, 2. Ability to read and write, 3. Familiarity with computers and internet.

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Who is this Lecture for?

The Character Design: Essentials lecture introduces students to the core principles of gesture, structure, and visual storytelling, equipping them with the tools to create expressive and believable characters. Through a focus on anatomy, design fundamentals, and stylistic development, students will gain the skills to bring originality, clarity, and personality to their work.

Pre-College Students – who want to strengthen their portfolios and gain a solid foundation in character design before entering higher education.
Current College Students – looking to deepen their understanding of character design principles while exploring professional techniques beyond the classroom.
Professionals –In animation, illustration, or related fields, seeking to reinforce essential techniques and refine their skills to create characters with stronger foundational principles.
Hobbyists – who are passionate about art and eager to bring more clarity, energy, and storytelling into their characters.

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LECTURE OUTCOMES

Master gesture, expression, and movement to create dynamic, believable characters.
Apply design principles, anatomy, and perspective for clear and appealing character construction.
Develop visual storytelling skills to enhance the narrative impact of your characters.
Refine style, personality, and design consistency through professional feedback and practice.

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