Responces

After looking at some character design artists and browsing for inspiration of Pinterest, I set myself the task of sketching a completely random character from scratch in a few mins.

So I put pen to paper with no plan and drew the first thing that came to mind.

The first one I drew turned out to be a horned fantasy-monster, somewhat human in appearance. His purpose would be to patrol the forest at night and look for trespassers. He would wrap vines around his victims from his hands and bring them to whoever. His eyes would glow in the dark and his body, covered in moss and stone, blends perfectly in with the woods. I named him a Nocturnal- This took 10 mins.

The next started off looking like something from Star Wars, and it started to take the form of a robot, so I gave it some wires and panels. Perhaps this being lives in the same place as the nocturnal and functions as a robot police officer. There are many of them built with the purpose of keeping the area safe. (10 minute drawing). The second robot was a robot but built from scrap metal, maybe from pieces of discarded police robots? This doesn't look professional, so it could be hand made by someone who found and recycled a proper one.

I created a tiger with antlers and spikes (may live in cold conditions) - 5 mins, a cute flying dragon, pond giant, and jellyfish-fish hybrid also in 5 mins. In 1 minute I create a more cartoon looking character- an angry cat maybe? And finally another 10 minute sketch of a rocky monster that lives in caves and has large claws and tusks.

I really enjoyed this simple activity and it helped ready me for character building. I liked the unpredictability of what a sketch would become, Its as if they designed themselves

I would like to further this idea by making one in the style of one of my artists and digitising it.

This time I started by sketching a quick frame of a man and exaggerated his features. I tried to keep to the style of the Disney concept sketches and model sheets. I gave him a small head, broad shoulders and a very muscular body. I sketched a facial expression, This drove where I took the rest of this character. I decided he was going to be a very loud, lively and vain jock pulling a cheesy grin. This felt like a comical cartoon character so I gave him some long flowing hair blowing in the wind. When it came to adding colour I made him blonde with a typical vibrant summer beach outfit. I kept the colours simple and blocky, with basic shadows.

Here I drew a few simple poses and lines of actions next to them. I learned about this while researching. "Making the line of action curved, as opposed to drawing it as a straight line, gives your character's pose more force and attitude which, in turn, aids in making your character's poses more visually interesting to the viewer." -helpful!

Ideas from this response:

look into facial expressions
find tutorials on adding colour & shadows
try sketching the opposite of this character?

Here I drew a character with the opposite features to the surfer dude- he was short and buff whereas this man is tall and skinny. I over exaggerated his limbs, hands and ears.

This is a quick age test to understand how a simple illustrated character would alter as they get older.

14 yrs old

30 yrs old

60 yrs old

notes:

younger= smoother jawline, less pointed chin, large eyes, smooth nose, few shadows
older= more shaped face, smaller eyes, defined nose, cheekbones and more shadows
old= same as older version + lines around mouth and eyes and cheeks. Anywhere where skin would fall. Also eyes become more hooded.

Prince Canary

New artist! click to view