I noticed that was being asked the same question over and over about what to work on after being rejected from the Marvel Masterpieces 3 set. There were three key things needed work: Anatomy, Composition & Character, and Color Theory. Thus, this series of journal entries was born...

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Journals on Anatomy, Character, Composition, and Color Theory (ongoing series)

Table of Contents
Anatomy
Character & Composition
Color Theory

Composition and and Character
Section One:Character
It's an elusive beast...character. You don't HAVE to be a great draftsman to understand character. There are thousands of artists out there that always will be TECHNICALLY better than you (if that scares you, it shouldn't, just realize it now and move on). But what should set you apart from other artists is how you see and draw a character. Putting life into a character's eyes, is more important in my book, than how technically brilliant you may be.

Designing with Character
First and foremost, this is a generalized post, I am not pointing particular people out, simply what was seen in the galleries I perused.

1. SHAPE SHAPE SHAPE - It's a woman. It's a man. It's a werewolf. It's something I've seen before. What makes your take on Batman, Superman, Jean Grey, Galactus DIFFERENT from other people. SHAPE language is THE most important part of character.

See this image? Good...now keep reading, I'll bring up shape below along with Silhouette.

The shape of a character defines who they are. Nico Marlet, designer on Kung Fu Panda, said something akin to, "I think about shape first...character builds itself around that". And he's right. When the shapes work, the character will fall into place. Side note: If I hadn't mentioned shape first all my character design and visual development teachers would hit me. Hard. Anyways... Shape also adheres to facial shape, body shape, etc. NOTHING is off limits. Even hands. For instance, Mike Mignola does retangular shaped fingers with triangle shaped fingernails. That's a design choice.

2. SILHOUETTE - Can you TELL what the character is doing by the outline of their form? Comic art and animation are not so disimilar from each other. Animation is entirely about acting, story and silhouette. Acting through silhouette is the best way to recognize if the audience can TELL what your character is doing or not... More importantly, let's look at that TINY thumbnail from JLA from above...



Take a look at the major body shapes, not shapes of different parts of the body, the overall shape. Looking? Good. Let's start with Superman. He's an inverted triangle. Broad shoulders that narrow down to the tips of his shoes. Now I know what you're thinking, or maybe you're thinking it. But Karen, ALL the guys are inverted triangles. Not so. Take a look at Batman. He's actually a pentagon. Take a look at the outer most parts of each design. Hawkgirl, she's a heart shaped. Martian Manhunter? He's an Oval. Still don't believe me? Wonder woman is more or less a perfume bottle. They don't all have to be geometric in nature, but if you were to break down each of these designs you would find three, and ONLY three major shapes: a triangle, a circle, and a rectangle. Skewed and shaped differently yes, but any good design starts with these in mind, as do compositions. More on that later. I'm sure someone has noticed that the feet are cut off in the lineup. If so, good job. However, the feet were designed into the final shot, and plotted onto... a ground plane in perspective! Imagine that.

The best test to see if a sketch is working or not, is to look at the entire outline from a good 10 feet away. Can you easily recognize what your character is doing? Is it reading? Have a friend look at it. Still fuzzy? Rework it. It's extremely rare for an artist to nail it on the first go, and if you want to challenge me that you can, I'm sure I can pick your piece apart in ten seconds flat. Does this mean I'm a better artist than any of you? Hell no. Every artist worth their salt works and reworks images. That's how you learn.

3. GENERIC CHARACTERS - Same facial structure, same body type... same same same. Sometimes I would see multiples of this on the same page!!! Katie Rice, a fantastic artist, wrote an entire entry in her blog on Generic Girl characters.

Avoiding the Generic by Katie Rice.

What defines Superman as Superman? Is it his cape? His costume? No it's his personality. Drawing a man in a cape will not make him Superman, just like drawing a blond girl with a white shirt and red skirt will not make her Supergirl. Think CHARACTER! In the past when I've designed for film or TV, I try to think about who the character is, what makes them that character. You can make a great drawing of a sexy Poison Ivy, but is Pamela under all that sexy cleavage and skimpy vegetation? Remember that these characters are icons. They're not just drawings, the reason people love these concepts is because they love WHO that character is. When you draw, you're not only the artist, you should think of that character, for animators, we try to become that character. We want to get inside that person's brain to figure out who they are, how they think, how they would react...

4. FLOATING CHARACTERS - put a ground line down. It makes the world of difference, really. Unless your character is flying, in which case, draw them in a flying pose. Don't know how? Get reference.

5. CUT OFF CHARACTERS - Don't cut hands off, or feet off. If you have a character on a sheet of paper, make room for the feet, or draw it from the upper thigh/waist up. Cutting characters off at the ankles shows two things, lack of composition, and a fear of drawing feet. As I noted in my journal about anatomy, seeing hands and feet cut off, or hidden, that's the first thing bosses, art directors, and portfolio reviewers will see. Don't get caught hiding those hands and feet!

6. KILL YOUR BABY - this is a term in animation, but it applies to comics as well. Don't get attached to a design. Don't get attached to an idea. If something is not working, rework it. Even if you think it's the best you can do, you can do better.

7. REFERENCE - No, you really CAN'T draw a wolf out of your head. Not unless you've spent the last month or two gathering reference and creating reference boards or packs and drawing from them daily. The problem with artists is that we think it's less creative to draw with the help of photographs or other artwork beside us. Imagine trying to draw hands out of your head without looking at your own hand. Unless you're some artistic genius (and I can assure you 99.9% of us aren't) then you can't do it. If you need a MANLY fist, and you're like me, a chick, get your boyfriend, brother, friend, relative, hobo off the street (maybe not the last) to pose for you. There isn't anything better in the world than having real life reference to work from. I'm not saying you should go out and get a wolf if you need to draw a wolf, but if you have a dog, it can help you with poses. Or ask a neighbor. Trust me, most people upon hearing that they need YOU or your pet, or a book of theirs for an art project will not just simply willingly agree, they'll be excited to help. That's the advantage of being an artist, people enjoy the idea of helping creative types. Really, I'm not joking. As to gathering reference, start your own morgue file (morbid name huh?)! Digitally or on a shelf somewhere. Go through the Bargain bins at bookstores. Basically, having something to look at (but not copy) will not only do wonders for your artwork, but it's a great confidence booster. Suddenly you don't have to do all the thinking about how a plane looks. I don't know many people that could draw a WWII Allied Bomber out of their heads. I'm sure you'd be more than frustrated attempting such. Remember it's reference though, don't copy it, draw from it.

Books on Character
I'm sure people will want to point out Christopher Hart. For reasons I wont go into, I'm not putting him on the book list. While I own a few of his books, I don't believe him to be a good character designer, or worth a look at even for amateurs. Why look at the lowest common denominator when you can be inspired by the best. That being said... Here's a few things you may want to check out... I'm not going to list my whole library, just a few titles, that if researched through Amazon, should lead you tons of other books you may want to get your fingers on.

The Art of Kung Fu Panda - No really, this has some of the most vivacious, fun designs I've ever seen for a movie.

Drawers 2.0 by Claire Wendling - This book is the best $50.00 you will EVER spend. Claire's book is hardcover, full of wonderful design and shape choices... beautiful silhouettes and storytelling. You cannot go wrong with her.

Modern Masters Volume 3: Bruce Timm - A fantastic CHEAP book showing Bruce Timm's start in the industry with fantastic interviews and wonderful black and white pieces of his work. (Also available: Mike Weiringo, John Byrne, George Perez for those interested)

Batman Animated - Not just...okay so it's filled with Bruce Timm, however, it's also a great resource for composition, character designs, and beautiful storyboards.

The Art of Star Wars, Episode II - Attack of the Clones - What wait? Star Wars Episode II she says? Yes, yes I do. There were some extremely talented, brilliant designers on this film, and this book is jam-packed full of great inspiration and ideas.

On Buying Books
I know a lot of us don't have much money, and even though Amazon.com's price breaks are nice, they're still not the best. So here's a few great places to purchase books from...

Abebooks.com I learned about this site from my librarian and it's been a blessing. Imagine getting a $40.00 book for $16.50. Yes. Go there. Search. You will be rewarded.

Budplant.com An old standby... They're not only helpful, but they have some fantastic deals on great artists.

Stuart Ng Books Stuart is, by far, the nicest guy you will come across. He has just about every sketchbook, artbook you could think of. You wont get discounts, however, the prices are worth it when you can find out of print books and artist monographs that have been out of print for decades.


Section Two: Composition (to be posted later today)