Comic Book Character Design: The Making of E

Learn to Draw, Ink and Color Comic Book Characters

Created by: Clayton Barton
Learn Advanced Dynamic Drawing Techniques

What Will I Learn?

• How to establish the proportions, pose and placement of your characters with the mannequin model.
• How to draw the underlying anatomy of your character so that you can accurately define the shape of their body and fit the costuming around it.
• How to present the same character consistently from multiple angles.
• How to establish a lighting scheme so that you can shade the forms throughout your character correctly.
• How and where to drop in shadows throughout your character design.
• How to use fine-lined hatches to render form.
• How to use contrast to emphasize key areas of interest.
• How to properly render a variety of materials so that they look distinct from one another.
• How to ink the contours of your character design with slick, sharp and energetic line art.
• How to enhance the readability of your design with tonal values and contrast.
• How to compose an appealing color scheme.
• How to build up the forms within your character using multiple lighting passes to give them increased depth and dimension.
• How to use base colors as selection masks.
• How to use adjustment layers to tweak the hue, contrast, saturation and brightness of your colors.
• How to add warm and cool tones to your lighting so that it comes across as more realistic.
• How to use reference images to inform the design and make your characters look more convincing.
• How to energize your drawings with gestural line work that creates a sense of movement.

Requirements

• A base level understanding of drawing (form, shape, perspective)
• A base level understanding of figure drawing (proportions, anatomy, gesture)
• Beginner level understanding of Photoshop and Manga Studio
• Clip Studio Paint (Manga Studio), Photoshop and Tablet

Target audience

• Comic Artists
• Character Designers
• Concept Artists
• Comic Book Inkers
• Comic Book Colorists