Start exercising with basic shapes and shades. Then follow the unicorn construction from sketch to inking.
Drawing Cartoon Mythical Creatures with Tim Hodge
Design unicorns, mermaids, dragons, gryphons and more.
Join Tim Hodge for a playful, step-by-step course in cartoon mythical creature design.
You’ll explore sketching, inking, watercolor, Procreate, and the creative thinking behind building believable fantasy characters.
Beginner Friendly
Drawing + Watercolor
Includes Procreate
What You’ll Learn
Build fantasy creatures from simple shapes, real animal reference, gesture, personality, and imagination.
Tools Used
Pencil, ink, watercolor, lightbox techniques, scanned artwork, and digital color in Procreate.
Course Journey
Start with approachable exercises, then move through unicorns, mermaids, gryphons, minotaurs, centaurs, and dragons.
Meet Tim Hodge
Learn from a veteran animation artist and storyteller with a fun, accessible teaching style for artists of all levels.
Lessons
02 Mermaid Illustration
Improve your creativity and learn tips to use a lightbox to transfer your drawing with ink.
03 Mermaid Watercolor
Learn watercolor behavior and proceed to add color to your inked drawing.
04 More Mermaid Fun!
Tim shows a brush pen and watercolor combination, inviting you to be disruptive and create new mermaid designs.
05 Even More Mermaids
Go through two more mermaid studies with different watercolor approaches.
06 Drawing a Gryphon
Study eagle and lion parts to make up this mythical creature.
07 Painting a Gryphon
Conclude your artwork by adding watercolor to your inked drawing.
08 Making a Minotaur
Learn what it is and how to build a line of action for your characters, applying it to the anatomy of your minotaur.
09 Drawing a Centaur
Draw a traditional centaur and explore with Tim the possibilities of the elements to design a new creature using crosshatching.
10 Coloring a Centaur
Learn Tim’s approach to Procreate and add color to your ink drawing.
11 Drawing Dragons!
Explore different scenarios to create a dragon, according to the character’s personality.
12 Coloring a Dragon in Procreate
Add color, shadows and lights to your scanned drawing, by using different layer modes in Procreate.
13 Coloring Another Dragon
Continue playing with the colors of your composition on Procreate.
14 Animal Mix-Up Game!
Learn how to use the tool in your bonus materials to bring new creatures to life. Share your artwork with #CreatureArtTeacher #TimHodge