Watch Me Draw the LionRider

This real-time demonstration covers the complete process of drawing and coloring a character design in Photoshop. The subject is a LionRider, an existing character being refined for greater appeal and personality. The session runs ninety minutes, providing an unedited look at how professional character illustration actually unfolds.

The approach here differs from a typical concept design workflow where the goal is generating many different versions. Instead, this session starts with an existing design and refines it through repeated passes until the character feels right while remaining easy and fun to draw. The focus on design refinement often takes longer than a normal drawing because the goal is getting the costume and personality to land correctly.

Character design for personal projects operates differently from professional concept work. In a professional context, the priority is rougher exploration focused on generating ideas quickly. For personal characters, the priority shifts to making an existing design more appealing, easier to reproduce, and more enjoyable to draw repeatedly.

This distinction matters because it changes how time gets spent. Rather than producing twenty quick variations, the session involves drawing the same character multiple times with adjustments to costume details, proportions, and personality cues. Each pass reveals what works and what needs changing. The process is iterative and patient rather than rapid and exploratory.

Real-time tutorials reveal something that edited content obscures: professional illustration takes genuine time and patience. Even at a pace considered fast by industry standards, a character illustration with background and color requires sustained focus across the full session. The process is often meditative and thoughtful rather than frantic.

Working in a single unedited sitting creates natural pacing. There are moments of confident mark-making and moments of stepping back to evaluate. Problems emerge gradually and get addressed through adjustment rather than dramatic revision. This honest pacing demonstrates that skilled work still requires patience, and that the chilled-out rhythm of sustained drawing is itself part of the craft.