Fantastical Character Illustration for Children’s Books
A course by Natalia ColomboIllustrator and Graphic Designer
A course by Natalia Colombo, Illustrator and Graphic Designer
Free your imagination and learn to create unique characters that bring illustrated stories to life using experimental techniques
Discover new sources of inspiration to create worlds full of wonder and fantasy. In this online course, illustrator and graphic designer Natalia Colombo shows you how to spark children's imagination with picturebooks.
With more than 60 books published in countries across the world including France, China, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, she teaches you experimental illustration techniques for creating fantastical characters.
What will you learn in this online course?
15 lessons & 34 downloads
Materials
6 minutes, 38 seconds
Experiment to unlock
7 minutes, 13 seconds
Ink stains
14 minutes, 41 seconds
Geometric forms
12 minutes, 6 seconds
Draw erasing
17 minutes, 6 seconds
Character casting
13 minutes, 20 seconds
What's included in this course?
Meet your teacher for the course, Natalia Colombo. She talks through her creative journey, from drawing as a child to becoming a professional illustrator, as well as the artists that have influenced her work.
Start by experimenting with different materials to get your creativity flowing and come up with new characters for your final project. Natalia guides you through a series of exercises, such as drawing with geometric shapes or with an eraser.
Then, make a cast of your favorite characters and work on their expressions, enriching them with extra details. Continue by creating a place for them to live—the setting for your story—and write a short script to outline the events.
Move to the computer and work on the composition for your double-page spread, integrating your characters into a background and applying textures to bring it all to life. Natalia rounds out the course with some tips on how to submit your projects to publishers and present them at trade fairs.
What is this course's project?
Create unique characters to be the stars of a double-page spread in your own picturebook.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Illustrators, designers, and anyone who wants to explore and experiment with different ways to create new characters with their own personality.
Requirements and materials
Basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop is needed to follow this course.
As for materials, you need paper, colored pencils, markers, an eraser, graphite and black pencils, paintbrushes and ink, a palette, water, a scanner or smartphone to digitize your work and a computer with Adobe Photoshop.
Reviews
- 2 months ago
In depth structure for developing ideas. Great course.
- 7 months ago
It was an excellent class, learned alot.
- 1 year ago
Inspiring works and her process
- 1 year ago
Natalia es una gran ilustradora y explica muy bien, aunque me hubiese gustado que en el desarrollo del curso hubiera un poco menos de preponderancia respecto a la construcción del relato/guión y más ejercicios/técnicas de ilustración. Igualmente recomiendo.
- 1 year ago
muy buenos excelente
Throughout her career, she's had the opportunity to collaborate with publishers in France, China, Italy, Spain, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina, and more. She has also received multiple awards for her work, including the International Compostela Prize for Picture Books and the Iberoamérica Ilustra award. In addition to illustrating books, she's collaborated on animation projects for two Argentine TV channels: Encuentro and Pakapaka.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- About Me
- Influences
- U2
Unlock
- Materials
- Experiment to unlock
- Ink stains
- Geometric forms
- Draw erasing
- U3
Casting of characters, script and scenery
- Character casting
- Where do the characters live? 1
- Where do the characters live? 2
- Miniscript
- U4
Mounting
- Retouch
- Composition
- Backgrounds and textures
- How and where to present your works?
- FP
Final project
- Fantastical Character Illustration for Children’s Books
What to expect from a Domestika course
Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
Certificates
PLUSIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
You’ll learn to experiment with techniques and materials like acrylics, ink, pencils, and digital tools to create original characters, settings, and visual stories. The course covers composition, color management, textures, and tips to overcome creative blocks.
Yes, the course is designed for those with basic illustration skills who want to deepen their knowledge and experiment with new techniques, materials, and creative processes to develop characters and visual narratives.
You’ll need acrylics, inks, pencils, acrylic markers like Posca, papers with different textures, erasers, cotton, droppers, mobile devices for photographing, and access to Photoshop for digital retouching.
Basic drawing or illustration knowledge is recommended, but advanced digital skills aren’t required. The course guides you step-by-step through both traditional and digital processes.
You’ll learn mixed techniques such as printmaking interventions, ink droplet effects, organic stains, collage, creating characters with geometric shapes, material blending, and digital retouching in Photoshop.
Yes, it includes practical exercises to unlock creativity, like drawing with your non-dominant hand, with eyes closed, and experimenting with different paper sizes and materials.
Yes, the course focuses on creating unique characters, their expressiveness, emotions, and adapting them to various stories, along with composition and color techniques for comics.