Hello guys! This guide shows the step-by-step process of how to add animal features into a character, transforming the character into an animal-human hybrid character.

1. Select the animal and its features

a. Select the animal

The first step is to choose the animal to incorporate into the character. There are some factors to consider include:

- Your favorite animal

- Animals that share traits with the character, such as characteristics, color palette, and overal vibe.

 

Example: I selected the peacock due to its beautiful appearance and calm behavior, aligning well with my original character.

b. Pick out unique features of your chosen animal

In this step, you should list some features of that animal that make it immediately recognizable. Consider incorporating one or more of those features into your character.

 

Listing and choosing specific features will help you emphasize those animal parts and make the audience understand the animal you want to draw easily.

 

For example: unique features usually include the tail, ears, eyes, or fur. In my artwork, the tail is the most important part to pay attention to.

 

 

2. Find reference images

In this step, you will need to search for reference images for your artwork. I recommend searching on Pinterest, where you can find outfits, backgrounds, jewelry, color palettes, and most importantly, images of the selected animal. 

 

People sometimes ignore finding references, but trust me, there is a whole difference between artworks with and without reference.

 

But remember not to heavily reference, which means you shouldn't replicate everything from the reference in your art (pose, color, emotion).

 

Tip: While drawing, you can add the reference image next to the canvas by using ‘Sub view’, a convenient feature in Clip Studio Paint!

Window-> Subview

3. Start designing

In this step, you already have everything you need to start sketching. Based on the reference and your intentions, create a rough sketch of your hybrid character. A small tip is to design these factors to blend with your selected animal and the character.

- Color palette

- Outfit

- Pose, facial emotion->slightly show character personality

- Emphasize unique design

 

Note: Notice and keep some of your character’s unique designs; for my original character, they are the eyes and earrings.

Tip: while designing is to choose suitable songs for your character’s vibe. Music helps us concentrate on the vibe we want, and by that, we can design better.

 

For example, I choose blue and white, which are the significant colors of my original character, and my selected animal (the white peacock). Also, their outfits/ appearance are somehow similar: a simple top part and a complicated bottom part.

Rough sketch

Lineart

Final

Tip: Using symmetrical ruler tool in Clip Studio Paint to draw symmetrically, this is a helpful tool especially when designing the character.

Tip for color palette: You shouldn’t pick it randomly. There are a lot of ways to pick color, but here are some common color theories you can consider choosing, with the help of color wheel in clip studio paint.

In my artwork, I used analogous color (blue).

If you are interested in my canvas setting, here it is:

4. Final

After finishing the drawing, you already have the hybrid character design you want. In this step you can fix or add some small detail If you want.

 

Thank you for reading! If you like it I hope you can give it a like, share, comment, or give me any advice, so that I can create more and better tips!