Character Design Sketch

When designing a comic book character it’s important to pay specific attention to how the head is going to look. The reason for this is that out of all the other points of attention present within your character design, it’s the face of a character that’ll be seen first.

​

It draws in the attention of the viewer as their eyes connect with the eyes of your character, to establish an emotional connection on some level. As people, we intuitively do this; we’re programmed to search for emotional meaning within someone else’s facial expressions.

​

We do this because it gives us insight into who they are; they’re state of being, temperament and personality before they even say a word. In some instances what they’re thinking about might also be implied through the physical expression of their facial features.

​

Even more importantly than that however is that we have the potent ability to recognize faces. Which is why when it comes to your comic book characters, in order to indeed make them memorable, careful thought needs to be put into the proportions of their face, the size of the eyes, nose, mouth and ears; and where they’re positioned in relation to one another, as well as the shape of the head itself.

​

Of course the hair style and color also plays an important role in giving a character a distinct look but if we’re talking about the face specifically, it’s really the head shape and proportions of the facial features that leave a lasting impression on the viewer’s recollection of our characters.

​

So in this drawing demo we’ll zoom in on the Bio Mechanical Engineer that we drew up last week, to articulate his facial structure, features and hair style to a higher degree of refinement.

​

We’ll start out by laying down the initial foundations for the head views we’ll be drawing up, plotting out their basic structure, size and placement. Then we’ll draw in the facial features and outline the head’s shape over the top.

​

What I’m trying to capture in this refined rendering of the original character concept, is a unique likeness that I’ll be able to replicate from one panel to the next when I begin drawing him into an actual comic book. So I’m paying particular attention to the measurements of his head, and where the facial features sit in order to accurately reproduce the likeness we’ve established here later on.

​

This is key to being able to draw the same character repeatedly, and have them be recognizable throughout the comic book narrative. In fact, it’s the determiner that every successful portrait artist uses to capture the uncanny likeness of their subject.

 

I hope you enjoy the video! Thanks for watching!

-Clayton

 

Software Used: Manga Studio If you like the video, show your support by commenting, sharing or subscribing.

​

Comic Art Community - https://www.howtodrawcomics.net/comic-art-community/
How to Draw Comics .NET - http://www.howtodrawcomics.net/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/howtodrawcomics/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/howtodrawcomics
Twitter - https://twitter.com/howtodrawcomics
Tumblr - http://howtodrawcomics.tumblr.com/
Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/howtodrawcomics/