Today’s tutorial is going to be an absolute blast since we’re going to take a look at the process of drawing and illustrating the Minions, some of the funniest characters that have ever made an appearance on the big screen.
Oh, and don’t forget you can always expand the pack by heading over to GraphicRiver where you’ll find a great selection of illustrated characters to pick from.
That being said, make
sure you treat yourself with a cold glass of banana milkshake, and let’s get
started!
1. How to Set Up a New Project File
Since I’m sure you already have Illustrator up and running in the background, bring it up and let’s set up a New Document (File > New or Control-N) for our project using the following settings:
- Number of Artboards: 1
- Width:320 px
- Height:600 px
- Units:Pixels
And from the Advanced tab:
- Color Mode: RGB
- Raster Effects: Screen (72ppi)
- Preview Mode: Default
2. How to Set Up the Layers
Once we’ve finished setting up our project file, we’ll want to structure our document using several layers, since this way we can maintain a steady workflow by focusing on one character at a time.
The way that we’re going to be using the layers is by digitally sketching out the anatomy and details of each character onto the “sketch” section, and then going onto the layer underneath and recreating them using basic geometric shapes combined with Pen Tool generated ones.
That being said, bring up the Layers panel, and create a total of six layers, which we will rename as follows:
- layer 1: stuart
- layer 2: sketch for stuart
- layer 3: kevin
- layer 4: sketch for kevin
- layer 5: bob
- layer 6: sketch for bob
Quick tip: I’ve colored all of my layers using the same green value for the sake of the tutorial, since it’s the easiest one to view when used to highlight your selected shapes (whether closed or open paths).
3. How to Draw Stuart
We’re going to start by drawing the tritagonist’s basic anatomic shapes, and then gradually add details until we have a version that feels ready enough to add shapes too. That being said, make sure you’re on the right layer (that would be the second one), and then lock all the other ones so that we can get started.
Step 1
With every drawing
project, we want to start by figuring out the anatomy of the character, and
we’ll do so by drawing the basic guideline for the head. We’re going to rely on
the Paintbrush Tool (B) and use one
of Illustrator’s default Calligraphic brushes (Brush Libraries Menu > Artistic >
Artistic_Calligraphic) with a 1 px blue
(#3994F7) Stroke to draw a simple
circle positioned towards the upper half of the underlying Artboard.
Step 2
Draw the face’s vertical guideline followed by the horizontal one, which we will position slightly over the head’s upper half as seen in the reference image. We’ll be using these lines later on to place the facial features, so make sure you portion them correctly.
Step 3
Use the length of the lower section of the head’s vertical guideline to determine the height of the character’s body, drawing it using another line segment.
Step 4
Separate the body’s upper section from its bottom one using another horizontal guideline, making sure to make the latter shorter.
Step 5
Delimit the body’s lower end using a second horizontal guideline.
Step 6
Connect the character’s head to its body using two vertical guidelines starting from the center of the circle’s outer edges, going all the way down to the third horizontal line.
Step 7
Create the guidelines for the hands using two curved lines, which we will position onto the side of the body, right between the circle and the second horizontal line.
Quick tip: As you can see, I’ve gone for a more behind-the-body approach, but you can feel free to draw them using any position you’d like, making the project more your own.
Step 8
Finally, draw the legs using two short diagonal lines ending each of them with a similar length horizontal one. Now, before you move on to the detailing process, make sure you select and group all of the blue lines together using the Control-G keyboard shortcut, so that you can quickly edit them if you find you need to later on.
Step 9
From this moment on,
we’re going to start adding details to the basic anatomic structure that we’ve
created, using red (#F46B3B) as our
Stroke color. That being said, make sure you switch your color and then
draw the outer section of the character’s eye goggle using a pretty large
circle.
Step 10
Add the goggle’s inner section followed by the actual eye, which as you can see has a little top-right cutout.
Step 11
Next, focus on the strap which has two smaller side sections, followed by two larger ones.
Step 12
Quickly draw the goggle’s little bolt heads using a couple of curved lines as seen in the reference image.
Step 13
Take a couple of moments and focus on the mouth, which is one of the facial features that will make the character stand out.
Step 14
Draw the lower section of the pants using a curved line positioned between the second and third horizontal guidelines.
Step 15
Add the pants’ upper section by drawing a nice curved line that goes all the way up to the head guideline’s lower edge.
Step 16
Take a couple of moments, and finish up the pants by drawing the center pocket followed by the two diagonal suspenders.
Step 17
Focus on the hands, by drawing the end sections of the gloves, followed by the actual hands which will go underneath the suspenders.
Step 18
Move on down towards the legs and quickly draw them making sure to add the circular shadow once you’re done.
Step 19
Finish off the sketch, by adding the little hair segments, making sure to select all of the red lines (Select > Same > Stroke Color) and then group (Control-G) them together before moving on to the illustrating process.
4. How to Illustrate Stuart
For the next few minutes, we’re going to recreate the character using basic geometric shapes, following the guidelines that we’ve just laid out. That being said, make sure you lock the current character’s sketch layer, and move down to the one underneath.
Step 1
Start out by covering up the main sections of the body using different shades of gray in order to know which shape is which. Take your time, and once you’re done, move on to the next step.
Quick Tip: if you feel that sketch lines are too distracting, you can always go back to their layer and lower their Opacity to something that feels better to work with.
Step 2
Once you’ve laid out the basic shapes for the character’s main composing sections, you can then start adding details such as the eye, mouth, hair, etc.
Step 3
At this point, we’re pretty much done working on the character, which means we can turn off the guidelines by hiding their layer, and then focus on adding a couple of finishing touches by casting a couple of down-facing shadows here and there.
Step 4
Finish off the character by swapping out the gray color scheme for a more vivid one using the values indicated below:
- head, body and arms:
#FFDA66 - eye and teeth:
#FFFFFF - hair, eye pupil, goggle band, mouth,
gloves, shoes, and circular shadow:
#2B3249 - front section of the pants:
#849ED8 - suspenders, side pockets, front pocket,
leg sections:
#667EB2 - goggle’s outer section:
#BDC9E5 - goggle’s inner section, side strap
elements, and bolt elements:
#7E8CA8 - strap side elements’ inner section:
#50617C - eye shadow:
#D3D3D3 - body shadows:
#FFB266 - pants pocket shadows:
#516A96
5. How to Draw Kevin
Assuming you’ve finished working on the first character, lock all its layers, and then move on up to the next one (that would be the fourth one) where we will start drawing our second minion.
Step 1
As we did with Stuart, start out by drawing the basic anatomic structure, only this time use a smaller circle for the head and a longer line for his body. Once you’re done, make sure you select and group (Control-G) each of the blue guide lines together before moving on to the next step.
Step 2
Once we’ve laid out our basic skeleton, we can start adding details to it, and we will do so by creating the character’s eyes and goggles.
Step 3
Draw the pants, making sure to end the upper section near the point where the right hand starts.
Step 4
Next, add the character’s mouth, hands, and legs.
Step 5
Finish off the sketch by adding the final details, making sure to select and group (Control-G) each of the red guidelines before moving on to the next part of the process.
6. How to Illustrate Kevin
For the next part, we’re going to recreate the character using basic geometric shapes as we did with Stuart, so make sure you lock the current character’s sketch layer, and move down to the one underneath.
Step 1
Cover up the main sections of the body using different shades of gray as seen in the reference image.
Step 2
Once you’ve laid out the basic shapes for the character’s main composing sections, you can then start adding details such as the eyes, mouth, hair, etc.
Step 3
At this point, we can turn off the guidelines, and then focus on adding a couple of finishing touches by casting a couple of down-facing shadows as we did with Stuart.
Step 4
Finish off the current character by swapping out the gray color scheme for a more vivid one using the values indicated below:
- head, body and arms:
#FFDA66 - eyes and teeth:
#FFFFFF - hair, eye pupils, goggle band, mouth,
gloves, shoes, and circular shadow:
#2B3249 - front section of the pants:
#849ED8 - suspenders, side pockets, front pocket,
leg sections:
#667EB2 - goggles' outer section:
#BDC9E5 - goggles' inner section, side strap
elements, and bolt elements:
#7E8CA8 - strap side elements’ inner section:
#50617C - eye shadows:
#D3D3D3 - body shadows:
#FFB266 - pants pocket shadows:
#516A96
7. How to Draw Bob
We are now down to our third and last Minion, so assuming you’ve positioned yourself onto the right layer (that would be the sixth one), let’s wrap things up.
Step 1
As we did with all the previous characters, start out by drawing the basic anatomic structure, making sure you select and group (Control-G) each of the blue guide lines together before moving on to the next step.
Step 2
Once we’ve laid out our basic anatomic structure, we can start adding details to it, and we will do so by creating the character’s eyes and goggles.
Step 3
Next, draw the pants since we’ll use them to position some of the other details.
Step 4
Take a couple of moments and draw Bob’s mouth, hands, and legs.
Step 5
Finish off the sketch by adding the final details, making sure to select and group (Control-G) each of the red guidelines before moving on to the last part of the process.
8. How to Illustrate Bob
As we did with all the other characters, we’re going to recreate Bob using basic geometric shapes, so make sure you lock the current character’s sketch layer, and move down to the one underneath.
Step 1
Start by covering up the main sections of the body using different shades of gray as seen in the reference image.
Step 2
Once you’ve laid out the basic shapes for the character’s main composing sections, you can then start adding details such as the eyes, mouth, hair, etc.
Step 3
Turn off the guidelines, and then focus on adding a couple of finishing touches by casting a couple of down-facing shadows as we did with the previous two characters.
Step 4
Finish off the current character, and with it the project itself, by swapping out the gray color scheme for a more vivid one using the values indicated below:
- head, body, and arms:
#FFDA66 - eyes and teeth:
#FFFFFF - hair, eye pupils, goggle band, mouth,
gloves, shoes, and circular shadow:
#2B3249 - front section of the pants:
#849ED8 - suspenders, side pockets, front pocket,
leg sections:
#667EB2 - goggles' outer section:
#BDC9E5 - goggles' inner section, side strap
elements, and bolt elements:
#7E8CA8 - strap side elements’ inner section:
#50617C - eye shadows:
#D3D3D3 - body shadows:
#FFB266 - pants pocket shadows:
#516A96
It’s a Wrap!
Great work, fellow Minion lovers! I hope you’ve enjoyed the tutorial, and most importantly had fun while recreating these little guys.
