Fantasy Creatures to Inspire Your Character Illustrations

Download these fairy-tale-inspired drawings and take your character illustrations to the next level

Character illustration is a versatile medium that allows artists of all disciplines to express their inner creativity and bring fantasy worlds to life. No matter your tools of choice, with just a few simple lines and a splash of color, you can create artwork filled with personality that people can really connect with.

Influenced by myths and fairytales, illustrator Sveta Dorosheva (@sveta_dorosheva) specializes in drawing narrative art and characters for both magazines and brands. As part of her online course on illustrating with pen and ink, she shares three pages of the enchanting creatures she has designed to help you imagine your own.

Download these fantasy sketches and get inspired for your next illustration.

Explore inspiration for your character illustrations

Sveta’s work is hand-drawn on paper, merging mythical and traditional motifs from various cultures with contemporary ideas, as seen in this download. Discover three full pages of truly unique characters, each with its own story to tell, and use them to draw rich, atmospheric images that invite wonder.

Download three pages of enchanting characters

After clicking the download button below, you will find a file titled Fantasy Creatures by Sveta Dorosheva in the Downloads folder of your computer.

If you want to learn more, check out Sveta’s online course, Fairy-tale Illustration with Pen and Ink, and explore creative inking techniques to bring to life magical illustrations that capture the culture, time, and magic of a story.

Discover more resources on character creation:

1. Explore an alternative method for designing characters in this course: Character Modeling with Sugar Paste.

2. See industry-leading animated films with fun and expressive characters to use as references for your own designs: 6 Animated Films to Inspire Your Character Designs.

3. Breathe life into a character sketch through color and light with Adobe Photoshop: Digital Painting for Characters: Color and Light.

4. Explore these Essential Tools to Draw Manga Characters and Comics Easily.