Discover a brand-new approach to drawing the human form with this unique

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and three-dimensional form. Checking the silhouette and contour of a pose
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authenticity are illustrated throughout. Of course, Tom covers all the usual
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tissues that contribute to the human form. But by truly understanding what an
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LEARN HOW TO USE:

• box mannequins
• XYZ dimensions
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• simplified bones and muscles
• silhouette, contour, and proportion
Crafting a jolly The face is the most impor tant par t of the
character, and maybe even the whole scene. It

character
will be the first place a viewer looks. This is why
I always spend the most time on the face.

Learn how to design and sketch a fantasy

character from your imagination.

By Justin Gerard
Drawing a complex scene with multiple figures and
background elements can seem highly daunting
at first, even when you are very experienced. In
this tutorial I will show you how to break your Line work is more Hands are the second-
composition down into manageable chunks so that interesting if it most impor tant element
they can be tackled one at a time. I will begin from has a little variety of the character. They
the thumbnail stages and demonstrate how I work to it. When I work can communicate volumes
on rough drawings, collect and utilize reference, and I try to vary my of information. Good
finally take those rough sketches and turn them into line widths from photo reference is very
finished drawings ready to be placed into our scene. thick to thin. helpful for getting their
complex shapes correct.
Here we will go through the process of developing
a character, although I’ll first create the thumbnail
of the whole image to place everything in context.

Tools
• Pencils (2H, HB, 2B, 4B)
• Basic drawing paper Shape is impor tant! Your character’s
• Tracing paper shape needs to be distinct so that it
• Kneaded eraser will stand out from what is behind it.

176 Beginner’s guide to sketching: characters, creatures & concepts

Thumbnailing Thumbnailing
In the thumbnail stage I do not worry
Before I begin my scene, I need to have a about my drawing being very detailed (or
fixed idea of what will be in it and where even very good). I treat my scene like a stage
everything will be placed. To do this, I will and constantly move my characters and set
draw several tiny sketches (or thumbnails) of Here we see the basic pieces around until I am happy with it. Things
my scene as I see it in my imagination. The shapes of the scene. will be messy and unrefined but that’s okay;
thumbnail I select will be my guide for the I will have plenty of time later to add
rest of the project and I will revisit it again details and polish to the image.
and again as I work through my scene.

With my thumbnail I I draw my thumbnails very small,

can work out where usually 1-3” wide. This helps me
my characters are to keep the overall composition
in relation to one together in my mind.
another so that the
image flows better.

Even though I am drawing on a smaller scale and am not worried about

details, I do try to work out the general pose for each character.

Drawing projects | Crafting a jolly character 177

Drawing the face Our disreputable character has just stolen
a sacred ar tifact and is about to be
ambushed by the frogs he stole it from…
For this exercise we are going to be focusing Is he suspicious? Gleeful? Drunk?
on our character, and specifically, on his I need to know, and doing roughs will help
expression. The expression is the linchpin of me discover more clues about him.
the whole scene. If we get it wrong, the whole
scene won’t make sense. Now that I know
what my main character’s pose will be, I need
some reference to get the expression right.

In order to research the expressions I need,

I take a number of very quick photos, using
my thumbnail as a guide. I will also collect
reference for costume and background using
imagery from my library and from the web.

I try to only use reference I get from

the web to help me get the details
right, and never for the poses or
arrangements. It always feels derivative
to copy someone else’s photo.

178 Beginner’s guide to sketching: characters, creatures & concepts

 A more angular face shape can age a
01 Face shape character and using blocky hard-edged
When trying to work out just who your character shapes can give them a rugged feel. Round face shapes convey
is, it can sometimes be a helpful exercise to a friendly nature.
experiment by drawing different expressions
to help you learn more about them.

Experiment with different face shapes. Is your

character a weaselly thief? A noble captain? An
overfed banker? Is their face shaped more like 01
a pear or a plum? More like an owl or a fox? Be
imaginative and don’t be afraid to try out crazy
things. This is the preliminary phase so now is Full, round cheeks can
the best time to try out any of these wild ideas. add a jolly quality to your
character’s expression and
02 Mouths personality
They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul.
Personally I think this is untrue and that mouths are
the true windows. Notice how small changes in the Pointy, sharp shapes
muscles around the mouth can make such large can represent an evil
differences to your character’s expression. disposition!
02
03 Eyes
While eyes may not always be as helpful as people
claim, I think eyebrows are particularly interesting Practice
and can communicate a great deal about a The angle at which you draw your in the mirror
character. Pay careful attention to the shape of the eyebrows can drastically alter your To practice drawing mouths, grab
eye and make sure that the eyes line up correctly character’s expression. 03 a mirror and make some expressions
on the face. Nothing will ruin a face faster than in it. Keep the expression while you are
having one eye sliding off unevenly on the face. drawing. This trick has been used by artists
for centuries to inject vast amounts
of personality into their characters.
Experiment until you find the
right expression for your
character.

Drawing projects | Crafting a jolly character 179

 Experiment with a heap of
04 Creating a template different face shapes.
Using a very light pencil, such as a 2H or
even an HB with a light touch, fill out a whole
page of paper with a variety of different head
shapes. Try round ones, long ones, pointy
ones; experiment as much as you can!

05 Placing your guidelines 04

Once you have them filled out, place a grid line
for each face. You may be surprised to learn how
Don’t always place your eyes
a small shift in where the eyes are can change
in the same place. Move your
a face drastically. Don’t be afraid to move the
guidelines around to see what
eyes up or down dramatically if necessary.
result you get.

06 Features and expression

Now it’s time to work further on the features.
Using a darker pencil, such as a 2B or 4B,
draw in the features using the template and
lines as a guide. You can do this from your
imagination or take inspiration from real life. 05

As you work through this exercise, stay

on the lookout for faces and expressions
that might fit your own character.
Pay attention
Ensure your eyes are the right
Working with a darker shape and line up correctly (especially
pencil, begin to define the when in perspective). In order to make
features fur ther, darkening this easier, it is helpful to begin drawing
around the eyes and mouth your subject’s face with a grid with a
creases. center “+” sign to help keep the
proportions correct.
06

180 Beginner’s guide to sketching: characters, creatures & concepts

07 Rough shapes Don’t forget to mark in
So how do you draw these rough sketches of your
where your eyes will go.
character? Using a classical academic approach to It’s okay to be a little messy
drawing, that is, understanding the principles of shape, here as you explore, just as
proportion, value, and form, you can draw from your long as you draw lightly.
imagination, from your photographic reference, or as I
have done here, from a little of both. I draw out the rough
shape of the character very lightly using a 2H pencil.

08 Basic outlines 08
Still using the lighter 2H pencil, I rough in the basic outlines 07
of my character, paying close attention to the overall shape.

09 Cleaning up your lines Here I will look at my references more closely to

Now with a darker pencil (here I switch to HB), I redraw
see where I might have gone wrong or if there
the lines from the previous step that are correct, and leave
are any interesting details that I have missed.
out the ones that are not correct. When you finish you
should have a tighter line drawing of your character.

10 Final rendering
Now with an even darker pencil (here I switch to 2B), I
draw in the shadows and render my character and all the
details. This is my favorite stage because this is where 10
we finally begin to see our character come to life and
get to know them a little better. Where do they live?
Where are they going? What have they been up to?

As I spent so much effort getting the outline and drawing

right, I can now have fun working on details and nuances of
light and shadow (refer back to pages 19–24 for tips) without
having to worry about my character’s proportions falling apart.

09 Darkening the features

Don’t be afraid to erase out to get the really star ts to add
shapes and outlines right. Don’t worry too character to the face.
much about the details yet.

Drawing projects | Crafting a jolly character 181

Drawing the costume Use your reference to add in
accessories and props to help
convey the story.
The costume your character wears is significant
because it gives us very helpful clues as
to who they are, what they do, and where
they have been – all of which contribute
to the narrative quality of your picture.

For this tutorial I use unprofessional models, a

volunteer photographer, and materials I procured
locally (translation: I grabbed an old jacket and
asked my wife to take a quick photo of me making
faces at the camera). Though I sometimes actually
do pay professionals to model, I will more often
than not shoot reference using friends and family
as stand-ins for my characters. Now that I have a
better idea of what I am after in my character, it is
easier to me to get the pose and expressions right.

My disreputable character will be pictured in

this scene as being in possession of the sacred
frog-king relic. I couldn’t manage to find a sacred
frog-king relic in my studio, but I did manage
to find the goose you can see in the photo here
to act as a substitute. Having some real-world
material that matches the material in your
illustration always helps, even if it’s the wrong
shape and design. The main issue is that you
want to have some reference for how an object’s
surface will take light and shadow in your scene.
Don’t forget about headwear and
other accessories such as jewelry.
A bandana and earring por trays a
pirate-type character.

182 Beginner’s guide to sketching: characters, creatures & concepts

01 Developing ideas
Try out different types of clothing to help you
define what type of person your character
is. Remember that your character’s outfit
tells its own story within the story of the Think about what type of materials
picture. Make sure you spend some time your character’s costume is made
considering what they should be wearing in of as this will also help.
order to make their story more interesting.

Is he a lowly ship’s hand who went AWOL to

pursue riches and adventure in the jungle? Or is
he a beset-upon good man who was marooned
by his pirate colleagues for not going along 01
with their schemes? Was he a captain who
owes some very powerful people a great deal
of money? In all these cases, the outfit can
assist in telling your character’s story.

02 Guidelines
In the next few steps I’ll take you
through the stages of drawing
the hat; you can follow the
same process for other items
of clothing and props. First Try out different types of Use a triangle shape for
I establish the outline of the clothing to help you define the initial guidelines.
object. In this case I draw a simple what type of person your
triangle guideline for the object in character is. Adding fancy frills
perspective and draw in some wavy and embellishments, suggests he
lines along the guide for the shape is wealthy.
of the hat.

02

Drawing projects | Crafting a jolly character 183

03 Shading guides
I then draw very light lines to suggest where the shadows
should fall. Once I have established this, I am ready to begin Hatching
laying in shadows lightly. 03 04 to give form
In this example you can see how
Shading is the means by which we show a value transition hatching has been used to give a sense
from dark into light. There is no set rule for how to shade and of the contour of the eye and face. You
artists have classically been very inventive, from extremely can use this simple trick to help give a
precise hatching to just scribbling circles, to rubbing the edge sense of the surface of the object and
of the pencil instead of the tip. You should experiment and find make it appear as though it exists
the way that works best for you. Whatever way you decide to in three-dimensional space.
employ, it needs to have the ability to adequately depict subtle Use diagonal pencil strokes
transitions in lighting. Control over light and shadow should for the shadow areas.
be the primary concern of the artist who is drawing from life. Adding in a faint guide for
where the shadows will be
04 Hatching will help you later on.
Here I then fill in the shadow areas with a series of hatch lines
that go diagonally from the bottom left to the upper right.

05 Final shading
I then switch to a darker pencil and begin to lay my
Edging
Along with drawing with
shading in more strongly. I have also begun to
the tip of your pencil, you can
move away from simple diagonal strokes and my
also flip it on its side to use the edge!
hatch lines have begun to
This can be extremely helpful in getting 05
follow the contour
interesting and murky shadows as well as achieving
of the hat to give
a variety of line widths. This is part of the basic
a more three- When I shade I
academic approach to drawing and has been
dimensional tend to prefer
used by representational artists for centuries to
look to the to use hatching,
achieve accurate and life-like drawings. It has
drawing. Use a darker pencil such as cross-hatching,
worked for countless artists in the past
2B to add form to the hat. or a combination
and it will work for you too!
of the two.

184 Beginner’s guide to sketching: characters, creatures & concepts

 Eraser
Refining the sketch 01
highlights
The eraser is not just for
corrections! Don’t be afraid to
01 Initial drawing use to it to pull out highlights and
I used my thumbnail from page 177 as a guide to create
reinforce the outlines of
my initial drawing as shown here. I drew freehand using
your shapes.
a 2H pencil on drawing paper. This drawing is fun and
carries the overall energy I am after, but it lacks the
necessary polish to truly communicate my ideas.

02 Revising
Now, using a darker pencil, I revise this initial drawing using
the same academic approach to edging I mentioned. As a
result of using it we have arrived at a much nicer drawing.
Upon closer inspection we can see that even though we
have redrawn our image, our proportions are incorrect and 02
our character appears misshapen. We could try to erase it
Your initial drawing doesn’t have Use a sharp HB pencil to
and redraw the broken parts, but I actually really like them;
to be accurate. Try to capture add in your final details
they are just in the wrong places or are the wrong sizes (as
the nature of your character.
you can see in the absurdly oversized hand holding the Use a 2B pencil to
bottle). To fix this, artists both classical and contemporary revise your lines.
use tracing paper, as described in the next step.

03
03 Final changes
I place a few loose sheets of tracing paper over the
drawing until I can just make out the details. Using a highly
Mirroring with
sharpened HB, I redraw my character and add in extra
tracing paper
An added benefit of tracing paper is
details. As I come across areas where the shape is incorrect,
that you can flip it over to see how your
I move the tracing paper around so that the misplaced
drawing looks from the reverse angle.
element (such as the hand) is in the right place before I
This can help reveal errors in propor-
commit my lines to the tracing paper. If you draw something
tion. As you work, take advantage of
and don’t like it, don’t be afraid to redraw that area using a
this in order to arrive at a more
different sheet of tracing paper. You can easily cut out and
successful drawing.
reassemble the various sheets of tracing paper later on.

Drawing projects | Crafting a jolly character 185

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Crafting jungle creatures I need a creature appropriate
for trekking through the jungle.
Learn how to create convincing fantasy
creatures from your imagination.

By Justin Gerard
The ambushing tribal
Drawing fantasy creatures from your imagination is frog carries sticks
often very fun, but left to imagination alone they often and weapons, perfect
can feel too abstract and lose their believability. The for stealing from
best way to make your creatures convincing is to study unsuspecting passers-by.
real-world beings. When I began to study animals in
nature, I came to realize that there are already some
pretty fantastic creatures loping around out there.
Using real-world mammals as a basis, we have an
amazing range of possibilities for imaginative and
fantastic creatures that still feel like they belong here.

This part of the tutorial will emphasize the

usage of reference from nature, although we
will be begin by using just our imaginations.

I have two separate types of creatures for

which I need designs: the ambushing frog
The car t-horse creature needs
tribesmen and the cart-horse brute.
to be strong, as it needs to be
able to pull the car t along.

Tools
• Basic drawing paper
• Tracing paper I use tribal imagery for the
• Pencils (2H, HB, 2B) frog creatures, such as bones,
• Kneaded eraser leaves, and feathers.

186 Beginner’s guide to sketching: characters, creatures & concepts

Creature ideas First I scribble down the general look
I don’t know what the tribal frogs will look like yet, so I
do some rough exploration. As with the car t-horse creature,
and feel that I want my creatures to have. I draw quick, small thumbnails on cheap paper stock.
As I design these creatures I need to consider I draw these ideas very small, just a few
where they came from and where they live. inches in size, and never spend more than
Are they heavily furred creatures adapted to a a few minutes on each little drawing.
colder climate? Are they multi-limbed marsupials
dwelling in a very arid climate? Do they live
under damp rocks? Use your imagination and
get to know your creatures before you ever
begin to put your pencil down on paper.

Do my tribesmen have head-dresses of leaves? Or maybe they

wear eagle skulls with feathers? Are they using sticks and spears?
Or obsidian daggers? As I draw my roughs I think about these
ideas and try to get to know my little antagonists better.

My scene takes place

in a jungle and I would Since this is a jungle scene, I will
like a jungle-appropriate go with tree frogs as the basis
animal as my car t-horse. for my ambushing tribesmen.
Perhaps a boar? Or a
tapir? Or an elephant?

Drawing projects | Crafting jungle creatures 187

01 Drawing a group
My frog ambushers are gathered in a small group. Drawing
groups can be daunting at first, so it is important to simplify
Why not use
things a little to keep the mob under control. To draw large
reference at this stage?
It is important to get your own ideas down
groups of figures I place the major joints first (shoulders,
elbows, hands, and so on), just enough to get the shapes
Use simple shapes to mark first, straight from your imagination, before you

right and placed properly in relation to one another. I’m not

out the impor tant par ts and gather too much reference. You can always change

worried about fine details at this stage, just the rough shapes.
joints of the creatures. your ideas later to fit your reference, but it can often be
hard to change your reference to fit your ideas. If you
dwell too much on reference at the beginning, or even
02 Massing and form
worse, copy straight from photos, you may lose
I begin with very rough scribbles in circles in an effort to
some of the special individuality of your idea
really understand where the muscles form around the joints.
that makes it uniquely yours. In short:
This “massing” up of the shapes will help you to capture your
ideas first, then reference.
figures in three-dimensional form.
01
03 Cleaning it up Clean up the gesture
Once I have a nice set of scribbles, I place a sheet of tracing
drawings, so that
paper over this and redraw it, this time with more precise
you are left with
lines. I can now clean up my scribbles and turn them into
solid contours of
solid forms. As you can see here I have left all of their
the creatures.
adornments off for the moment. I really want to understand
their shapes first; we can add all the fun weapons and gear
onto them later.

Detail later
Don’t worry about trying to
Use a scribbling technique
draw all the details at this stage.
to add volume and
That will come later. Right now
form to the shapes.
02
focus on the shape and design
of your creatures. 03

188 Beginner’s guide to sketching: characters, creatures & concepts

 Working rough
Now for science! When doing studies from
life, you don’t have to be perfect.
Now that we have our ideas locked down from our
I am still undecided as Their purpose is to help the creatures
imagination, let’s go reference hunting! By drawing from
to whether it will be a Study the details, shapes, and in your painting look more real and
photos (or even better, from life) you are committing
tapir, an elephant, or a overall structures. Memorize the authentic. Don’t spend too long here,
the details and forms of these creatures to memory and
giant boar creature, so I elements and try to pay attention just draw quickly and as faithfully
building a visual library in your brain for future use. Now
gather reference on all of to how each par t relates to to the image as you can!
when you draw from your imagination in the future
those animals and head the others. How far is the eye
your brain will be supplying more information to your
back to my drawing desk. from the ear? How far from the
imagination about how animals look and function. nose? Where does the jaw line
end? As you draw you will be
subconsciously storing these details
in your library for use later on.

Collect
references
For my tribal frogs, I found many
pictures online of South American
tree frogs. I also supplemented these
with pictures of local tree frogs
that I had taken myself, such For my car t-horse creature I
as this one here. utilized a book on mammals of
South America which had been
collecting dust on my bookshelf.

Drawing projects | Crafting jungle creatures 189

01 A new drawing
Now that we have drawn from our reference, let’s
prepare to really craft our creatures. Using what Careful!
I have learned about the creatures I drew in my Be very careful when
reference, I redraw my original creature from my using lighter tracing paper.
thumbnail on a new sheet of drawing paper. This It is prone to buckling and
time I work on a larger scale and explore more tearing if your rub or
details in my drawing. As I draw I push and pull the erase too hard.
shapes, sometimes erasing and redrawing in order to 01 Use loose lines to explore shapes
really get the character right. to get your creature design right.
02 Refining the cart-horse
Now that I have studied elephants and tapirs more
closely I realize which parts I want to take from each
creature to make my cart-horse creature for this
Continue with the loose drawings,
scene. I do several looser drawings until I hit the one
taking the par ts you enjoyed
that seems to capture the look I am after. I take a
from the reference drawings.
nose from this, tusks from that, and the body from
something else entirely. It is all my idea, but now it
has been corrected and is better adapted to live in
our world.

03 Cleaning up the sketch

Now I pull out my tracing paper and place a few
sheets over my loose drawing. I place just enough
sheets of the tracing paper over the drawing so that I
can still just barely see the drawing underneath. I like
03
to see my new lines on the top sheet very clearly.

I use a 2H pencil to establish my lines and then an Once you have a shape and design you
HB pencil to reinforce and shade my drawing. are happy with, it’s time to redraw the
creature, cleaning up your lines as you go.
02

190 Beginner’s guide to sketching: characters, creatures & concepts

04 Moving on to the frogs Use simple shapes to roughly
Now I will repeat these steps for the frogs! Once sketch out the creature.
again, I draw a rough version of each of my frogs on
my drawing paper to explore more details. 05

05 A little personality
For creatures that have human-like expressions,
it can be helpful to have some reference beyond
what we collected earlier. For this I sometimes use
a mirror (or the camera on my phone) and will make
some faces at myself until I find the expression that
fits. If my scene is highly complex, and the creatures Give your creature
are near human, I might even consider posing some character by adding
family or friends so I can get the forms right.
04 some fun expressions.

06 Refining and shading

Now I am ready to do my final drawings for my frog
tribesmen. As with my cart-horse creature, I place a
few sheets of tracing paper over my rough drawings
of my creatures and trace their shapes lightly with a
2H pencil.

After I have traced my basic drawing over to my

tracing paper, I flip my tracing paper drawing
over to see what it looks like in reverse to check if
my proportions are correct (as I did for the main
character on page 185). 06
Shading
The best shading for you to
After this I use a darker HB pencil to refine the
use is whatever gets the job
drawing and add shadows and shapes.
done for you. For my work here
I have used a combination of
hatching and edging.
Once the creature’s shape and propor tions are
refined it’s time to add props and details such as
the leaves on the head-dress and the weapon.

Drawing projects | Crafting jungle creatures 191

Bringing it all
together
Learn how to compose a complex fantasy
scene from your imagination.

By Justin Gerard
The tight drawing of the
Drawing is the backbone of an illustration. It is the character is ready to be
intellectual statement, while color is the emotional. It integrated into the scene,
is important to get the drawing right. In the first two just like in the thumbnail.
parts of this three-part tutorial we developed our main
character and creatures. In this part I will now show you
how to take those drawings and combine them to finish a
complete rough drawing. I will then show you how I take
this rough drawing and turn it into a final, tight drawing
that is ready to show to a client and is ready for color.

Tools
Traditional tools
• Basic drawing paper
• Tracing paper We have the detailed
• Pencils (6H, 2H, HB, 2B) frog tribesmen ready
• Kneaded eraser and have knowledge of
Digital tools drawing them in a group.
• Digital scanner
• Adobe Photoshop with a Wacom tablet The car t-horse creature is
ready to be added to the car t.

192 Beginner’s guide to sketching: characters, creatures & concepts

Rough drawings Use yourself as a references to get
expressions and emotions right.
In the previous two parts I worked up the primary
characters of my drawing, but there are still a few
missing support elements which need attention
before we can move on to our final drawing. The
first step now is to draw those last missing parts.

Using the same techniques I used previously,

I draw all of my missing support elements:
the cart, the monkeys, the rope-bridge
totem, and other odds and ends that are
meant to support my main characters.

These are secondary elements. They should not Use your original
take away from my main figures, but they are still thumbnail to trace
important and are worth drawing (and redrawing) over and begin
until you get them right. However, I don’t spend to add in cleaner
too long here. They don’t have to be perfect; lines and details.
they just need to work well with the scene.
As these creatures are secondary to
the main characters and creatures, we
don’t want to draw as much attention
to them, so they can be less detailed.

The rope-bridge totem

is made up of simple
shapes. I mirrored the Use real-world references for any
tribal frog faces here to suppor ting characters and creatures.
create a sense of unity.

Drawing projects | Bringing it all together 193

Collage work I begin to arrange my detailed drawings of
the character, creatures, and surrounding
elements over my original thumbnail.
Now that I have all the drawings I need completed,
I scan everything into Photoshop. If you haven’t
worked with Photoshop before, you can
download a free trial of Photoshop or Photoshop
Elements from www.adobe.com. There are other
alternatives available such as Affinity Designer
(www.affinity.serif.com), Mischief
(www.madewithmischief.com), and
ArtRage (www.artrage.com).

I use a flatbed scanner to scan in my drawings.

However, if you don’t have one, don’t worry! You can
use a basic digital camera or even the camera on
your phone to get your drawings into Photoshop.

I open my initial thumbnail in Photoshop and

make a new layer (Layer > New > Layer) over
the top of it. I fill this layer with white and set
its opacity to 80%. This allows me to see it as a
guide, without it overpowering my new drawings.
Next I open all of my new drawings and drag
each drawing into my file. As I drag them in I
change their layer blending modes to Multiply. Want to stay
traditional?
I then click Image > Adjustments > Levels and You can also complete this step
drag the input sliders so that only the black with traditional collage work by
line remains (and there is no paper texture). cutting out your drawings and laying
This cleans up the drawings so there isn’t too them over your thumbnail on a
much clutter or competing paper textures. new piece of tracing paper.

194 Beginner’s guide to sketching: characters, creatures & concepts

Adding in the final elements
Once I have laid out all of my various elements over my thumbnail, there
will be areas that have I have yet to draw. I could print the whole file out
01
on copy paper and finish the areas by hand, but I find it quicker to do this
in Photoshop. I will therefore be staying on the computer for this stage.

01 Digital brushes
When I do rough clean-up work like this in Photoshop, I only use basic
brushes without any textures or fancy brush settings. For this tutorial I
use a standard round brush, which has been squashed and angled just a
bit to give the line a little life. Please note that in the Transfer settings I 02
have set both Flow Jitter and Opacity Jitter to Pen Pressure.
Create quick, organic sketches for the
02 Environmental additions foliage, a less detailed background element.
Using this digital brush, I work on any environmental areas that I haven’t
drawn, for example the jungle plants and tree shapes, as well as any
areas on or around my figures that haven’t been drawn yet. I also tighten
up my background areas. I do not spend long doing this as foliage,
landscape, and backgrounds can be very, very organic. It is making sure
the characters are working that I am mainly concerned with. I will use a basic round brush
to fill in the blank areas.
03 Last-minute adjustments
Photoshop has many wonderful tools for adjusting your drawing. At this
stage I want to check all of my perspective lines and proportions before It is always a good idea to flip
I move on to my final refined drawing. To do this I mirror my image by your image horizontally (try
clicking Image > Image Rotation > Flip Canvas Horizontal. ver tically as well), as any errors
will jump right out at you. If
Mirroring the image in this way is similar to what we did earlier with working traditionally, use a mirror
tracing paper and will often reveal many errors that I couldn’t see before. to see the image in reverse.
To fix them I will either redraw them or select the offending area and
click Edit > Free Transform or Edit > Transform > Warp to achieve what
I need to in order to make the image look proportional and correct (just 03
remember to flip your canvas back when you are finished).

Drawing projects | Bringing it all together 195

Lighting and value studies
We now need to plan out our lighting. This
is an important stage so that we know how
to shade and render our characters. To
decide on my lighting I am going to make
Lightening the
some tiny value studies of my drawing.
background
will highlight
In Photoshop I shrink my file to something very
the background
tiny to prevent myself from getting caught up
setting.
in the details. For this image I reduce my file to
450 pixels tall by 600 pixels wide. I then create
several thumbnails using only black, white,
and gray. I treat my compositions like they are Darkening the background
a stage and have a foreground, main middle creates a dramatic lighting
ground, and background. Do I want to darken scenario in the foreground.
my foreground to play up the setting in the
background? Do I want to darken the background
If the area Foreground framing
to give more dramatic lighting to the foreground?
surrounding the In order to make our characters “pop”, we
This is where I experiment and decide.
character is dark, want to make sure that they are distinct from
the character the background. So if our character is to be dark,
should be light to the area behind them should be brighter; if the area
make it “pop”. behind them is dark, the character should be light.
Making these little simple value studies will help
you to decide how to proceed in the next stage
when you are shading and adding values. This
is extremely important, especially if you
plan to paint over this drawing.

My chosen value study.

196 Beginner’s guide to sketching: characters, creatures & concepts

The final drawing Work around
If your drawing is a bigger
Now that I have completed all of my preliminary work I am
size than your printer can print,
ready to begin my final drawing. I can approach my final drawing
you can always print out the
with more confidence now that I have worked out all of the
drawing in sections and
details and have already dealt with any potential pitfalls.
tape them together.

01 The transfer
We need to transfer our drawing from our computer screen to
our drawing paper. There are a variety of ways of doing this, and
you should use whatever feels the best for you. Light tables,
projectors, even printing out lightly on your paper are all great
possibilities. I find that I get the best end results when I do a soft
pastel transfer, so that is what I will be using for my drawing here.

To do a soft pastel transfer I first print out my drawing on

copy paper. I then make my transfer sheet by rubbing soft pastel (any 01
dark color you like) on tracing paper so that it completely covers the
surface (note that after I finish, I blow off any remaining dust to help
keep my transfer clean). Finally, I place this sheet of tracing paper face
down on my drawing paper. I place my printout over this and tape
the top of the paper down to my drawing surface. This way I can lift it
up to check the transfer and do not have to worry about my drawing
The final
or transfer coming out of alignment. I am now ready to transfer.
composition
ready to print. Begin to go over
I use a very hard pencil – 4H or 6H are best because they will hold the transfered lines,
a very sharp point and give a clean, solid transfer line. I redraw darkening and refining
over my printout, pressing firmly enough so that the pressure of them as you go.
the pencil makes the pastel transfer onto my drawing paper.

02 Drawing
I begin drawing with a 2H pencil to lightly reinforce my
transferred lines. Once I have established my lines, I 02
go over them with a HB pencil to darken them.

Drawing projects | Bringing it all together 197

03 Shading
For shading I tend to prefer using hatching lines. These allow me to give some
sense of movement and texture. Usually I will save the majority of my shading
until after I have drawn all of my lines. Since this is a larger piece, however,
and I know very well what I want my values to be like, I am going to shade as
Use hatching and cross-
I go along. Whenever I get to deep shadow areas that need to read as black,
hatching to create The smudge patrol
I switch to a 2B pencil, which if pressed firmly can achieve very rich darks.
texture in your shading. Remember you can place a few
sheets of paper underneath your hand
while you draw to avoid smudging the lines
underneath. Again, make sure you work left
to right if you are right-handed,
and right to left if your
are left-handed.

Use a 2B pencil to
shade the darker areas,
such as cast shadows
and occlusions.

03

198 Beginner’s guide to sketching: characters, creatures & concepts

04 Erasing
Since I have already worked out my drawing ahead of time, I will not need
to make many corrections as I go along. Everything is pretty predictable.
However, as mentioned on page 185, the eraser is for more than just
corrections. For my frog tribesman here I have shaded in most of his face
very lightly using my 2H pencil. Now I go back in with a kneaded eraser
and “draw” out some of the highlights. This trick allows me a greater level
of control over areas that require more refined and subtle rendering.

Use a kneaded eraser to draw This is how the illustration is

out highlights from your shading. looking at the half-way point.

04

Drawing projects | Bringing it all together 199

05 Texture in different lighting
As done previously, I use the edge of my
pencil (instead of the tip) to lay in larger
05
areas of deep shadow. This keeps the detail
in those areas very murky – shadows should
always be murky! When I get to where the Use hatching lines and the
shadow transitions from dark to light, I will tip of your pencil to create
switch back to using the tip of the pencil. textured shading in the transition
from dark to light areas,
Areas which transition out of deep shadow and
into light are best shaded with hatching lines (or
any sharper line) because hatching lines can give
us a better illusion of texture there. In real visual
observation, the area in between full shadow and
full light is where texture can be best observed.
Full light minimizes texture and full shadow
does not show it at all. We therefore want to
keep our shadow areas clear of texture, our full Drawing and rendering
light areas very lightly rendered, and our spaces the background
in between, detailed and sharply rendered. In my value studies I decided that I wanted my
background to be very light. To achieve this, I have

06 Keep going! drawn with only the 2H pencil and left out the darker

Continue going over the transfer outlines and pencils. As I render the background, I keep in mind

shading from left to right (or the other way the rules of aerial perspective. For our drawing

round if you are left-handed), until your scene purposes here this means that as my scene

is complete. You can see my final image on the recedes into the distance the overall

next page. contrast decreases and there is less

and less observable texture.

Keep filling in your transfer

image until you have a
06
rendered illustration.

200 Beginner’s guide to sketching: characters, creatures & concepts

Drawing projects | Bringing it all together 201
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