Character Design Workshop

A hands-on character design workshop with an illustrator eager to help you push beyond your comfort zone.

Instructor: Sky Malerba

Tools needed: Sketchpad and pencil

Register

Sign up for this 90 minute workshop is to practice drawing things you haven’t tried before, for in the words of Sky Malerba,

“A lot of artists get comfortable doing the same thing over again. This may work for instagram’s algorithm, but if you are interested in a job in the comic book, animation or general art industry, employers prefer that your skills be more versatile. I would like to help prepare you for that.”

— This 90 minute workshop will focus on character design of a figure you’re not familiar with. We’re not going to draw the things we’re absolutely best at. If you don’t know how to draw a certain animal, attempt to draw that animal. Maybe you aren’t skilled at drawing women, try mastering their anatomy! Maybe you don’t know how to render a certain type of clothing (like baggy jeans), try that.

At the end, I will provide helpful critiques on how to improve each drawing to best match what you are going for. Don’t be afraid to say, “I meant to draw it like that!”, everyone has their own style. I want this to be an exercise for what the class could eventually be where we focus on honing our skills to draw a wide range of figures; humans, animals, and a hybrid of both. (I will be learning alongside you.)

About Sky Malerba

Sky Malerba is an alumni of Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a BFA in animation with a writing minor.  Sky works in both traditional and digital media and is currently active working with UMA doing editorials on current events as well as freelance art.

Portfolio – https://arurasky7.wixsite.com/paintedvoyages

Instagram – @arura_sky/