Creating a Picture Book Character
Character Design
Figure Skater
Meet a little figure skater! This picture book character design study follows my process from finding her age and proportions to exploring expressions, clothing, and movement. Developing a character from different angles and in different poses helps me get to know her personality before she ever steps into a story.
Finding the character
Before I settle on a character design, I experiment with age, height, proportions, clothing, and other details that affect how a character feels on the page. Here, I drew the same girl at several ages before deciding which version felt right. These early studies give me a foundation for keeping her recognizable as I begin to draw her in a story.
Character emotion
Next, I sketch expressions. A picture book character needs to communicate much of the story visually, sometimes without any words at all. Drawing her curious, worried, delighted, surprised, and everything in between helps me discover how her face and body language express emotion.
Character turns
Once I know her face, I work out her body, clothing, and proportions from different angles. A character may appear dozens of times throughout a picture book, so details like the length of her arms and legs, the shape of her clothes, and even the way her hat sits need to remain consistent from page to page.
Character in motion
Finally, I put the character in motion. How does she skate, balance, reach, stumble, or celebrate? Repeating details make her recognizable, but poses and gestures make her feel alive. This is the stage where a character sheet becomes less about how she looks and more about who she is.
