Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to read a digital ARC of Dynamic Character Design by Fernanda Soares de Carvalho.

The book is comprised of a short introduction, then five chapters covering, in order, tools, tutorials, sketching, drawing digitally, and tips.

I really liked this book. The art style is quite lovely, and the book is laid out very nicely. I found the tutorials very helpful, the illustrations and explanatory text clearly explaining things in nice easy to digest chunks. I would have loved if the tutorial and sketching sections were longer.

The digital drawing chapter is mostly software agnostic and is more about concepts applicable to process of drawing digitally rather than how to use the digital tools available. That being said, the author uses the Procreate app, and has a couple of software specific tips that can be very helpful to beginners.

In summary, this book will not teach you how to draw photorealistic people, but does a nice job of guiding you through the process of creating stylised characters.

As I embarked on a drawing everyday challenge this year, and struggle terribly with people and faces, I really hope a few months of studying this book will get me closer to where I want to be. I'm definitely buying this book on publication.

This book is perfect for anyone who wants to learn the basics of drawing. It has several helpful tips that I hope to implement in my sketches soon.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Walter Foster Publishing for providing the review copy!
The following review solely reflects my own independent opinion.

This book makes learning to draw a little bit easier and, most importantly, enjoyable.
The instructions are really clear, and the illustrations are not just beautiful but also incredibly inspiring.

Whether you're just starting out or already have a bit of experience, this book is for everyone!
It strikes a great balance between clear instructions and leaving enough room for your own creativity.

I particularly like how the book is structured – it takes you step by step from the basics to advanced techniques.

I can definitely recommend this book, whether you're just starting out, looking to improve your drawing skills,
or simply in the mood for a creative adventure. Be sure to check it out!

Whew, it's been a while since I've read a book on the basics!

I think this is a great first book to take a look at for anyone wanting to start their art journey. The basics are covered in a quick, easy to digest way that people from any age could learn from. It was also very refreshing to see a style that wasn't just realism, anime, or comic!

I do wish that the author covered her though process on certain elements though. A few important points where boiled down to just 'It looks more aesthetically pleasing'. I feel like adding a simple explanation behind the theory would allow new artists to have a deeper understanding of why they're doing what they're doing- which I feel is a very important step in improving artistic skills.

Being a shorter book, the author only covers so much information. I wish the author had included suggestions on what to look into if the reader wanted to learn more about a subject. I feel that when learning a new skill, it can be difficult to know what to look for, especially if you don't have the vocabulary for it. The book does give the reader some of that vocabulary, but I feel like it would've been useful to have given these artists a point in the right direction. e.g. (Look at online tutorials for X, there are plenty of books on X, if you want to improve this skill look for information on X)

Aside from that, I think this book would be a great starting point for anyone who is new at art and interesting in character design. The diagrams and tutorials are easy to follow, the explanations are short but informative, and all the information covered is important and well written.

This is a very detailed book, full of useful information on how to draw characters. The author gibes the reader good examples, tips, techniques and tutorials, both regarding digital and traditional art. The book explains how to draw facial features, as well as how to convey emotions. It also displays information on anatomy and body types. A must read for anyone interest in improving their sketching skills.

So…confession time: I do have some artistic talent. However, since I grew up before digital art was much of a thing, I learned all the old school art methods. I’ve always wanted to learn how to draw and color digitally, though, and there’s a chapter in this book that covers how the author uses the Procreate app to do that. I plan on trying out her techniques in the app after I finish this review.

This is a great little book that will help you to elevate your art, whether you want to take reference photos and make them your own, or draw from your imagination. Nanda, the author, has a bunch of tips and tricks on how to do either, and she breaks each step down so that beginners won’t feel overwhelmed. I love how she accentuates certain features of people’s faces to give them unique personalities. Also, her shading is phenomenal.

I highly recommend this if you’re looking how to make your own characters! It’s easy to read and will have you drawing in no time.

I received a copy from NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Walter Foster (thank you!). All opinions are mine alone.

I thoroughly enjoyed this character design tutorial. As someone who used to use the "how to draw" books as a kid, seeing an updated version that incorporates digital art was fantastic! I will definitely be putting the tips and tricks in this book to practice designing my own characters for D&D and other character creation games. There were several varied examples for each body shape, face shape, and hair type, but I would have loved a little further development into adding additional features such as glasses or different hair styles. I think anyone interested in drawing or character sketching will enjoy this book and find the tutorials useful, no matter their preferred medium.

“Dynamic Character Design” is a wonderful introduction into character design, especially for those who have a bit of a background in sketching.

It’s always interesting to see how other artists have interpreted ways to teach and this is no exception. Fernanda has a concise step by step on characters with different shape designs along with both mediums. Many of these are accessible to even a beginner.

What I would have liked to see more is a little further depth. For being called dynamic, the designs focused heavily on faces and less on poses and getting movement in the design.

Where it’s nice that it had both traditional and digital tutorials, the book would have been better suited to cut one of those sections and made it a follow up book to focus more on anatomy.

But that’s just a small critique of what it was missing for me. This is still a great book for character design and basics to creating them.

I will definitely recommend this one and can’t wait for it to come out so I can snag a physical copy for my shelf.

Thank you Quarto and Netgalley for offering this fantastic advanced ecopy in exchange for my honest review.

This was an easy to follow how-to book perfect for both new and practiced artists. Whether your preferred medium is digital or traditional, this book will walk you through step-by-step tutorials to create adorable character illustrations.

I have been sketching for many many years now, but I'm new to the world of digital art so I was especially interested in the helpful advice regarding popular drawing apps such as Procreate. This book demonstrated the proper process to create layers, backgrounds etc. and took the guesswork out of an overwhelming application. It also included special QR codes for instructional videos from the author, which was great!

I highly recommend this to all illustrators and artists looking to fine-tune their work!

Thank you NetGalley, The Quatro Group & Walter Foster Publishing for access to the e-copy!

Wow! I learned so much about proportion and shape and color! This book was great for beginners and intermediate learners as well! I really loved how the author explained the concepts using both physical and digital media. Artists today really need to be versed in both. Some basic knowledge of Procreate is probably good to know going into it so you can understand the terminology but that can be acquired on YouTube in a couple videos first and you should be good to go. I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning how to make fun, realistic cartoon portraits.
Thank you for the eARC!

This was a very cool book with interesting pictures and some cool ideas and drawing concepts. As someone who has been sketching a long time I wanted to read this to see and it was very good it has a mix of general techniques that are basic but also thoughts and ideas on how to draw better. I really like this art style and can’t wait to try out drawing in this style

Dynamic Character Design : Draw faces and figures with pencil, markers, digital tools, and more. This book will teach you how to draw a variety of characters in the style of manga, anime, and fantasy art. The instructions are good to follow and individual features of the face and body are focussed on. It is a good reference book for anyone interested in building characters in this style, and even includes some instructions for developing characters digitally.

Thank you NetGalley for the PDF copy of Dynamic Character Design by Fernanda Soares de Carvalho!

It's been ages since I've seen a drawing tutorial book of an artist with a style I resonate with.

Really loved it, thank you!

I absolutely love the world of design. I am beyond excited to read, acquire, and share this book. I apologize I had a family emergency this week which has prevented me from being able to access information and post reviews. I should be back up and running very soon and look forward to share my full thoughts and review. Please watch this space. Thank you again.