LÖVE

does anyone have any advice for drawing isometric characters??
or maybe just a link to a tutorial.

I suggest using GIMP.
However that depends on what kind of characters you want to draw. Do you want pixel art characters? Or realistic ones? In the latter case I suggest using some 3d-rendering program. My experience is that it is really not easy to draw own sprites.

So if you want to use sprites from the internet:
You might also be able to just use normal 2d-characters. If the images are small, usually it is impossible to tell if the character is seen straight from the side or from above.

For isometric sprites, try googling "8-way sprites".

Yeah I use gimp for my stuff and I understand isometric perspective, just can't wrap my head around drawing pixel characters in isometric . I might have a good look at the project zomboid ones.

While not character-specific, these may prove helpful:
http://wwww.drububu.com/tutorial/ (look at how he draws the teapot)
http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/techni ... photoshop/ (look at how he draws the log and the squirrel)
http://www.miniwizardstudios.com/iso-chars.asp (not a tutorial, but look at how he drew the characters)

On top of that, I would just suggest you get really good at drawing simpler squareish shapes in isometric, then move into drawing other fundamental shapes like cylinders and spheres. Once you get good at that, you should be able to combine that knowledge with basic knowledge on drawing characters in perspective.

Here are some useful pixel art tutorials (though there are tons of other great ones):
http://www.natomic.com/hosted/marks/mpat/
http://www.pixelprospector.com/the-big- ... tutorials/
http://brandontreb.com/10-Great-Pixel-A ... our-Games/
http://www.andysowards.com/blog/2012/80 ... tutorials/
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/pixel-art-tutorials/

Also, it may prove helpful to watch some timelapse videos of other people pixeling on YouTube. That will give you a general idea of the workflow.

PS: Also, for pixel art, I REALLY like GraphicsGale. It's Windows-only, but there's a free version with pretty much all of the features you should need.