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August 11, 2009 in Tutorials by Tom Walker

It doesn’t matter if you have no artistic ability whatsoever, with a little knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, you’ll be able to employ the methods outlined in the tutorials below to create a diverse range of weird and wonderful cartoon characters. From homicidal monkeys and pirates, to anime and manga, we’ve covered the bases. Pick a tutorial and follow the instructions to make your masterpiece.

1. Vector Pirate

You can create your own pirate in no time with this easy-to-follow tutorial. Begin by sketching your pirate on paper, trace with Adobe Illustrator, edit and add details from the SpoonGraphics Punk Vector Pack.

2. Fluffy Monster

Turn a couple of basic shapes into your own not-so-scary monster, using little more than simple gradients and the Pathfinder palette on Adobe Illustrator.

3. Freddy the Fish

Use similar techniques employed in the Vector Pirate tutorial to create a really cool cartoon fish. Again, the process starts with a hand drawn sketch. Use the sketch provided if your artistic skills are not up to scratch.

4. Twisted Monkey

Use Photoshop and Illustrator to create a knife-wielding monkey, or a similar cartoon character. You’ll need paper, a pencil, a scanner, Silhouette (an Illustrator plugin) and a bit of patience.

5. Anime Colouring

Learn how to layer colours for perfect anime skin and hair tones. Start with the skin base, adding further shading, reds and highlights.

6. Vectorizing Anime

You may, or may not be pleased to hear that this tutorial requires little artistic ability. By following this guide, you’ll be able to turn a great image from an anime comic into a vibrant and defined vector image.

7. Guide to Creating Vector Characters

So much work has gone into creating this in-depth guide, which advises you through every step in the vector cartoon character design process, from choosing your character, to drawing it, working it into a vector image, and adding fine details to bring it to life.

8. Guide to Manga Illustration

This comprehensive guide talks you through drawing manga by hand as well as applying the appropriate colouring techniques and soft shading.

9. Circle Vector Tutorial

Use nothing more than a coloured circle to create a simple, but funky character, that’s bursting with personality in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop.

10. Vector Eyes

Create beautiful, sparkling eyes with this simple tutorial. Learn how to colour graphics in Photoshop with no outlines.

11. Anime Eyes

Enlarged eyes serve as a focal point in many anime cartoons, so it’s vital that they look perfect. This tutorial teaches a completely different method to the one above, but results are just as stunning.

12. Anime Big Hair

Hair is very easy to draw, but very difficult to draw well. Realistic hair can make or break a vector cartoon. This tutorial shows you how to colour and shade hair in Photoshop. The methods are very different to those used on skin.

13. Create a Character

This 3-part tutorial teaches all you need to know to create a detailed cartoon character. It shows you how to sketch your character, as well as the best layering, shadowing and lighting techniques.