How to draw complex characters with a cross. "creation and development of a character's image"

The pleasure of creating a cartoon character is immeasurable. Creating and developing a character involves more than just drawing their figure: each character has its own shape, personality traits and features. It's great if you're already familiar with the basics of head proportions and depicting emotions. But this knowledge is useless if you don't know how to draw a character's torso. The artist must take all of these details into account in order to create a character that will look believable in the eyes of the audience.

There are several in animation various styles for characters such as "chump" and "bully". Want to know more about them? This is what I will teach you in this lesson.

1. How to Get Started

By the way, the steps we will take today are very simple. First, draw the basic shape of the figure and then add features and other body parts. This is a procedure that should be followed regardless of whether you are drawing a person or an animal, or even an object that you decide to animate (for example, make a smiling cup).

Every drawing you make will depend on your work during the sketching stage. At this stage, you should improve your sketch until you are satisfied with the final result.

Once you've decided on the proportions, the next step is to develop expression in your body movements, arms and legs. Just one hand position can tell a whole story.

In short, there are no secrets in the character creation process. 95% of artists create characters, and they do it by going through certain stages because it makes the process much easier!

2. Proportions

Proportions are one of the most important factors to take into account when creating characters. The artist must remember the relative proportions of the body parts, because on the basis of this we determine structural features our characters. For example, a bully has a warlike character, so he will have a small head, but his chest will be very impressive! His arms and legs are strong and well defined, as are his large cheekbones. In contrast, the modest character is based on the proportions of a child, with a larger head compared to the body. And all this in round shapes! Other parts such as forehead and big eyes are responsible for determining the fragility of the individual. And so on...

Animation studios, for the most part, use rounded shapes to gauge a character's height. For example: A child's head is usually larger than other parts. But an adult character has different proportions, which depend on the gender and physical form of the hero.

When designing (or animating) a character's body, it is recommended to sketch on separate sheets of paper. This makes it possible to have before your eyes a sample of its proportions when sketching other poses and actions.

3. The body is a pear!

A common practice among designers is to use a pear shape - or similar objects - to construct the body shape, due to common associations. In fact, this is a common technique in animation studios, as several different artists can work with one character, and at the same time they must withstand correct proportions.

The example above shows the effectiveness of this technique. Using one template, you can draw several different characters! The reason why pattern-based drawing is used is because it creates an instant association in a person. Especially in the case of children, when everything should be simplified to make it easier to understand. Drawing the body in the shape of a pear allows us to maintain a dynamic look and makes our hero more interesting!

4. Adding a Skeleton

Now that we know how to define the shape, we need to define the structure of the skeleton. If you are drawing any character in cartoon style, you need to understand the basic differences in muscle and skeletal structure for different categories such as cats, birds and humans. This knowledge is important and leading to determining the position of the hero's joints, such as elbows and knees.

When it comes to animation, it's important to remember that we have to tell a story in every scene we create. This doesn't matter as much if we're talking about photographs or a realistic image. For the reason that people are amazingly able to hide their real motives.

In animation everything is different. Your character's physical condition and posture should be easy to read without any dialogue or setting. It is for this reason that it is so fascinating and charming art style!

To sum it up:

• Estimate your character's proportion using round shapes;
• Summarize the body using the famous pear rule;
• Follow the guide lines that show the basic position of the creatures;
• Finish building your character by adding the final elements to the basic structure you've built.

5. Pear Turn

Does the pear rule apply to all the characters we create? Not always. If we flip this shape, we will give a feeling of strength and power to our hero! Look at the examples below:

Another interesting analogy that characters can be based on is objects that resemble certain physical forms, as in the example below:

6. Character Blockhead

A "boob character" is one that walks on two legs (even animals) and looks stupid, clumsy, and generally lazy.

This character is often portrayed as a coward. They usually try to stay out of trouble than everyone else. He can also be presented as a nerd or a frustrated guy.

There is a template that can be followed when creating this type of character, but it is not a defining rule, and can vary depending on the character of the hero.

• The heads are thinner;
• Large noses (or muzzles, if an animal);
• Big teeth;
• Narrow shoulders;
• Virtually no chin;
• Pear rule (never upside down, always up!).

Basically, these are the basic elements needed to create a dummy. Play around with it until you perfect the technique enough to apply it to any character.

Not all animals that walk like humans are "boobs." Many of them have a sarcastic or ironic tone. As an example of such characters, we can recall Woody Woodpecker and Bugs Bunny.

7. Let's Apply Our Knowledge: Creating a Heroic Character

Now we will draw a character together based on what we have learned. Let's get started!

Step 1

I'll start by drawing as a very rough sketch. Don't be afraid to sketch until you find the perfect proportions. It's like a game!

We started by drawing the head and body using round shapes:

Notice that we determined the proportions of our character without much effort.

Step 2

Now let's add lines showing the position of the skeleton joints. Notice that we are giving our hero a common pose where the body weight is transferred to one leg.

It is very important to mark the pelvic area in a bowl shape because this will make it easier to see the movement. This movement in the hips will add dynamics to the pose.

Step 3

Great! Now let's add facial features and muscles for our hero.

To build muscle, you need to have a basic knowledge of anatomy. Otherwise, it will be difficult for you to properly add volume in the places where it is needed.

Step 4

Once the general structure is determined, we can add clothing.

Great! Our hero is finished! By adding a costume and some great accessories, we achieved a great result. Can you tell a story with this picture?

Great Job, You Done It!

Well, that's all! We went over the process of drawing a character's body in a cartoon style. Moreover, we learned to use round and oval shapes to shape the character's body. We also learned the differences that make up the heroic/strong/bully type and the helpless/fragile type, and how to apply the punching bag technique to achieve these results. And finally, we discovered how to apply the boob technique to people and animals. And to top it all off, we created a heroic character from scratch!

Are you already convinced that you can draw cartoon character from head to toe? I'm looking forward to meeting him! Share your drawings below, and if you still have any questions, I will be glad to answer them in the comments.

Children are the main audience for watching various kinds of cartoons. A good cartoonist is one who can extract the main features of an object or person and simplify them to attract a child's attention. Masters such as Walt Disney, Hanna and Barbera, Chuck Jones, Jim Henson, Walter Lantz and many others, by studying children's opinions and perceptions, achieved the charm of the whole world with their magical and eternal characters. In this lesson we will look at how to easily and correctly draw cartoon characters, which both children and adults will be delighted with.

The final version will look like this:

Lesson details:

• Complexity: Average
• Estimated completion time: 2 hours

Understanding Human Perception

Man is a creature who has very interesting feature- we can transform parts that form a very complex structure or object into a fairly simple form.

Can you tell that the two images below represent the same object?

It may seem strange that you can look at an image and say it's a car.

What happens to most people, except artists, who cannot retrieve from their memory all the details of a car, the appearance of a dog, or the facial features of a child? They begin to associate very simple and primitive shapes with specific features of each object. So, for example, how many children came home from school with a piece of paper like that in their hand and said, “This is Mom and Dad!”?

You don't want to draw like that, do you? If you don't want to, let's pick up a pencil and start drawing!

1. Creating your first character

The basic shape of a cartoon shape will be a circle. A circle is all it takes. From the circle you can determine the basic proportions of the character's head.

Draw vertical and horizontal lines that intersect in the center of the circle, as in the picture below:

Step 1

We draw oval-shaped eyes with a slight slope on the sides. Necessaryleave a gap between the eyes about the same size as the eye.

Step 2

At the top of the eye ovals, lightly mark the character’s eyelashes. Draw above the eyelasheseyebrows that convey a kind of surprise. Draw the shape of the eyebrows that you get, in the future you will adapt to your own style.

Draw the pupils so that they are centered (this is a very effective tactic used by cartoonists to make characters look more likable).

Advice: To give more life eyes, you can draw a small line under them to simulate wrinkles.This is another very interesting tactic that gives a special flavor to the character’s facial expressions.

Step 3

Now the most interesting point lesson. It is at this stage that we will determine what our character will be: thin, fat, young, old. Our character will be young.

Drawing the jaw:

Step 4

The nose will be from the front. In order not to use a lot of details, let's draw it in general outline. Quite often the nose is drawn in detailon one side of the face due to the fact that the light falls on only one side.

Step 5

Our character is a child. Making a mouth - something simple and with an expression of innocence.

Please note that cartoon style Children, regardless of gender, have a fairly simple mouth shape without lips.

Step 6

The shape of the ears is quite simple.

Step 7

Finishing the boy's haircut.

I don't know how to draw hair. Help!

In order to draw perfect hair, you don't need to be a designer or stylist. No the right way draw hair, so you should try until you get the right one for the occasion. Just remember that hair, through its shape, can convey certain personal qualities character. Oddly enough, hair can express age, rebellion, conservatism. Incredible, right? What's your hairstyle?

An accurate and fast way to draw cartoon hair is to find a matching photo on the Internet! Once you've found the perfect style, place an example image next to your tablet or piece of paper and start designing a simplified version of it.

First character completed successfully! Congratulations!

Now let's work on a different character using the same template as for the boy.

2. Creating an older character

Step 1

Let's start with the eyes. This time we will draw faster, adding wrinkles, eyebrows and eye pupils. Please note that we didn't change much, but we just widened the eyebrows a little. Older people have thicker eyebrows, which take up more space on the forehead. We draw eyelashes in the same way as in the previous version.

Step 2

The chin will be slightly larger than the previous character.

Step 3

Create the nose. The shape is completely different. Please note that the nostrils are located very close to the bottom of the eyes. The idea is to get a good result by slightly exaggerating the body parts.

Step 4

Instead of a mouth, draw a large mustache.

Step 5

Add the same ears as the boy. However, the hair will be of a different shape - we will add a little on the sides, and leave a bald patch on top.

Our character is like a mad scientist.

3. Creating a female character

Creating a sister for a boy:

How did it happen so quickly? Very simple... Women have a thinner facial structure. Consider some features:

• thin eyebrows;
• larger and more expressive eyelashes;
• thinner chin;
• small nose with fewer details;
• long hair.

That's all! Once you start to feel more confident, you can draw a few more characters with different details.

4. Facial expressions

Let's draw a girl after receiving the news that school break have come to an end.

Now let's go back to the boy and ask his opinion on this matter:

It feels like he's up to something!

Notice the changes in the boy's face:

• one eyebrow lower than the other;
• eyes half closed;
• added a smile (one side is higher than the other, in line with the eyebrows);
• the pupils moved under the eyelashes.

That's all! Everything is as simple as shelling pears!

5. Draw in profile

Let's draw two circles.

We will create a boy and a girl in profile:

The ear remained in the center of the circle.

Pay attention to these details when composing male and female characters:

• the boy has thicker eyebrows;
• the girl's chin moves forward a little;
• the girl's nose is thinner and sharper;
• A boy has no eyelashes, while a girl has large and thick ones.

6. Playing with angles

Eyes, nose, mouth, ears - all these details make the face change its shape if you look at them from different angles. You can often observe this in cartoon characters.

Notice how real eyes are simplified when converted to cartoon.

The actual shape of the nose is made up of several cartilages. His form is radically simplified in the cartoon.

Understanding how the mouth behaves from different angles has important. Remove excess details and try to maintain only the basic shape of the lips. The ears are also greatly simplified.

Now we will put into practice everything we have learned. Below are circles with arrows that show the direction of view. We can practice our drawing skills in different positions:

Let's mark the eyes for each of the circles:

Now let's add various shapes jaws:

You can complete the drawings yourself, based on the knowledge that was provided to you in this lesson. Remember:

• the face needs to be simplified and rounded;
• exaggerate certain parts of the face and its expression.

Once you have managed to mark the direction of the eyes and select the corresponding chins, try using your creative potential and finish the drawing. If you draw for at least 10 minutes a day using the rules presented here, you will be able to draw cartoon faces as easily as breathing.

Let's summarize the drawing of characters:

1. Draw a circle for the skull;
2. We set the direction in which the character will look;
3. Make an oval eye contour;
4. Draw the pupils of the eyes that look towards the nose if you want to create a cute character. Don't forget the eyelashes;
5. Choosing the right eyebrows depending on age and gender;
6. Create the corresponding jaws;
7. Add simple ears without unnecessary details;
8. We search for the required hairstyle on Google and use it in our sketch;
9. Let's celebrate!

Here's what happened:

An example of how to use the same template to create different emotions. Notice that only the eyelashes and eyebrows have been changed. Nothing more!

7. Study of nationalities

We are approaching the end of the lesson. I would like to encourage you to continue to experiment with facial expressions and, if possible, explore the face more. Learn how the eyes and mouth behave in different situations. Take a look at different nationalities and learn their key features.

For example, African Americans have a slightly flattened nose and rounder cheekbones.

Whenever possible, try to draw your characters more realistically. Watch on people's behavior in real life. Look at photographs, study the style of your favorite artist, or look online for inspiration. TOWhen we look at real life, we can extract quality information for our sketches.But remember: observations real world does not mean copying it!You want your character to be unique and not a copy of the real thing, right?

Great job!

Now you know the basic techniques that are used by the best animators around the world. Good luck!

We hope you enjoyed the lesson.

Explore other techniques for drawing cartoon characters' heads.

The sky is the limit!

Translation - Duty room.

The character is the main figure of any animation, so he should be given quite a lot of attention. In this article, you'll find tips from the pros to help you create vibrant, believable characters, and you'll also get a look at how Pixar creates cartoon characters.

1. Focus on facial expressions

Tex Avery, the creator of Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and other beloved characters, never neglected facial expressions when developing his characters, and this made them popular.

Depending on the nature of the character, his emotions can be both pronounced and slightly hidden, therefore, when developing your hero, think about his personal qualities and, based on this, work on his facial expressions. A great example of the work of the legendary Tex Avery was a wolf whose eyes popped out of his skull when he was agitated. On the other hand you can put Droopy, who seems to have no emotions at all.

2. Make your characters special

When Matt Groening created The Simpsons, he knew that he had to offer viewers something special, something that would be different from other TV shows. Therefore, he decided that when the viewer was flipping through the channels and came across a cartoon with yellow-skinned characters, he could not help but become interested in them.

Whoever your character is, try to make him as little similar as possible to all the heroes who preceded him. It should have interesting visual qualities that will be unusual to the viewer. Like yellow skin and four fingers instead of five, for example.

3. Experiment

Rules are made to be broken. At least that's what Yuck thinks. When he creates his characters, he doesn't know who he's drawing. “I listen to music and draw the result, which depends on my mood: strange or cute characters. I always want to draw what interests me. Later I finalize the character,” he says.

4. Understand who you are drawing for

Think about your audience. For adults and children you need to choose completely different instruments interactions, colors, and characters.

“A custom character usually means there’s more space within which I need to fit it, but that doesn’t mean there’s less creativity involved. Clients have specific needs, but they also want me to do my thing. I usually start with the main characteristics and personality of the character. For example, if the eyes are important, then I will build the design around the face so that the main detail stands out,” says Nathan Jurevicius.

5. Explore

“Never work without materials, always look for something to build on. Take photographs of people that can be a good basis for your work. For example, their clothes, hairstyle, face. Even if your character is not human, think about where he got his DNA and go from there. Once you start working with examples, your work will become clearer and more engaging.” – Gal Shkedi.

6. Start simple

“Always start with simple shapes. Squares are good for strong and tough characters, while triangles are ideal if you want to make the character intimidating. Well, if you want a friendly character, then use smooth lines.” – Jorfe

It is worth remembering that no matter how complex a character is, he consists of simple elements. Starting simple, you will gradually layer elements and eventually get a complete image.

7. Technique is not the most important thing

Sketching skills will help you a lot if you want to represent a character in different poses and from different angles. And this skill requires practice. But to create a credible and atmospheric character, these skills are not so important.

“I try to get into the character, highlighting his quirks, combining them and working on them. I draw a lot different options one character until I'm happy with one of them.” – Nick Sheehy

8. Make up a story

“If you want your character to exist in more than just a cartoon or comic book, then you should take the time to come up with a story for him. Where he came from, how he appeared, what happened in his life - all this will help create integrity. Sometimes a character’s history is more interesting than his current adventures.” – Pixar

9. Hone your character

Interesting appearance doesn't always make the character interesting. His character is the key, the character must be consistent in his emotions and actions. Pixar believes that character should be strong unless you're deliberately making your character boring.

10. Environment

Another Pixar rule is to work on the character's environment.

“If you want your character to be believable, then make the world around him believable. Think through your environment and make it work to your advantage.”

And in this video you can follow the process of creating the characters of Karl and Ellie:

Finding a character's image is an interesting and responsible activity, especially for those who are just starting out on the path of an artist. This is an instruction for those who only have an image in their head that they want to draw. Your character is created in several stages. It’s better if you write each of them down on paper.

So, how to step by step?

Stage 1. General features

Here you need to determine the gender, age, date of birth and occupation of the hero.

First of all, we need to decide who we want to draw. “Your character” can be either a five-year-old girl or a seventy-year-old man. When deciding on gender, remember the concept of social education, as well as gender reaction to the hero. In addition, there are purely female character traits that are not characteristic of the male population.

Stage 2. Character appearance

At this stage it is necessary to decide externally character: eye and hair color, hairstyle, height, weight, build, outfit.

Eye and hair color is a very sensitive issue. But most artists advise choosing hair color depending on the type of activity and intended character, and making the eyes contrasting or, conversely, similar in color to the hair.

If height and weight are within normal limits, then they do not play a special role.

Stage 3. Character character

It’s better to start with the character’s temperament: what will the hero we want to draw be like? “Your character” can be a bright and energetic choleric person, a melancholic person constantly with his head in the clouds, a calm phlegmatic person or a balanced sanguine person. After this, it is necessary to work out the positive and negative traits character of the hero.

As a result, we get a holistic image that is easy to draw. Your character will be more alive and original if you take care of every detail of his image.

Popular artist Aaron Blaise explains how to draw dynamic characters in Photoshop using traditional thinking.

In this tutorial, Aaron Blaise explains how he creates realistic characters and how he uses various references in the process.

1. Create a sketch

Uploading the document gray, which will allow you to more accurately place light and dark accents. Create a new layer on top gray background and call it Rough Sketch. At this stage, we draw freely, without getting hung up on the details. We indicate the main proportions and features of the character.

2. Detailing the sketch

Lower the sketch's Opacity to about 30% and create a new layer called Enhanced Sketch. Now we draw the details - for example, wrinkles, folds, nose.

This stage is very important, since the resulting sketch will serve as a sample (template) for the further drawing process.

3. Apply primary colors

The main color is the one that our character initially has, without the influence of light or shadow on him. Create a new layer under the drawing layers and call it Primary Color. At this stage, the author uses a large brush that resembles a natural brush. The author starts with green as it is the dominant color. Carelessly apply green color per character.

Next, add other colors for variety. At this stage you can also work quickly, clearly and without thinking about the details. Time to experiment! The resulting drawing will be the basis for further coloring.

4. Create the first layer with shadows

Create a new layer on top of all the others, call it Shadows. Set the blending mode to Multiply. This will allow the base color to be visible through the shadow layer. We begin to sketch out the shadows with the selected cool mid-tone color.

At this stage you can also do everything quickly, but be careful.

5. Draw direct lighting

Next, create a new layer on top of the others and call it Direct Lighting. At this stage it is very important to remember the temperature of the flowers. The author uses cold neutral color for depicting shadows, but for highlights - warmer and purer colors.

We begin to paint in the lighter areas where the light falls on the character. We use warm green and yellow shades. We see that our character is already starting to take shape!

6. Designate reflected light

Create a new layer below the Direct Light layer and call it Reflected Light, then choose a color that is slightly warmer and brighter than the shadow color surrounding it.

The key factor here is caution and subtlety: draw carefully.

7. Designate highlights

Create a new layer and call it Highlights. Open the Color Picker and select one light color and significantly increase its brightness. Then we draw directly the highlights where they are needed. The author also adds glow around the edges and deeper shadows.

8. Create an autumn background

Next, create a new layer under all other layers and call it Background. Using a natural brush, we begin to sketch very quickly the background“autumn” colors that contrast favorably with the green character.

We paint the background with darker shades to make the character stand out better. Then click Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) and set the blur to 25 pixels.

9. Use photo references

The elephant skin texture will help create cool skin for our character! Select a small section using the Lasso tool, drag it onto our illustration and lower the Opacity level to 30%. Then click Image – Correction – Exposure (Image> Adjustments> Exposure), increase the Gamma value and adjust the Exposure value to increase contrast. So we adjust these settings along with the Opacity level until the texture fits perfectly into our drawing.

10. Set the texture for our character

Next, go to Editing – Free Transform (Edit>Free Transform), change the size of the texture and then select Editing – Transformation – Warp (Edit> Transform>Warp). Now we can shape the texture so that it fits the shape of our character.

11. Adding highlights to textures

Upon completion this stage the texture should look like part of the character, that is, completely merge with it. Create a new layer on top of all the others and call it Light highlights on textures. Then we select a graceful thin brush and begin to paint highlights on top of the textures, where the light falls.

12. Draw spots on the character’s skin

Create a layer below the “Light highlights on textures” layer and call it “Spots”. Set this layer to the blending mode Multiply.

Now, using mid-tones of green and red, we carefully begin to draw spots and stripes on the character’s skin. This will make it more interesting and also help define the shape of the body.

13. Draw elements in the foreground

Create a new layer on top of the others and start freely drawing leaves and branches in the foreground. And since all this will be blurry, there is no need to carefully draw all the details. However, the author carefully creates these elements using multiple layers.

When we have drawn everything, connect all the layers and go to Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur. Set the blur to 35 pixels. This will give the image a nice depth.

14. Final touches

Copy all layers with the character and combine them into one layer. Then we make all the original individual layers invisible. Select the Blur tool and the Airbrush setting. Set it to about 300 pixels and 50%.

Now we begin to blur those areas on the character layers that we want to make out of focus. This is done in order to attract the viewer to the main part of the drawing - in this case, the character's face. And it will also give the drawing a certain photographic view. Finally, we straighten the image and adjust the exposure and saturation to make the drawing look bright and beautiful.