OpenCourser brand icon
Sign in
We may earn an affiliate commission when you visit our partners.
Course image
Udemy logo

Designing Vector Based Characters in Moho Pro

4.7 Filled star Filled star Filled star Filled star Half star
Based on 170 ratings
see reviews
Chad Troftgruben

While Moho is known for animation, it has a wide range of vector design tools that can be useful for creating artwork. Vectors are nice due to their flexibility with animation and inability to degrade in quality when blowing up the design. Moho can design still art or complex objects and characters for animation. In this course you will learn all about designing a character for animation in Moho, including:

Read more

While Moho is known for animation, it has a wide range of vector design tools that can be useful for creating artwork. Vectors are nice due to their flexibility with animation and inability to degrade in quality when blowing up the design. Moho can design still art or complex objects and characters for animation. In this course you will learn all about designing a character for animation in Moho, including:

  • Importing a sketch

  • The Add Point Tool to morph and shape various parts

  • The Curvature tool for creating nice curves and bends

  • Building a head, hair, body, limbs and more

  • Applying line details to maximize appeal

  • Applying shades and highlights to breathe life into the rig

  • Building and masking eyes and mouth for easy animation later on

  • Other tips and tricks to help you succeed in designing characters in Moho Pro

Enroll now

What's inside

Learning objective

Assemble a workflow for designing moho characters for graphic design or animation

Syllabus

Learn what this course is all about!

An overview of what to expect from this course.

In this lecture I explain the process used to draw out the sketch we will be referencing throughout the course.

Read more

In this lecture we will set up a Moho document and import our sketch. This will allow us to use a blueprint for the character design.

By creating the head shape, along with ears and nose, we can establish a starting point for the process.

By using the masking features in Moho, we can set up the eyes for a clean design and easy animation.

Along with the eyes, we will be designing eye brows to help with the creation of emotions and character.

The hair is the most complicated part of the character. But Moho makes the process fairly painless with the ability to mold points and adjust line curves.

The ponytail will sit behind the character. We will be using a similar workflow as we did with the hair.

Like the eyes, we can use a masked group to create mouth pieces which can later be used for interpolation in a rig.

We can begin the construction of the body by starting with the neck and working our way down to the collar and torso.

With the shirt laid down, we can add the coat, which not only adds more depth, but can be used later to create animating cloth effects.

The pelvis will allow us to create a central base for when we rig. The cat buckle is just cool, so we're going to add that too.

Here we will draw the front arm which we can also use as a template for the back arm later on.

The front leg will follow a similar procedure as the front arm. We can also use this to create the back leg later on.

A leg is nothing without a front foot. Here we lay down the points needed.

Here we will design a hand which can also be used later for the back arm.

We dive back in to add some lines to the hair and face. This will help add detail to character.

Along with the hair, we can add lines and curves to the ponytail to help further define it.

In this lecture we will draw a graphic for the shirt, which will add more character to the design.

The coat will have some design work applied by applying shapes, buttons and a pocket. Masking will be applied to also help with streamlining.

The pelvis is simple and won't have too many details. But a zipper line and button can help with depth.

Like the body, we will add some shapes to the sleeve and mask to clean things up.

Like the line work and details, we will be taking a third pass with the character and apply shading to the head and hair. We can apply more than one shade by staking alpha based vector shapes.

Moving down from the head, we can apply shading to the body using a variety of shapes.

The last areas we need to shade are the pelvis, arm and leg. We will be applying the same techniques as we used for the other shading lectures.

Like shading, we will be adding shapes with alpha applied to create highlighted areas on the character's face and hair.

Moving down to the coat and pelvis, we can add more highlights for added depth.

With all the details, shadows and highlights applied to the front limbs, we can duplicate them and set up the back limbs to complete the structure of the character.

It's important that our character has consistent line work. In this lecture we are going to go over the whole design to ensure this is the case.

Next on the list of polishes is bolstering the line work in areas that need it. This includes correcting size, rotation and other things.

In this lecture I take a second look at the hands to try and get those looking cleaner.

In this lecture I compare what we did to the original artwork to showcase any major differences.

I share my final thoughts on this course.

Traffic lights

Read about what's good
what should give you pause
and possible dealbreakers
Teaches vector design principles within Moho Pro, which is useful for creating scalable artwork without quality degradation, making it ideal for both still art and complex animations
Covers character design elements like building and masking eyes and mouths, which are essential for creating characters ready for animation and rigging
Explores Moho Pro's vector design tools, which expands the software's utility beyond animation and into general graphic design
Focuses on applying shades and highlights to vector characters, which is a technique that can significantly enhance the visual appeal and depth of animated rigs
Requires Moho Pro, which may present a barrier to entry for some learners if they do not already have access to this specific software
Emphasizes the use of masking techniques within Moho, which is a core skill for creating clean designs and streamlining the animation process

Save this course

Create your own learning path. Save this course to your list so you can find it easily later.
Save

Reviews summary

Mastering moho character design for animation

According to learners, this course provides a clear and detailed, step-by-step workflow for creating vector characters in Moho Pro. Students found the hands-on approach building a character alongside the instructor highly effective. Many praised the course for teaching valuable techniques like masking, layering, and applying shades and highlights, which are essential for vector art and animation. The course's emphasis on designing characters ready for animation rigging was a significant positive point for many users. While suitable for beginners and experienced users seeking practical skills, a few reviewers mentioned that it focuses mainly on one specific character style, suggesting a need for more examples of adapting techniques to different designs.
Learn by building a character alongside.
"Excellent practical guide. The hands-on approach building a character from scratch is the best way to learn."
"It's very practical and hands-on."
"Building the character alongside the instructor made the process stick."
Characters designed for easy rigging.
"The focus on preparing the design for animation was a big plus."
"I'm an animator, and this course was exactly what I needed to design rig-ready characters in Moho."
"The emphasis on clean vectors and layers for later animation is a big plus."
Covers masking, layering, shading, and more.
"The techniques for masking and layering are game changers for rigging later."
"The tips on applying lines, shades, and highlights really brought the character to life."
"The techniques shown for vector manipulation and organization are directly applicable to other projects."
Easy-to-follow process from sketch to finish.
"Fantastic course! The step-by-step approach to building the character was easy to follow."
"As a complete beginner to Moho, I found this course invaluable. The pace was just right, and the instructor explained everything thoroughly."
"Really impressed with the detail and clarity. Every step is explained thoroughly."
Some parts may feel slow or repetitive.
"The course covers the process well, but I felt it dragged a bit in places."
"Some sections felt overly repetitive, especially when building symmetrical parts."
Focus is on tools, less on design principles.
"while the shading/highlighting part was shown, I'd appreciate a bit more theory on color and lighting choices."
"Wish there was a little more on design principles or adapting the workflow."
Primarily focuses on one specific character design.
"My only minor quibble is that it focuses solely on one specific character style."
"It's very focused on the 'how-to' for the specific character example."
"It could benefit from showing more variety in character styles or perhaps covering different rigging considerations depending on the design."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Designing Vector Based Characters in Moho Pro with these activities:
Practice Vector Drawing Fundamentals
Reviewing vector drawing fundamentals will help you better understand the tools and techniques used in Moho Pro for character design.
Browse courses on Vector Drawing
Show steps
  • Practice drawing basic shapes using vector tools.
  • Experiment with different line weights and styles.
  • Create simple illustrations using only vector shapes.
Read 'Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art'
Understanding the principles of visual storytelling will enhance your character design skills in Moho Pro.
View The Cartoonists Club: a Graphic Novel on Amazon
Show steps
  • Read the book and take notes on key concepts.
  • Reflect on how these concepts apply to character design.
  • Consider how you can incorporate these ideas into your Moho Pro workflow.
Design Character Sketches
Creating character sketches will help you practice the design principles taught in the course and develop your own unique style.
Show steps
  • Brainstorm different character ideas.
  • Create rough sketches of your character ideas.
  • Refine your sketches and add details.
  • Share your sketches with others for feedback.
Four other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all seven activities
Moho Pro Tool Exercises
Practicing with Moho Pro's vector tools will improve your proficiency and speed up your character design workflow.
Show steps
  • Practice using the Add Point Tool to create different shapes.
  • Experiment with the Curvature Tool to create smooth curves.
  • Practice using masking techniques to create complex shapes.
Read 'Cartoon Animation with Preston Blair'
Studying animation principles will help you design characters that are more dynamic and expressive in Moho Pro.
View Animation on Amazon
Show steps
  • Read the book and focus on the character design sections.
  • Analyze the character designs and identify key features.
  • Apply these principles to your own character designs in Moho Pro.
Animate a Short Scene
Animating a short scene with your designed character will solidify your understanding of character design and animation principles in Moho Pro.
Show steps
  • Create a storyboard for your short scene.
  • Rig your character in Moho Pro.
  • Animate your character according to the storyboard.
  • Add sound effects and music to your scene.
  • Share your animation with others for feedback.
Character Design Portfolio
Creating a portfolio of your character designs will showcase your skills and help you land future opportunities.
Show steps
  • Select your best character designs from the course and your own practice.
  • Create high-quality renderings of your character designs.
  • Write descriptions of each character design, highlighting key features and design choices.
  • Organize your portfolio in a visually appealing format.

Career center

Learners who complete Designing Vector Based Characters in Moho Pro will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:
Character Designer
As a character designer, you'll create visually appealing characters for various media, from animated films to video games. This course on designing vector based characters in Moho Pro directly helps you build the skills to excel in vector based character creation. You'll learn to import sketches, use tools to morph and shape different parts, create curves, and apply details, shades, and highlights. The course also covers building and masking eyes and mouths, which is critical for animation ready characters. A character designer would find the workflow and tips invaluable. Specifically, the lessons on hair design, body construction, and adding details like lines, shading, and highlights are beneficial.
See salaries and explore the career path for Character Designer
Avatar Designer
Avatar designers create digital representations of individuals for use in virtual worlds, games, and social media. This course on designing vector based characters in Moho Pro is highly beneficial for avatar designers, as it teaches the fundamentals of vector based character creation. This includes importing sketches, using tools to morph and shape different parts, creating curves, and applying details, shades, and highlights. The lessons on building a head, hair, body, and limbs are useful in constructing diverse and expressive avatars. An avatar designer will find the workflow and tips invaluable.
See salaries and explore the career path for Avatar Designer
Digital Artist
Digital artists create artwork using digital tools and software. As a digital artist, you can use the skills taught in this course to enhance your character design abilities within Moho Pro. The course covers a range of topics, including importing sketches, using the add point and curvature tools, building a head, hair, body, and limbs, and applying line details, shades, and highlights. The course allows the digital artist to design characters for digital media. A digital artist may find the lessons on creating masked eyes and mouths, as well as tips and tricks for designing characters, the most useful.
See salaries and explore the career path for Digital Artist
Animator
Animators bring characters to life through movement and expression. This course provides essential skills for creating characters ready for animation within Moho Pro. The focus on designing characters with animation in mind, including building and masking eyes and mouths for easy manipulation, directly translates to the needs of an animator. The animator benefits from understanding the construction of a character, and that begins at the design phase. The lessons on rigging a character and applying shades and highlights, as well as the tips and tricks shared, further equip the animator with tools and techniques for creating compelling animations.
See salaries and explore the career path for Animator
Game Artist
A game artist creates the visual assets for video games, including characters, environments, and props. This course directly helps game artists learn to design vector based characters within Moho Pro that scale effectively across different platforms. The course focuses on the creation of detailed characters for animation, which are also useful as assets for games. The game artist would benefit from understanding the process of building a character from scratch, including importing a sketch, using the add point and curvature tools, and applying details, shades, and highlights. The emphasis on creating masked eyes and mouths, as well as applying line details, equip the game artist with tools and techniques for creating appealing and expressive characters.
See salaries and explore the career path for Game Artist
Graphic Designer
Graphic designers create visual concepts to communicate information. This course on designing vector based characters in Moho Pro can be extremely helpful for graphic designers who want to incorporate unique characters into their designs. The course covers the fundamentals of vector design, including using the add point and curvature tools, which are highly beneficial to the graphic designer. These are essential to creating scalable and high quality graphics. A graphic designer may find the course particularly useful for learning how to add details, shades, and highlights to their characters, as well as how to set up eyes and mouths for animation. The shirt graphic lesson may be helpful to the graphic designer.
See salaries and explore the career path for Graphic Designer
Motion Graphics Designer
Motion graphics designers create animated visuals for digital media. This course on designing vector based characters in Moho Pro is useful for motion graphics designers who want to create original characters for their animations. The course covers the fundamentals of vector design, including using the add point and curvature tools. A motion graphics designer would find the course particularly useful for learning how to add details, shades, and highlights to their characters, as well as how to set up eyes and mouths for animation. The lessons on creating clothing and accessories will greatly help the motion graphics designer.
See salaries and explore the career path for Motion Graphics Designer
Concept Artist
Concept artists create visual representations of ideas for films, games, and other media. This course on designing vector based characters in Moho Pro can aid concept artists in quickly prototyping character designs using vector tools. The course emphasizes the use of Moho's features to create complex characters, including importing sketches, adding details, and applying shading and highlighting. The course will help the concept artist communicate their ideas through polished vector based illustrations. The lessons on building heads, hair, and bodies are particularly relevant for a concept artist.
See salaries and explore the career path for Concept Artist
Content Creator
Content creators produce engaging material for online platforms, often incorporating animated elements. This course on designing vector based characters in Moho Pro provides a strong foundation for content creators looking to add unique characters to their videos or social media posts. It covers essential techniques for creating visually appealing vector designs. The content creator benefits from the course's emphasis on character design for animation, including building and masking eyes and mouths for easy manipulation, as well as applying line details, shades, and highlights to breathe life into the rig. The shirt graphic lesson is particularly useful.
See salaries and explore the career path for Content Creator
Illustrator
An illustrator creates visual representations for various media, including books, magazines, and advertisements. This course on designing vector based characters in Moho Pro may help an illustrator expand their skillset to include vector based character design. The course emphasizes the use of Moho's vector design tools to create artwork that can be used for still art or animation. An illustrator may find the course useful in learning how to build characters from sketches, add details, and apply shading and highlights. The lessons on the head, hair, and body design are important to the illustrator.
See salaries and explore the career path for Illustrator
Web Designer
Web designers plan, create, and code internet sites and web pages, many of which use graphic elements. This course on designing vector based characters in Moho Pro may be useful for web designers who want to incorporate custom characters into their website designs. The course covers the fundamentals of character design, including creating heads, hair, bodies, and limbs. A web designer may find the course useful for learning how to add details, shades, and highlights to their characters. This allows them to breathe life into their website graphics. The lesson on shirt graphics may also be helpful.
See salaries and explore the career path for Web Designer
User Interface Designer
User interface designers create user-friendly interfaces for software and websites. This course might be helpful for user interface designers who want to incorporate custom icons or illustrations into their interfaces. The course covers the fundamentals of character design, including creating heads, hair, bodies, and limbs. A user interface designer may find the course useful for learning how to add details, shades, and highlights to their characters, as well as how to set up eyes and mouths for animation. The overall effect would create a more interactive user experience.
See salaries and explore the career path for User Interface Designer
Texture Artist
Texture artists create the surface details and textures for 3D models. While this course focuses on vector based character design in Moho Pro, a texture artist may find value in understanding the principles of character design and how to apply details, shades, and highlights. The course covers techniques for building characters from scratch, including importing a sketch, using the add point and curvature tools, and applying line details, shades, and highlights. The lessons on creating clothing and accessories are relevant to the texture artist.
See salaries and explore the career path for Texture Artist
Rigger
Riggers create the skeletal structure and controls for characters, enabling them to be animated. Riggers would find the course useful for understanding the design principles that contribute to the creation of animatable characters. Although the course focuses on character design, the rigger may find its lessons useful. The course covers the process of building characters with animation in mind, including creating masked eyes and mouths for easy manipulation. Riggers should take this course to gain a holistic perspective on the character development pipeline.
See salaries and explore the career path for Rigger
Technical Artist
Technical artists bridge the gap between artists and programmers, developing tools and workflows to streamline the art creation process. This course on designing vector based characters in Moho Pro may be useful for technical artists who want to understand the character design pipeline and develop tools for automating parts of it. The course covers the fundamentals of vector based character design, including importing sketches, using the add point and curvature tools, and applying details, shades, and highlights. This helps the technical artist better implement these design concepts.
See salaries and explore the career path for Technical Artist

Reading list

We've selected two books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in Designing Vector Based Characters in Moho Pro.
Cover image
The Cartoonists Club: a Graphic Novel
Save
Explores the theory and history of comics, providing valuable insights into visual storytelling and character design. It helps you understand the fundamentals of visual communication, which are essential for creating compelling characters in Moho Pro. While not directly about Moho, it provides a strong foundation for understanding character design principles. This book is more valuable as additional reading to expand your understanding of visual storytelling.
The Cartoonists Club: a Graphic Novel
Paperback
Check
The Cartoonists Club: a Graphic Novel
Kindle Edition
Check
Cover image
Animation
Save
Classic guide to cartoon animation, covering character design, movement, and expression. It provides a solid foundation for understanding the principles of animation, which are essential for bringing your Moho Pro characters to life. While focused on traditional animation, the principles are directly applicable to digital animation in Moho. This book is commonly used as a textbook at academic institutions.
Animation
Paperback
Check
Animation
Kindle Edition
Check

Share

Help others find this course page by sharing it with your friends and followers:
Facebook
LinkedIn
Reddit
X
Link
Email

Similar courses

Similar courses are unavailable at this time. Please try again later.
Course image
Rating
4.7 Filled star Filled star Filled star Filled star Half star
Effort
3.5 total hours
Via
Udemy
Instructor
Chad Troftgruben
Language
English
Traffic lights
Read about what's good
what should give you pause
and possible dealbreakers
Teaches vector design principles within Moho Pro, which is useful for creating scalable artwork without quality degradation, making it ideal for both still art and complex animations
Covers character design elements like building and masking eyes and mouths, which are essential for creating characters ready for animation and rigging
Explores Moho Pro's vector design tools, which expands the software's utility beyond animation and into general graphic design
Focuses on applying shades and highlights to vector characters, which is a technique that can significantly enhance the visual appeal and depth of animated rigs
Requires Moho Pro, which may present a barrier to entry for some learners if they do not already have access to this specific software
Emphasizes the use of masking techniques within Moho, which is a core skill for creating clean designs and streamlining the animation process
Share this
Share to help others discover this course.
Facebook LinkedIn X Reddit Link Email
Begin learning today
Enroll now to gain full access to Designing Vector Based Characters in Moho Pro.
Enroll now
Save for later
Add this course to your list. Find it anytime.
Save
Our mission

OpenCourser helps millions of learners each year. People visit us to learn workspace skills, ace their exams, and nurture their curiosity.

Our extensive catalog contains over 50,000 courses and twice as many books. Browse by search, by topic, or even by career interests. We'll match you to the right resources quickly.

Find this site helpful? Tell a friend about us.

Affiliate disclosure

We're supported by our community of learners. When you purchase or subscribe to courses and programs or purchase books, we may earn a commission from our partners.

Your purchases help us maintain our catalog and keep our servers humming without ads.

Thank you for supporting OpenCourser.

© 2016 - 2025 OpenCourser