CHARACTERS

Creating a character is an exercise of many subtle details. We may concentrate on the face, and through a series of tips, follow a system to give birth to thousands of different characters.

But it also important to think of the psychological part, usually related to the facial features.

 

First, remeber that human faces have a special external shape. it may be a square, a rectangle, a circle, a pear, a potato, a triangle, ... See how these shapes can become real people:

 

We already have the external shape. Funny, isn't it? It's very important to observe people in the street, in cafes, on trains, anywhere. And to think "What external shape has this got?" We all fit in some of them.

 

WE DRAW A VERTICAL LINE TO DIVIDE OUR FACE INTO TWO. THEN THREE HORIZONTAL LINES:

1. EYES AND EYEBROWS

2. THE POINT OF THE NOSE

3. THE MOUTH

VÍDEO EXPLAINING THE PROCESS
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE THE PROCESS, STEP BY STEP

EXPERIMENT: Try to draw one character following the lines. Then draw the same character again, but this time changing the heights of the lines. Same eyes, same nose, same moth...but different heights of the lines. The new character will be a different person!

 
XOGO: O DICTADO ILUSTRADO
Download the PDF version of these pattern. Then, somebody has to read the text, like a dictation. What you have to do is todraw at the same time that person is reading.

 

Lucy is not a woman like the ones we know. This is so, because she lived more than three million years ago. She a primitive woman.

Therefore, her brain is small. She has strong, bushy eyrebrows. They are powerful, up there. She looks as if she had only one, actually!

Her eyes are also very big and open. Very expressive. She is a very curious woman, and she likes learning from everything. Besides, there are many dangers in her life, and she must be attentive to any tiny detail.

Her nose, of course, is wide and thick, over an open mouth, full of huge teeth. She has a happy look, because she has probably found the male she likes.

Two big hair ears are on both sides of a hairy face. Hair covers all her face, from top to bottoms.

 

Tom is a man of science. He spends his days in his lab, although sometimes he has to go out, for some paleontological research. His job consists of studying the fossil remains of primitive humans. And today he is working with Lucy's remains.

He has got a bog skull, because he is a homo sapiens. His eyebrows, short and thins, show surprise. Below them two open expressive eyes, show he is enjoying his work. His sight is tired because of so much computer screens, and so much reading. That's why he is wearing glasses. They are very small and round, very discreet.

His glasses lay on a long thin pointed nose. if we go down, we will see his face, small, clsed, but with a slight smile. Around it, a tiny moustache, and a very subtile goatee.

Tom is a bit absent-minded, and he leaves home fery often wihtout combing his hair. Today his short straight hair is a bit messy. He is very distracted, more worried for his discoveries than for his aspect.

Tom is thoughtful. His mind cannot help thinking of what Lucy's life could have been like. He would love to have met her.


 

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTER

 

Creating a character's face is not enough. We must think of what is behind: his personality.

There is a method for it, already invented by the Greek Philosopher Aristotle: the creation of couples of characters. Being who are complementary, because they are different, because they help each other make sense, ...

Many popular comic characters are like that: Asterix and Obelix, Tintin and Milu, ...

 

PRACTISE

  • Join a friend, as drawer and scriptwriter. Design (both physically and psychologically) a couple of complementary characters. invent a name for them, one profession, a working place...one life.
  • Whe you go to a restaurant, a museum, a trip on a plane, etc. take your sketch book with you. Observe people going back and forth. And then trap their faces, their features. Draw them.