If you’ve ever scrolled through the Brawl Stars subreddit or TikTok fan pages and seen incredible custom art of Leon, Spike, or Shelly and thought you could never make something that good, you’re wrong. I’ve been drawing Brawl Stars fan art for 4 years, sharing my work to the official community and getting thousands of positive comments, and I started with nothing but a 50-cent pencil and a lined school notebook. I’m breaking down exactly how to draw Brawl Stars characters in this guide, even if you’ve never finished a full sketch in your life.
How to Draw Brawl Stars Characters: Start With Core Shape Basics
When you're first learning how to draw Brawl Stars characters, skipping the shape blocking step is the number one mistake new artists make. Every single Brawl Stars character is built on simple, easy to replicate basic shapes, and you don’t need to jump into fine details first. El Primo is just a large square with a smaller circle for his head, Spike is a spiky circle with thin stick arms, and Meg is a rounded rectangle stacked with a smaller circle for her face. Start with light, erasable pencil strokes so you can adjust proportions without smudging or ruining your paper.
Don’t worry about making lines perfect at this stage. I still sketch my shape blocks so lightly I can barely see them, because I know I’ll trace over them later once I’m happy with the layout. If you’re struggling to get proportions right, hold your reference photo up next to your sketch every 30 seconds to check if the head is too big, or the arms are too long. Small adjustments at this stage save you hours of erasing later.
Pick the Right Character for Your Skill Level First
One of the worst mistakes I made when I started was trying to draw Mortis for my first ever sketch. I spent 3 hours erasing and redrawing his long coat, hat, and scythe before I crumpled the paper up and gave up for a week. You don’t need to tackle super complex characters first; build your confidence with easier options first, then work your way up to more detailed skins and brawlers.
These are my top three picks for beginner artists to start with:
- Spike: No complicated facial features, just a round spiky body and simple cactus arms, perfect for practicing basic shape work without pressure.
- El Primo: Large, blocky proportions, minimal fine details, and his iconic mask only has 2 eye holes to draw, so you don’t have to nail facial expressions right away.
- Shelly: Simple humanoid proportions, no over-the-top accessories outside of her shotgun, which is just a rectangle with a rounded barrel you can draw in 10 seconds.
Once you’ve drawn 2-3 of these easy characters, you can move up to mid-tier options like Colt, Leon, or Bibi, then eventually tackle more complex brawlers like Byron, Belle, or Ruffs once you’re comfortable with basic shapes and proportions.
Add Distinct Brawl Stars Details Without Overcomplicating Things
One of the biggest mistakes I see new artists make when learning how to draw Brawl Stars characters is trying to copy every single tiny detail from the reference photo. You don’t need to draw every stitch on El Primo’s wrestling belt, or every little spike on Crow’s jacket for your drawing to be recognizable. The Brawl Stars art style is intentionally simple, so you only need to add a few key details to make your art look official.
Thicken the outline around the edges of the character's body to make it pop, just like the in-game art style. If you’re drawing a skin, you only need 1-2 signature details to make it clear which variant you’re using: Pirate Colt just needs a bandana and eye patch, and Virus 8-Bit only needs a few glitch lines across his body to be instantly recognizable. I once drew a default Crow without the tiny feather details on his shoulders, and no one noticed until I pointed it out in my post caption, so don’t stress over small stuff.
It’s also okay to tweak details to fit your style. I draw all my brawlers with slightly bigger heads than the official art because I prefer a more chibi look, and no one has ever complained. The point of fan art is to have fun, not make an exact copy of the in-game model.
Polish Your Drawing to Look Like Official Fan Art
Once you’re happy with your sketch and outline, you can add color and finishing touches to make your art stand out. Use the official Brawl Stars color palette as your reference so your colors match the in-game style perfectly, no weird off-brand yellows for Spike or muted blues for Colt. You can find official color swatches for every brawler on community forums if you don’t want to guess by looking at a reference photo.
Shading for Brawl Stars art is super simple, you don’t need fancy gradient blending skills. Pick a light source direction (left, right, top, or bottom) and add one solid layer of darker shadow on the opposite side of each shape on your character. That’s exactly how the official art is shaded, so it will make your drawing look polished even if you’re a total beginner. Don't forget to add the small, signature quirk of the character: Like Leon’s lollipop, Piper’s little bow on her hat, or Buzz’s lifeguard whistle. Those tiny details make your drawing instantly recognizable, even if you simplified other parts of the design.
If you’re drawing digitally, use a 3px brush for your main outlines to get that consistent thickness the official art uses. If you’re drawing on paper, use a fine-tip black marker to trace over your pencil lines once you’re happy with the sketch, then erase all the leftover pencil marks for a clean finish.
You don’t need to be a professional artist to make fan art you’re proud of. The best part of learning how to draw Brawl Stars characters is that you can tweak the style to match your own, whether you prefer super cute chibi versions, more realistic takes, or silly crossover designs with other games. I still have my first crumpled Spike drawing taped to my desk to remind me how far I’ve come, and yours will get better with every sketch you make. Grab your pencil, pull up a reference photo of your main, and get drawing today.