I’ve found Inkscape and Paint.net to be great tools for image creation, partially owing to the good balance of features and usability that these programs offer. They are also completely free, and run well on older hardware.

If you plan on getting into 3D modelling, then these tools are especially useful to have, because you can develop ideas on your own computer, and then, as is the case for many learners, go and use a college computer with Maya installed. The Maya Personal Learning Edition is only of limited use, because it outputs scenes in a file format that isn’t readable by the full version of Maya. And likewise the Maya PLE cannot read files outputted by Maya.

Even if you’re not into modelling, character design is still a great thing to do. They don’t have to be masterpieces, though admittedly some people do make them so. There are a lot of community sites out there, which offer advice. But don’t be afraid to try out your own ideas, or to do something which doesn’t conform to an existing look, like those characterised by Pixar and Disney.

A final word on Inkscape. One of the reasons its so useful for this kind of work, is because by using the bezier curve and straight line tool, you can get a lot of control over the quality of the line work in your piece. The image can then be exported as a bit map, which can be edited using Paint.net, which has a feature set similar to Photoshop.

So go and design some characters – you never know they might end up in an episode of Dr Who one day. But remember to draw with a coloured pencil or pen because this will result in a clearer scan, with more defined lines than if a graphite pencil is used.

There are some great examples on this website:
http://www.fengzhudesign.com/