Felix leaned over the fresh sheet of paper. His hand moved. He drew a doorway. Not a real one—a cartoon doorway, the kind with a curved top and a knob in the middle of the air. Then he drew a key.

Using thick, bold outlines to make characters pop.

Use sites like ArtStation or Behance to showcase your character sheets and finished illustrations. Final Thoughts

Felix chose home. He packed his desk—a coffee-stained lightbox, a dozen worn-out #2 pencils, a single red eraser nibbled to a nub. And there, in the bottom drawer, he found the very first drawing of Milo. 1974. The mouse had a crooked smile and mismatched eyes. Felix smiled back. “You were never mighty, were you, kid? Just stubborn.”