Digital Anime Coloring for Beginners from Udemy

Have you ever wondered how those gorgeous digital anime artworks are drawn? You might have not just wondered, but wanted to create similar ones yourself. But when you grabbed your tablet to do digital art, you might have found it too hard, frustrating, or too confusing to understand.

But that is not the reality. Digital Art is very simple and fun to practice once you understand its basics.

So worry not. Whether you are just starting out, or have prior experience, this course will help you learn how to do colorful digital anime illustrations from the very basics to the final result.

And even if you are not a beginner, if you are looking into getting the knowhow of creating soft-colored anime illustrations then you have found the right place for you.

This course teaches digital art from its very basic concepts and explains the step-by-step process of creating full-colored characters with soft shading style. It covers the following topics:

Learning how to choose the right canvas size
Understanding how layers work
Understanding the user interface
Creating your own tools and brushes
Techniques to escalate your digital drawing process
Techniques for comfortably sketching digitally
Techniques for doing appealing linearts
Understanding how to color skin, hair, eyes and clothes in soft-shading style
Understanding how to finalize your artwork with color adjustments and effects
Learning how to switch working from one software to another

Note: Paint Tool Sai software is used in this course for explanatory purposes, because it is a very friendly and simple to use software especially for beginner artists. But you can take those techniques and apply them into any other software of your liking.

What's inside

Learning objectives

Steps of creating a fully-colored digital anime artwork
Understanding canvas size & resolution

Understanding digital coloring tools & layers

Steps of creating a fully-colored digital anime artwork
Understanding canvas size & resolution
Understanding digital coloring tools & layers

Syllabus

In this section you will learn the basic concepts of digital art: canvas size, resolution, layers & their properties, user interface, and tools and their customization.

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Provides a strong foundation in digital art, covering canvas size, resolution, layers, and user interface, which are essential for creating digital anime artwork

Teaches techniques for sketching, line art, base colors, skin, eye, hair, and clothing coloring, which are fundamental skills for creating appealing anime illustrations

Explores the creation of custom tools and brushes, which allows learners to personalize their digital art workflow and develop a unique artistic style

Uses Paint Tool SAI for explanatory purposes, which is known for its user-friendly interface, but the techniques can be applied to other software

Covers techniques to escalate the digital drawing process and comfortably sketch digitally, which can help learners overcome initial frustrations and improve efficiency

Explores how to finalize artwork with color adjustments and effects, which allows learners to add professional touches and enhance the overall visual appeal of their illustrations

Reviews summary

Beginner digital anime coloring guide

According to learners, this course is a highly effective starting point for anyone new to digital anime coloring. Students particularly praise its step-by-step approach and clear explanations of fundamental digital art concepts like layers and tools. The course is noted for teaching a popular soft shading style that many find appealing and achievable. While the focus on Paint Tool Sai is seen as beneficial for beginners due to its simplicity, some reviewers feel the course could benefit from covering more advanced techniques or alternative software options in depth. Overall, it's considered great for true beginners but may feel slow-paced for those with prior digital art experience.

Utilizes a beginner-friendly software effectively.

"Using Paint Tool Sai was a great choice for beginners, it's very intuitive after this course."

"While it focuses on Sai, the core principles can definitely be applied to other programs."

"I wish there were more examples or tips on how to translate the techniques specifically to Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint."

Effectively teaches a popular anime coloring style.

"The soft shading techniques taught are exactly what I was looking for to achieve that specific anime look."

"I finally understand how to get that smooth, gradient-like shading on skin and hair."

"The focus on this particular style makes the course unique and highly relevant to anime artists."

Detailed and easy-to-follow coloring process.

"The way the coloring process for skin, hair, and clothes is broken down is incredibly clear and easy to follow."

"I loved the step-by-step approach to creating a full illustration from sketch to final touches."

"The instructions on layering and blending for the soft shading effect were very precise and helpful."

Excellent starting point for digital art novices.

"As a total beginner in digital art, this course made everything seem so manageable and easy to grasp."

"It really breaks down the fundamentals like layers and brushes in a way that isn't overwhelming for a newbie."

"I had zero experience before this, and now I feel confident in starting my first digital anime coloring projects."

Some minor issues reported by a few learners.

"A few videos had audio that was a bit quiet or had some background noise."

"Sometimes the cursor was hard to follow on screen, though it didn't make it impossible to learn."

"Found a couple of spots where the demonstration wasn't perfectly clear, but overall okay."

May be too slow or basic for non-beginners.

"If you already know the basics of digital art software, the initial sections might feel quite slow."

"I was hoping for a bit more advanced techniques or complex shading examples."

"It's definitely tailored strictly for beginners; intermediate artists might find it lacking depth."

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 Digital Anime Coloring for Beginners with these activities:

Practice Digital Sketching

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Refine your digital sketching skills to create cleaner and more accurate initial sketches, which are crucial for good line art and coloring.

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Set up your tablet and software.
Practice sketching basic shapes and forms.
Sketch anime faces and bodies.

Read 'Figure Drawing: For All It's Worth'

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Study figure drawing to improve your understanding of anatomy and create more dynamic and believable anime characters.

View Melania on Amazon

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Read the book and take notes.
Practice drawing figures from reference.
Apply the concepts to your anime art.

Line Art Practice

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Practice creating clean and confident line art to improve the overall quality and definition of your anime illustrations.

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Set up your digital art software.
Practice drawing smooth lines and curves.
Trace over existing anime line art.

Four other activities

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Read 'Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter'

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Study color and light principles to improve your understanding of how to shade and highlight anime characters effectively.

View Dinotopia: Journey To Chandara (Calla Editions) on Amazon

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Read the book and take notes.
Experiment with different lighting scenarios.
Apply the concepts to your anime art.

Create a Color Palette Guide

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Develop a personal color palette guide for anime characters to streamline your coloring process and maintain consistency in your artwork.

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Research popular anime color palettes.
Create your own unique color palettes.
Document the color codes and usage notes.

Create a Brush Pack

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Design a custom brush pack tailored to your anime coloring style to enhance your workflow and achieve unique effects.

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Experiment with different brush settings.
Create brushes for sketching, line art, and coloring.
Test and refine your brush pack.

Redraw an Anime Scene

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Recreate a scene from your favorite anime using the techniques learned in the course to solidify your understanding of the digital coloring process.

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Choose a scene from an anime.
Sketch the scene digitally.
Create line art and color the scene.
Add shading and highlights.

Career center

Learners who complete Digital Anime Coloring for Beginners will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Digital Illustrator

A digital illustrator creates visual content for various media using digital tools. This course is beneficial for aspiring digital illustrators as it covers core concepts like canvas size, resolution, layers, and digital coloring techniques. The course's step-by-step approach to creating full-colored characters, particularly with a soft shading style, directly translates to the work a digital illustrator performs. This course can help build a foundation in the basic skills and techniques required for digital illustration, providing a practical understanding of digital art workflows.

See salaries and explore the career path for Digital Illustrator

Freelance Illustrator

A freelance illustrator works on a project basis creating custom artwork for clients. This is a good match for someone who has taken this digital anime coloring course as the course provides a comprehensive introduction to digital art, focusing on character illustration, which is highly marketable. A freelance illustrator can utilize the techniques learned in this course to create a variety of digital art for clients. The skills taught, such as layer management, base coloring, and soft shading, are all directly applicable to the work a freelance illustrator does.

See salaries and explore the career path for Freelance Illustrator

Character Designer

A character designer develops the visual appearance of characters for animation, video games, or illustrations. This course can be very helpful for character designers since it focuses on the process of creating digital anime illustrations from the basics to the final artwork. The specific techniques taught for coloring skin, hair, eyes, and clothes are directly applicable to character design. A character designer who takes this course can better understand how to use digital tools to create compelling character renderings and also learn useful strategies for producing soft shading.

See salaries and explore the career path for Character Designer

Comic Book Artist

A comic book artist creates the visual narratives in comic books. This course can be useful for a comic book artist, especially if they aim to create a manga style. The course's focus on digital anime illustrations, including lineart, base colors, and soft shading techniques, is directly applicable to creating digital comic art. A comic book artist looking to refine their digital coloring techniques and workflows would find value in this course. The course's step-by-step approach provides a practical foundation for digital comic art creation.

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Concept Artist

A concept artist creates visual designs that serve as a blueprint for various projects like video games and films. This course is beneficial to aspiring concept artists because it offers a structured approach to digital anime illustration, covering essential elements like canvas size, layers, and digital coloring techniques. The course's emphasis on soft shading and character rendering can help concept artists develop character visuals. A concept artist can deepen their artistic foundations by understanding the detailed workflow presented in this course.

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Video Game Artist

A video game artist creates the visual assets for video games. The course can help a video game artist acquire skills in digital drawing and coloring, particularly in a soft-shaded anime style. The course will help a video game artist to learn techniques for rendering characters, understanding layers, and managing digital art workflows. A video game artist focusing on 2D art, especially characters, may find this course helpful. This course could serve as a way to build a strong foundation in digital illustration techniques.

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Animation Artist

An animation artist creates the visual sequences for animated content. This digital anime coloring course helps an animation artist learn the fundamentals of digital drawing and coloring, which are essential skills in animation production. The course teaches important aspects such as canvas size, resolution, layers, and soft shading techniques. An animation artist can use these skills to create vibrant and engaging animated content. They can also leverage the workflows to improve efficiency in their work. This course may be helpful in adding to their artistic repertoire.

See salaries and explore the career path for Animation Artist

Visual Development Artist

A visual development artist is involved in the early stages of animation or game productions, creating the overall look and feel of the project. This course may be useful in deepening the artist's knowledge of digital drawing and coloring. The skills in this course in creating soft-shaded anime illustrations will help a visual development artist in their role. The course's focus on character rendering will be especially useful for those wishing to use that style in their work. The course's step-by-step approach will be helpful in understanding digital art workflows.

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Storyboard Artist

A storyboard artist creates visual representations of scenes for film, animation, or advertising. While this course doesn't focus on composition, it can help a storyboard artist improve their digital drawing and coloring skills. The course emphasizes the practical application of digital art tools, which is useful for creating digital storyboards. Understanding the digital coloring process, as taught in the course, allows a storyboard artist to add more detail and clarity to their sketches. The course may be useful for storyboard artists looking to enhance their digital art skills.

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Graphic Designer

A graphic designer creates visual concepts for various communication materials. While the primary focus of this role is not character art, this course helps a graphic designer build a foundation in digital drawing and coloring. The knowledge of layers, color, and digital tools that the course provides improves a graphic designer's versatility. A graphic designer can use these newly learned skills to add custom digital artwork to their projects. Therefore, this course can be helpful for graphic designers interested in expanding their creative toolkit.

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Art Instructor

An art instructor teaches art to students in various educational settings. While this course doesn't focus on teaching pedagogy, it provides a practical understanding of digital anime illustration from basic concepts to the final artwork. An art instructor can use the structured approach presented in the course to teach digital art to their students, in addition to learning new skills. By taking this course, they will have a better understanding of soft shading and character rendering techniques. Therefore, this course may help an art instructor expand their skill set.

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Social Media Content Creator

A social media content creator develops and produces content for various social media platforms. A social media content creator can find this course to be useful if they wish to create visually engaging content such as anime style illustrations. The techniques concerning soft shading and character rendering that are covered in this course can help social media content creators to produce unique visual content. In addition, the workflows taught in this course may help streamline their content creation process. This course may be helpful to social media content creators interested in adding a visual element to their content.

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Tattoo Artist

A tattoo artist creates custom designs and applies them to clients' skin. While this course focuses on digital art, it can help a tattoo artist develop their design skills. The course's emphasis on character illustration and soft shading may be useful in creating and refining tattoo designs, especially those that are anime or manga-inspired. The course may help a tattoo artist develop a digital workflow that complements their traditional art practice. The practice with digital tools provided by this course can be a very helpful addition to their skill set.

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Web Designer

While web designers typically focus on the functional and aesthetic aspects of websites, there are situations where knowing how to create custom digital art is useful. This course may be a helpful addition to the skillset of a web designer. Specifically, learning how to create an anime style may be useful for websites that cater to that kind of audience. This course does provide an introduction to digital art workflows and could help a web designer to expand their capabilities. This course can help a web designer add value when they want to include custom artwork.

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Fashion Designer

A fashion designer creates clothing and accessory designs. Although the primary focus of a fashion designer is not digital illustration, this course on digital anime coloring may be useful for the fashion designer who wishes to include illustrations in their presentations or portfolio. The skills learned in this course may help them to create character studies, or to experiment with color and pattern. Knowledge of layers and digital tools can also help in presentation. This course may be helpful for a fashion designer interested in developing a new skill.

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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 Digital Anime Coloring for Beginners.

Dinotopia: Journey To Chandara

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Comprehensive guide to understanding color and light principles. It is useful for understanding how light interacts with surfaces, creating realistic and appealing color palettes, and achieving a professional look in your digital anime art. While not specific to anime, the fundamental principles are universally applicable and will add depth to your understanding of color theory. This book is best used as additional reading to supplement the course.

Dinotopia: Journey To Chandara (Calla Editions)

Hardcover

Digital Anime Coloring for Beginners

What's inside

Learning objectives

Syllabus

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Reviews summary

Beginner digital anime coloring guide

Activities

Career center

Reading list

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