CHARACTER DESIGN: HUMOR AND APPEAL
In the Character Design: Humor And Appeal workshop at The Art Club, you’ll learn how to push the emotion, especially humor, in your character expressions and poses. We’ll be using techniques, approaches and philosophies used by Looney Tunes and Disney legends that have had people howling with laughter for over 100 years! Throughout the workshop, we’ll study examples of humorous, appealing character poses and practice applying those principles to your own drawings. You’ll learn how to push facial expressions, gestures, and overall performance to the max, all while keeping your characters solid, appealing, and professionally designed.
Dates
Tuesdays - Feb 3 - Feb 24
Time
6:00pm - 9:00pm PST
Location
The Art Club - Discord: <https://discord.gg/TZb8wK292j> Green Classroom
FORMAT
Class meets once a week on Discord
Recorded Access: Class recordings are provided after the course, viewable for one year.
Homework must be uploaded to Google Drive folder before the next class begins
The class enrollment is limited to a maximum of 10 students.
THE FACULTY
Leonard Lee is a Los Angeles based Character Designer in the animation industry for more than 8 years, working with studios like Sony Pictures Animation, WB Animation, Nickelodeon and more. While instructing character design and animation teams on shows like ‘Tiny Toons: Looniversity’, Leonard found a love of sharing his passion for a classic approach to draftsmanship and comedy in character posing.
You can see more of his work at: https://www.leonardlee.art/
Prerequisites
This is an Intermediate to Advanced-level workshop. In order to have a productive learning experience for all, prospective students need to fulfill the following requirements:
Solid Draftsmanship
Basic understanding of anatomy and character posing
Drawing/Painting software (Adobe Photoshop preferred)
Computer with microphone (camera optional)
Access to Google Drive
Access to Discord
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In this session, we’ll observe and study humor and appeal in character poses. Together, we’ll look at strong examples of expressive poses and break down the elements that make them humorous and appealing. We’ll begin by diving into facial expressions before we jump into the first Assignment #1.
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This week focuses on gesture and clarity. We build a strong foundation to set our pose up for success as we dive into gesture drawing and we will learn how to capture a joke or emotion in the simplest, clearest way possible. After we will review Assignment #1 and introduce Assignment #2.
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This week we’ll put it all together and whip up some finished poses! We’ll cover both human and animal anatomy, explore how to push those them for maximum humor and appeal, and use every tool available to strengthen your poses. We’ll also review Assignment #3 and introduce Assignment #4.
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We’ll review your final assignment and revisit the key concepts covered throughout the workshop. We’ll end with a Q&A and any final thoughts to help you continue growing your character design skills.
Who is this Workshop for?
The Character Design: Humor and Appeal workshop is designed for Intermediate to Advanced artists who want to push expression, emotion, and appeal in their character poses. While we’ll touch on drawing fundamentals, these lessons assume a basic understanding of figure drawing and are focused on elevating performance, clarity, and comedic storytelling in your work.
Current College Students – who want to strengthen their character acting, sharpen their sense of pose clarity, and develop more expressive, performance-driven drawings.
Professionals – in animation, illustration, comics, or related fields who are looking to enhance the humor, appeal, and emotional impact of their character work, especially for production environments that demand strong posing and clear storytelling.
Hobbyists & Developing Artists – who already have foundational drawing skills and are excited to push their characters further, explore comedic acting, and gain structured guidance that supports expressive growth and appeal-driven design.
Outcomes
Level up your portfolio or personal work with stronger humor, appeal, and character performance.
Learn to capture and convey emotion, attitude, and interaction with clarity and visual impact.
Understand how to push expressions and gestures while maintaining solid, appealing character structure.
Build confidence in creating clear, readable poses that communicate a joke or story instantly.
Develop a sharper eye for what makes a pose funny, engaging, and professional.
Strengthen your ability to use anatomy, gesture, and staging to support comedic acting.
Apply classic animation principles, used by Disney and Looney Tunes legends, to your own character designs.
Leave with polished assignments that showcase expressive, humor-driven character work.
