One of the most popular assets sold on Creative Market, Etsy and other marketplaces is the Character Creation Kit, also called an illustration library or collection. The popularity of these mix-and-match collections containing vector, flat design people illustrations began with the introduction of Humaaans by Pablo Stanley. He introduced his free for personal and commercial use illustration library in 2018. Since then, the popularity has grown to the point where you see vector people in everything including TV commercials, websites and especially emails.

I've noticed these kits for sale on Creative Market over the past few years, as they are hard to miss. You can find kits not only containing vector people but also vector animals, monsters and more.

So, just what do we find in a creation kit? Well, what's inside depends on the purpose or theme for the kit. At first glance, these kits look complicated to design, because of the large number of individual graphics. But after studying these kits, you will realize that many of the graphics are variations of one graphic. For example, you have one hair style with several hair colors or one character with several skin tones.

Most of these kits are theme based, which makes it easier to find the perfect kit for your needs. The graphics, such as clothes, backdrops and furniture, follow this theme. For example, there are kits for the office setting, maternity, school, yoga, wedding, avatars, sports, age group, holidays, Covid-19 and more. Prices for these kits vary, depending on the contents. But I can say that it is time consuming to create these kits.

After a little research, I made a list of the most common contents. As the goal is to create a unique character, you can build yours piece by piece.

• Pre-assembled Characters - a quick resource or starting point for your design


• Faces - usually several shapes and skin tones from which to choose


• Eyes (in pairs) - open, closed, several expressions, emotions


• Eyebrows (in pairs) - thick, thin, several expressions


• Mouth - closed, open, tiny to large, tongue showing, several expressions


• Hair Style - male, female, several styles in several hair colors


• Arm and Hand - several poses, several skin tones


• Legs and Feet - several poses, several skin tones


• Hands - several hand gestures, several skin tones


• Bodies - front, side, rear, half turn, several sizes and skin tones


• Clothing - male and female, occupation or theme based


• Build-a-scene - theme based, backgrounds (ie walls, window, etc), props (table, chair, computer, mobile phone, suitcase, sports equipment (skateboard, tennis racket), general (speech bubble, signs)