Designing Your Own Oni
Learn to create a terrifying and authentic Japanese demon character. From choosing the right horns to mastering a menacing pose, you will build a legendary monster from the ground up.
Like Duolingo, but for Designing Your Own Oni. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
54 levels across 4 sections, about 108 minutes end to end, roughly 22 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Make Your First Monster, Adding Personality and Power, Setting the Scene, and The Legends Behind the Mask. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Designing Your Own Oni
- Triangles mimic sharp objects like teeth or claws found in nature
- Fill the character design with solid black to remove detail
- Angular shapes create visual tension and discomfort for the viewer
- Evaluate if the character's personality and threat level are clear from the outline alone
- The correct sequence of the silhouette test in character design
- Top-heavy proportions signal a character that can crush opponents
- Sharp angles are universally associated with piercing or cutting
- A strong silhouette ensures a character is recognizable at a distance
- Monster design relies on 'readability' before facial details are added
- Mapping specific proportions to their psychological impact
- The importance of the silhouette in monster recognition
- Exaggerating the trapezius and shoulder width creates a sense of mass
- Tapering the waist down from a massive chest emphasizes upper-body power
- Identifying 'top-heavy' design choices that make an Oni look unstoppable
- Single central horns suggest primitive beastliness
- Symmetrical horns suggest discipline or status
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Designing Your Own Oni the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
When starting a 'silhouette test,' what is the first thing you should do to your character drawing?
Get it right to open this lesson and 53 more in the app.
How to learn Designing Your Own Oni, step by step
Go in order. 54 short levels across 4 sections, about 1 hour 48 minutes in all, five minutes a day.
- 1
Make Your First Monster
- The Basic Shape of Fear
- Picking Your Signature Horns
- Giving Your Oni a Scary Face
- Choosing the Right Skin Color
- Drawing the Classic Iron Club
- 2
Adding Personality and Power
- Muscles and Body Types
- Designing Fierce Eyes
- Adding Fangs and Claws
- The Tiger-Skin Wardrobe
- 3
Setting the Scene
- Dynamic Poses for Battle
- Using Shadows for Drama
- Adding Smoke and Fire Effects
- Creating a Spooky Background
- Showing Scale Against Humans
- Expressing Different Emotions
- 4
The Legends Behind the Mask
- Where Oni Stories Come From
- The Meaning of Different Colors
- Famous Oni in Folklore
4 sections · 18 units · 54 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Questions about Designing Your Own Oni
How do I learn Designing Your Own Oni?
Go in order: start with Make Your First Monster, then Adding Personality and Power, then Setting the Scene, then The Legends Behind the Mask. On Tomo that's 54 short levels, about 1 hour 48 minutes in all, played five minutes a day. Start free and play the first level in under a minute.
Is there a Duolingo-style app for Designing Your Own Oni?
Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. Designing Your Own Oni is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.
Is the Designing Your Own Oni course free?
Yes. Designing Your Own Oni is playable on Tomo's free plan, which doesn't expire. No credit card, no waitlist. Download the app and start your first lesson.
How long does it take to learn Designing Your Own Oni?
54 levels across 4 sections, about 1 hour 48 minutes of play in total. It's built for five minutes a day, so you finish it a little at a time instead of all at once.
Do I need any background to start Designing Your Own Oni?
No. It's pitched at a beginner level, so it starts where you are and builds up. If you can tap a phone, you can start.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Designing Your Own Oni is taught in the Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Designing Your Own Oni today.
Download Tomo, search Designing Your Own Oni, and play your first lesson in under a minute.