What do they teach you in drawing classes?

I need help drawing my character?

• I'm drawing the characters that I write about in my books. I drew one of them and I'd appreciate a little critique. Please don't be mean, I worked hard on it, I just need some constructive criticism because I don't have much experience and I really want it to work out. Here's the link to the picture: http://tinypic.com/r/2vhvdhc/5 Is the shading off? How do you know exactly what to shade? are there any free online classes that teach shading techniques? My mom told me it looked 2-D and kind of flat, how do I fix that? Is there anything else that can be improved? Did I pull off the emotionless expression? How do I fix it if I didn't? How can I take this drawing and edit it on the computer? Are there any free programs that will let me do that, say something for animation? where i can add color? an answer to any of these questions would be greatly appreciated.

• Answer:

  Hi from France ♫ For shade, just imagine you have a lamp or the sun.. Then you determine which part you want to see lighted...Your mom is right, more it's the light and the shadow that will make your drawing not flat. For create emotions, just change the eyebrows, put them like this for example : ^ ^, or a little less .. Depends the emotion you want to see on your character. You can modify it with paint, after you scanned your drawing.. I think Paint is free... Have a nice day Catherine