Creating an Illustrated Brand: From the Idea to Merchandising

Can you imagine making your own illustrated brand a reality? Take your drawings a step further and make them the stars of a product line with the help of Vania Bachur. Also known as Suupeergirl, this self-taught illustrator has created a memorable brand from her unique style.

In this course, Vania teaches you how to create your own characters, digitize them, and bring them to life in the form of different products. To do so, learn to develop a style guide that allows you to unify your creations to sell their licenses or design your own products.

To begin, Vania tells you about her experience in the world of illustration, how she got started, and most importantly, how she started monetizing her drawings. She also shows you her main sources of inspiration and some of the influences behind her work.

Creating characters is the challenge for the next unit. Using a mood board, make some quick sketches to help jumpstart your creativity. Then, begin defining the personality of your characters to connect with your future consumer.

Next, develop a step-by-step style guide that integrates your designs. Begin digitizing your drawings and see what kind of products can be created from them. Use mockups to visualize the final result in a realistic way.

Finally, Vania shares some tips for promoting your brand through social media, as well as some tricks for keeping you inspired and productive on your journey. When you're done, you'll be able to design illustrated characters, create a style guide that helps define their personalities, and bring them to life for a variety of projects.

Create a line of merchandise with your own illustrated characters. To do so, you will work on developing three key elements: your character’s universe, a style guide, and the corresponding products.

Students, professionals, and aspiring illustrators who want to learn how to create illustrated characters and convert them into merchandise.

To take this course, you will need some basic knowledge of drawing and notions of editing in Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. As for materials, you will use the basics of every illustrator: paper, a pencil, and a computer or tablet with the programs mentioned above.