March Question Month Answers, Part Five

From the master artist designerotter:

- How did you get to the point where you could create superheros so well through your drawings?
- Was this a long process of trial and practice?
- Did you take figure drawing classes? i.e. how did you get so proficient with anatomy?


I put the answers behind the cut to save space as I tend to get wordy about drawing and stuff. I also put some old and new cartoons behind the cut, all work safe.

( Drawing History )

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March is Question Month. If anyone else would like to ask a question, you can post it here. You can ask anonymously if you'd like, IP addresses are not recorded for the month. Comments to this entry are screened and if you would rather I not identify you, please make a note of it in your post there.

March Question Month Answers, Part Six

Also asked by designerotter,

For you, what are the steps of creating a character, including the individual costume design?

I think the first step when creating a character is what kind of character do I need. If I'm drawing a hero team, the powers of each has to be considered. A team of all heroes with super-strength is boring. Variety is the key. So if there is an existing team, I look to see what kind of powers are missing from the team dynamic, or which ability would be useful. No one hero is all-powerful, or else he or she can't be defeated, which again is kind of dull.

It sounds strange, but the hero's powers often dictates the costume design for me. A speedster would never wear a bulky or baggy outfit because of wind resistance. A person with heat powers might wear a more revealing costume than other heroes because they would never get cold. If I'm drawing a hero for a friend who is a bit of an exhibitionist, he would likely get a more revealing costume than someone who tends to be shy in real life. When it comes to color, the hero's powers might also tell me what to pick. A hero with ice powers would probably wear cooler colors (though it's an interesting thought to give such a hero a green or red color). I sometimes look to see what colors are in the costumes of the existing team heroes and pick a main costume color that's missing and start working from there.

I take all of these sort of things into consideration when designing a costume. If it's a hero that I'll be drawing over and over (like for the comic book), then the designs usually aren't too elaborate. Too many details make it hard to draw over and over.

When I'm drawing a character for a friend, I usually ask for what kind of powers they'd like to have. Some friends just give generic powers like super-strength or speed, where others get really creative.

So once I get the powers, favorite colors, and other details for a friend's hero, I start drawing. When I get an artistic block, I just doodle until I see find that might work, doing a bit of trial and error. When I started drawing the "Bear Runner" hero for Derek (_decibel_), I ended up creating a blank hero toon that I could pencil different designs on with out having to redraw the form. Once the pencil design was done, I inked over it with notes and colors. Then I would draw a separate cartoon in an appropriate position.


The Blank Hero (left), Draft Bear Runner with notes (center),
and Finished Toon (right)

When it comes to coloring, Photoshop has been a godsend, allowing me to try different color variations without wrecking the original cartoon. If I'm drawing a new hero unrelated to a request, I tend to show a bit more fur here and there. I guess I could say that I know my comic's fan base and what they like to see :D

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March is Question Month. If anyone else would like to ask a question, you can post it here. You can ask anonymously if you'd like, IP addresses are not recorded for the month. Comments to this entry are screened and if you would rather I not identify you, please make a note of it in your post there.