Follow along to create a friendly cartoon character from basic shapes. This tutorial covers pen tool line art, flat color fills, and simple shading — ideal for beginners new to digital illustration.

Step 1: Sketch with Basic Shapes

Create 600×800px canvas with white background. On a new layer, use the Ellipse Tool to draw a circle for the head and rounded rectangles for the body. Keep shapes on separate layers for easy editing.

Step 2: Pen Tool Line Art

Create a new layer "Line Art" above shapes. Use the Pen Tool (P) to trace clean outlines around your shapes. Set stroke to 3px black. Hide the shape guide layers when done.

Step 3: Flat Color Fills

Add new layers beneath Line Art for each color region — skin, shirt, pants, hair. Use the Paint Bucket or selection + fill. Choose bright, saturated colors typical of cartoon style.

Step 4: Simple Shading

On each color layer, use a soft round brush at 20% opacity with a darker shade of the base color. Paint shadows on the underside of forms. Add highlight spots with white at 15% opacity.

Step 5: Facial Features and Details

Draw eyes as white ovals with black pupils and small white catchlights. Add a simple curved line for the mouth. Optional: add rosy cheeks with a soft pink brush at 30% opacity.

That's it! You've completed this tutorial. Experiment with the techniques and share your results with the Designstacks community.