Tao of Guerra

Character (Model) Sheets

Today we’re going to talk about the importance character sheets. It doesn’t matter if you’re creating comics, animation or designing for TV or movies. Many times we creative types get caught up in the heat of the creative moment and draw all of our ideas in a blur of frenzied activity. That’s great, especially while the initial idea is fresh, but once the euphoria wears off, I highly recommend drawing out character sheets.

A character sheet (model sheet for animators) involves drawings of posed characters to help provide you with a reference template. They usually include a character’s head and body from various angles (a process known as “model rotation“), as well as sketches of the character’s hands and feet, and several basic facial expressions.

Don’t fall for the old, “I know my characters so well, I don’t need characters sheets.” You will forever thank yourself later for having something to refer to. And nothing works better to help you solidify the look and personality of a character; how they appear, what they wear, body language, expressions, gestures, etc. It definitely helps you avoid headaches and inconsistencies later on.

Let’s review the process. You get a fantastic idea for a great character. You draw something in your sketchbook – woohoo! It’s kick ass! Here’s my first sketch of Catalina from Samurai Elf. A wise cracking pirate and captain of her own ship.

Later I decided to revisit that character and draw out and solidify her face. As I did this, she took on a life of her own and was less Manga looking than the original.

Sometimes, a character evolves over time, but other times I’m dead sure of what I want. The character is already defined in my mind and just need some fine-tuning in my sketches, especially for the costume. I like flipping through books on different historical periods for ideas.

When I’m working on a new project, I like to have one sketchbook dedicated to only those characters, machines, settings,… anything you can think of. I sketch out a character sheet for all of my characters, no matter how minor.

Benefits Include:

Angles
As I’m drawing out my sequential pages and get stuck on a certain angle (what would they look like if they were looking straight up, ¾ from above or below, etc), I can refer to the character sheets for just the angle I’m looking for.

Costume
Fantastic reference for clothing, accessories, weapons,…anything at all that the character might wear or carry.


Color Palettes
Having a characters color worked out ahead of time saves you so much time later on. This includes skin, hair, eyes, clothing, accessories, weapons, etc. I look working this out before I start to computer color or paint. Here’s a sample of my character, the knight Robert B. Astard. I made sure to nail his colors before I started to paint my pages.


Locations/Settings
If there are houses, buildings, rooms, outdoor scenes, etc., where a large scene or multiple scenes will take place, I find it very helpful to do separate sheets for these. I draw the same room/location from different angles and I include what appears in the room, i.e., furniture, windows, drapery, books, etc.

If you take the time to do these when you’re really serious about developing an idea, character sheets will save you from coping with many consistency problems you might run into later on. It’s one less thing to worry about later when you’re focusing on the panels, the page layouts, and the coloring. It’s the best reference you can give yourself.

Post by Miguel & Suzy

Every once in awhile I get these obvious thoughts that cross my brain, at least in retrospect they’re obvious. Being an artist in a static medium these days can be really tough. Comics and graphic novels are always competing with all more exciting mediums like television, movies, and the might video game. And all of these mediums share one thing in common - movement. People will always watch things over reading them. Why? It’s easier, faster, you name it. How much of it has to do with the human psyche associating life with movement and static or inanimate with death?

Maybe I’m over analyzing. But movement is something I fight hard to bring into my work. I think cartoonists need to aware that we are really fighting an uphill battle for peoples’ attention. So, how can we work around it? If we keep it in minds that the frames we draw are moments in time, that one should connect and lead to the next, then it makes them more dynamic (to borrow a Marvel term). If you need to drop a perfect anatomy or movement, screw perfection. It almost always ends up looking stiff anyway. And if you’re drawing sequentially, it’s no contest.

People will always be attracted to something that looks natural and fluid over someone’s technique or how perfect a body part is. Giving body movement and personality to your characters will always win out. Having the whole package is the pinnacle, but we all need to focus on certain things as we build our skills. Sometimes accuracy can be the enemy of movement and dynamism. And once you spend hours on a drawing, you’re not going to want to erase. Get the movement and frame layouts first, then work in the drawing. Anyhow, that’s what was on my mind.

What’s the difference between coloring and painting? Most books that focus on comics stick to comic book coloring, which is mostly flats with some shadows and highlights. My rule of thumb is that if you see a black outline (or even a different colored outline) it’s coloring. If you no longer see the line because you've painted over your sketch, then it’s a painting. Here’s what I mean…


Captain Marvel is basically flats with a strong ink line.

For Wolverine I added more shading, shadows and highlights, but there’s still a strong ink line that defines the illustration.


My version of Lorna by Alfonso Azpiri is a watercolor painting, but I kept my sketch lines prominent. Even though I used colors to give shape and volume to the illustration, the objects are still defined by a black outline. The initial drawing is not changed during the coloring process.


In contrast to these three is my take on the Joker. I've painted over my initial sketch so there's no outline surrounding anything. The edges are created as you paint.


Painting is intimidating, especially when you’re used to comic style coloring, at least it was for me. You don’t realize how much of a crutch that outline is until you get rid of it. Suddenly, you’re not coloring between the lines. There is no line! You have to use shades and tones and palettes to compensate. Whether you use traditional or digital painting, it’s a real eye opener to see your drawing for what is it, without a nice ink job to pop it all out. You have to paint right over your pencils (whether you do it on paper, or scan in your pencils) and often times you’ll not only have to worry about the painting, but correcting the sketch. There’s no point in doing a perfect sketch since you’re going to paint over it anyway. Like all things, as you practice, things start to work themselves out. It’s always interesting to flip between the initial sketch and the finished painting. It’s a big accomplishment to see how far you took your art.

Post by Miguel & Suzy

I remember back in the day when I picked up my first “How to Draw Manga” book. I flipped through it and was amazed by how much I was learning, even though it was written in Japanese (published by Graph-Sha) and I couldn’t read a word of it! As I kept buying more volumes in the series I saw a profound difference improvement in my work, especially when they started to publish them in English the next year. I highly recommend these, not just to learn the manga style (that might not be your thing), but for movement, clothing, fight scenes, backgrounds, objects, animals, you name it. The series is very thorough and you can pick up specific books that appeal to you.

The flip side of success is imitation - bad imitation. There are so many books out there that jumped on the bandwagon and claimed to teach manga, but most were awful. They’re just trying to make a quick buck and think slapping big eyes on every character is enough. Oh, how little they know! There are so many styles of manga. Do we say that the illustrations in kids books are indicative of all graphic novels? Is Dr. Seuss the same as “The Dark Knight Returns”? Is “Pokemon” the same as “Deathnote”? Of course not.

Due to the proliferation of bad instructional books, people who are curious should not confuse knock offs with the original books from Japan (How to Draw Manga, Let's Draw Manga, etc). There’s so much that they break down so it’s easy to understand, they provide a fantastic resource. The series covers a wide range of subjects and skill levels, from beginner techniques to advanced. I find I often go back to books on mechanical objects like robots, cars, gun, tanks, even zombies. You name it, and they’ve already done a book on it.

Here are some volumes from the “How to Draw Manga” and the “Let’s Draw Manga” series that I found helpful for reference and inspiration when I was stuck for ideas. They’re mostly for an intermediate skill level, but anyone can learn from them. All I can say is that I keep going back to them again and again. I’ve seen a marked improvement in my work, and I’ve gained more of a polished professional look. They help me with anything I draw and any style I draw in, and if you’ve seen my work you know I draw in whatever style I feel like at the time. The lessons apply across the board.

“Manga Matrix: Create Unique Characters Using the Japanese Matrix System” by Hiroyoshi Tsukamoto
This is one of my favorite reference books for inspiration on creating unique characters. I think this book deserves a post of it’s own. It uses a Japanese system, where you can plot and cross-section elements on a matrix diagram to create an infinite number of original characters, creatures, beasts, angels, demons, dragons, monsters, and robots. For example, why not break the laws of nature and create a bird attacking fish? Just combine a swordfish x flying fish x marine bird, transform the gills into wings, and transform a crustacean’s skin into a beak. How a rock x bulldog x gorilla + tulip for a tail + horns? This book helps give your imagination a starting point so you don’t have to stare at a blank page.

“How to Draw Manga (volume 28): Couples” by Hiraku Hayashi
This is the only book I’ve come across that teaches how to work two figures into a shot. It has pages of effective poses that you can use as reference. Drawing two bodies together can be one of the more difficult things you can draw, and this book helps to break it down into manageable pieces. It even references differences in male and female arm lengths when they wrap around each other. It’s not a beginner book, so you need some basic anatomy and drawing skills going in, but we all need to keep working on the basics.

“How to Draw Manga (volume 29): Putting Things into Perspective” by K’s Art
This book is invaluable! It doesn’t just cover 1st, 2nd, and 3rd point perspective, but it also teaches you how to draw slopes (up & down). It uses indoor and outdoor examples from real life so your backgrounds are solid. It also covers everything from basic standing, to multiple characters with varying heights so they don’t look like they’re above or below the perspective plane. It even gets into complicated shots like a fish bowl lens. Again, this isn’t a beginner book.

“How to draw Manga (volume 32): Mech. Drawing” by Katsuya Yamakami
When I need to do any mechanical drawing, I pull out this book. It covers everything: bicycles, robots, androids and space stations, using just 4 elements (metal, glass, rubber, plastic). It helps you lay down a solid knowledge base from which you can draw whatever mechanical monstrosity you can think or fantastic marvel you can think of. It breaks down the process so you can take what’s in your mind and put it down on paper.

“Let's Draw Manga: Transforming Robots” by Yasuhiro Nitta
This takes you through the transformation process using Gobots and Power Rangers robots so it’s easy to understand. And why not? PLEX dseigned those toys, so they’re a great reference for how to draw them. It takes everyday vehicles and folds them into robots with proper proportions.

“How To Draw Manga (volume 6): Martial Arts & Combat Sports” by Hikaru Hayashi and Kunichika Harada
This book helps you get away from the typical haymaker style fight you see in most comics. It covers a variety of fighting styles, including judo, karate, kendo, boxing etc., and street fights. It also covers both men and women, which is a big plus. I was trained in martial arts and it helped me break down the movements like nothing else I’ve come across. Depicting a fight is a lot different than being in one. It teaches how to draw kicks, punches, throws, grappling, etc. It even covers martial uniforms for both sexes, in case you want your characters to wear the appropriate clothes. It doesn’t cover facial expressions very much, but there are other books in the series to help you with that. This is straight up martial arts and fighting.

“How to Draw Manga (volume 23): Illustrating Battles” by Hikaru Hayashi
This book covers Chinese martial arts, pro-wrestling techniques, Akido and other fighting arts. It focuses on the dramatic side of a fight, not so much the technical poses and body movements. This helps you give your scenes a strong emotional impact. It also offers you great tips on how to add details that add a sense of reality to your drawings. For example, there are comments on almost every page with tips on things like like how to add bruises (from slight to someone call a doctor!), how give clothes that battle worn look, how to make a face look swollen, and other types of physical damage. It covers straight up punches and kicks to how characters scramble to their feet after being hit. There’s even a catfight that goes into the movement of clothes and fabric (in school girl uniforms – of course).

“How to Draw Manga (volume 24): Occult & Horror” by Hikaru Hayashi
Great reference for anyone drawing horror, fantasy, or magic based work. It offers many ideas and techniques, like how to make the insides of a zombie fall out of their mid-sections in just the right way, or how to draw a severed limb. It also shows you how to draw moody and dark backgrounds. Gory and gorgeous stuff!

“How To Draw Manga (volume 38): Ninja & Samurai Portrayal” by Team Esaka and “Let's Draw Manga: Ninja and Samurai” by Hidefumi Okuma

These book provide historical reference for characters. They cover period costumes, hairstyles, assorted faces, props, armor, and weapons for various types of ninja clans (both sexes) and samurai. They also review motion, fabric movement, poses, how to hold and use the different types of weapons, how to wield a sword, how to strike, stances, where the characters feet should be, etc. They not only cover the costumes, but the undergarments and who they were worn.


“How to Draw Anime & Game Characters” series by Tadashi Ozawa
This series starts with “Basics for Beginner” which covers manga and anime style drawing, but also video game design. It has step-by-set instructions on drawing male and female characters, from young to old, how to add expression to the face and body movements, clothing, and accessories. The rest of the series goes into detail on expressing emotions, everyday mannerisms, body language, and character design.

“Let's Draw Manga: Fantasy” by Noriko Tsubota and Big Mouth Factory
I use this as resources to help me sort of think and be inspired or sometimes straight out reference. For example in the monster book it teaches you as system on how to create different looking monsters. Every once in a while when I feel that every monster I’m drawing looks the same I turn to that book.

Post by Miguel & Suzy

Short stories may give you a new lease on your imagination. Since they don’t require the commitment of a comic or a full graphic novel, it’s easy to let your imagination run wild. That’s true both for the story and the art style. Get as crazy as you want since it’s not a big investment or your time. You can work on your story telling and plot development (keeping it short and to the point isn’t always so easy), expand on your art skills (get out of your comfort zone), and give yourself the sense of accomplishment when you’re done.

It took almost two years to complete the first two volumes of my graphic novel series, Samurai Elf – a mammoth undertaking. It sucked a lot of energy out of my creative juices, so during the break in between, I wrote and illustrated a 4-page short story called, “Bed Bugs” that was published in Heavy Metal (July 2007). It felt great to finish something so quickly and the style was something new for me.

Since then I’ve realized the major benefits of short stories, which I’ve listed here:

1. Time saver.


2. Keeps you sane.


3. Might bring in some extra cash.


4. Some ideas as too short for a comic series or a book, but they’re still good ideas. Don’t you hate reading something that has a great idea, but they drag it on too long?
   
5. 
   It’s a huge challenge to write not just a prose short story, but a sequential short story in 1-8 pages, where every panel is prime real estate.


6. Helps you to grow as a writer, storyteller and/or an artist.


7. Immense sense of fulfillment once you are done.


8. A chance to break free from the usual. Experiment with everything, even your sequence or looking camera shots.


9. Try different genres.


10. Different methods of coloring to suit the stories.


11. Improves your storytelling for both small and large projects.


12. Opens your mind up to new ideas. From every short story I do, a new river of ideas flows.

The best advice I can give? Keep it simple, but compelling. A lot of editing may be necessary, but you’ll love the end result. If you want to publish your stories, do some research on different magazines. Find out the submission editor’s name and address, how long the story should be for their publication, and always match the genre to the magazine.

Post by Miguel & Suzy

For every story, the author must create a world that the reader can get lost in. Fantasy or speculative fiction worlds need even more detailed work to be convincing. Easier said than done. It’s sort of like building a car. You can play with the design, the purpose (make it fly, swim, hover, travel through time,..), what it’s made of, the color, etc., but you still need a solid engine that lasts. The strength of the engine depends on how much effort you put into building the world around your story.

How do you take your ideas and give them structure? This was the foremost question on my mind when I first thought of “Samurai Elf®.” I had the idea, but there’s a world of difference between a figment of my imagination and a fully developed concept. I turned to my old friend – books. Whenever I need ideas or inspiration, I flip through books to get my creative juices flowing. Here are some ideas to help you build your world so it doesn’t seem so overwhelming.

Anyone interested in creating a world should read George MacDonald’s essay, “The Fantastic Imagination.” If you’ve never heard of George MacDonald, he’s the guy J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis looked to for inspiration. What’s some of his no nonsense advice? Make a world that is grounded in common sense. Once you’ve established a rule, don’t break it. If only Hollywood followed these two simple rules! If you think those rules sound familiar, many have repeated them, but not given credit to MacDonald who lived from 1824-1905. Here are a couple of excerpts:

“The natural world has its laws, and no man must interfere with them in the way of presentment any more than in the way of use; but they themselves may suggest laws of other kinds, and man may, if he pleases, invent a little world of his own, with its own laws; for there is that in him which delights in calling up new forms--which is the nearest, perhaps, he can come to creation…

His world once invented, the highest law that comes next into play is, that there shall be harmony between the laws by which the new world has begun to exist; and in the process of his creation, the inventor must hold by those laws. The moment he forgets one of them, he makes the story, by its own postulates, incredible. To be able to live a moment in an imagined world, we must see the laws of its existence obeyed. Those broken, we fall out of it...

A man's inventions may be stupid or clever, but if he does not hold by the laws of them, or if he makes one law jar with another, he contradicts himself as an inventor, he is no artist.”

“How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy” by Orson Scott Card and “Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy,” by David Gerrold helped me to think of all of the details that a world needs to successfully draw in the reader. Card discusses the mechanics of the story, such as plot, pacing and characterization. But most importantly, it helps you understand how to edit your own work and give it a formal polish. Card’s book focuses on science fiction writing, but it’s really a book on writing good fiction. Gerrold discusses working within a logical framework when you're creating your own world. He emphasizes that, "you have to write each moment as if you lived it yourself." This book is not a specific checklist on what to cover, but it helps give you inspiration (always welcome) and encourages you to stay within the logistics of your world.

These books can go a long way to helping you to flesh out your ideas. It gave me a structure to work with; a starting point. They can help you to organize your thoughts and dig deeper into your story. For example, what’s the weather like? Is there magic? What kind of technology do they use? What kinds of religions do they follow? What’s their political structure? Is it a tribal society, or a modern or advanced society? Both Card and Gerrold ask a lot of questions. If you answer them all, you'll be able to breathe life into your world and the characters that live in it.

Another tip I use is to save articles that give me ideas. News and science stories are always good for future reference. Sometimes you read something and it helps you to fill in small details, other times it causes a maelstrom of ideas. I encourage anything that sparks that “what if?” moment in my brain. Another advantage of using articles is they can help make your fantastical idea plausible.

There’s a great new writing software called Scrivener that lets you type, bring in pictures, use note cards, link to supporting docs and reference materials, and almost anything you can do with paper, except it saves it in one file. It saves you from having to go through files full of paper. Keeping yourself organized will keep your story organized. The only drawback is that it’s only available for Macs.

Some great fiction books I’ve read that sparked many ideas include, “Dune,” the foundation series by Asimov, and the “Lord of the Rings” series. On the comics front, “Watchmen,” “Battle Angel Alita,” and “Ghost in a Shell” are great examples of worlds that completely immerse you. They show you the power of having thought through all aspects of the story, leaving no room for plot holes or awkward moments due to inconsistent storytelling.

Be creative, go wild! Just remember to give your plot a solid structure, your world plausible rules, and of course, great characters. Fantasy in the realm of possibility makes your story believable.

Post by Miguel & Suzy

The Fifth Dimension
Back in the day when I sat down to read Michio Kaku’s Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension. Wait a minute! What do parallel universes have to do with art? Art and science share a great many things in common, but you’re right, I’ll get to the point. Kaku described the early decades of the 1900s as a time when people were fascinated with the fourth dimension. Artists were obsessed with how to portray multiple dimensions. Ever thought about what Picasso was doing when he painted all of those disjointed looking people in his “modern art” pieces? He was trying to illustrate how images without a set fixed point would appear. If we can’t see into the fourth dimension, then higher dimensional beings would look like blobs or disjointed beings. When you understand what Picasso was trying So next time you think Picasso was smoking something, you might think twice and realize that he was trying to do something most people today still cannot begin to conceive. Picasso was brilliant in his observations and mixing that with his imagination. Here’s a great quote from Hyperspace:

“Picasso was once accosted on a train by a stranger who recognized him. The stranger complained: Why couldn’t he draw pictures of people the way they actually were? Why did he have to distort the way people looked? Picasso then asked the man to show him pictures of his family. After gazing at the snapshot, Picasso replied, “Oh, is your wife really that small and flat?” To Picasso, any picture, no matter how “realistic,” depended on the perspective of the observer.”

Drawing Realistically
This may seem like a strange introduction to a post on realism, but it’s an important place to start. Many times, artists forget that we’re drawing on a flat surface. We’re not re-creating reality like a photograph, we are interpreting reality and then creating a representation of it through a series of dabs, lines and scratches. Perhaps every artist at some point wants to achieve an ultra realistic style. Although this poses its own set of problems for comics, seeing that there aren’t big bold black lines outlining living things. So, trying to achieve realism with an ink line is next to impossible.

Balance
I like having my own style that falls somewhere in between realistic and cartoony. Drawing realistically is an important skill and helps you to hone in your craft and challenge you. But when you choose a style in which to draw, more often than not, the more realistic art is the less emotion it can express. In general, the harder you try to make a face look real, the more dead it appears. Emotion comes from the exaggeration of the eyes, eyebrows, mouth and body language. I think that’s why artists who are completely in the realism camp like to draw things more than people. Cars, buildings, everyday objects…things that don’t express emotion.

Curiosity Makes an Artist
Parents often push their children into adopting a realistic style. This is especially true in the west, where we have the perception that the more realistic something is, the better it is. The drawback to realism is that you don’t get to fully exercise your imagination. If you’re too busy developing your skills as an artistic stenographer, meaning someone who’s concerned with drawing things exactly as they see them, that can be frustrating and unsatisfying, especially for young artists. It’s like taking a left handed child and forcing them to use their right hand.

People need to choose their own style (or multiple styles) and develop that, not what someone else imposes on you. As individuals, there are certain tendencies that we naturally gravitate to. If not, all art would look the same and what a boring world that would be. Even among realistic artists there are differences. The important thing for growing as an artist is to try new things. The best way I know to do this is to switch up your style. Get out of your comfort zone. If you are more drawn to realism, try drawing cartoony and vice versa.

People have a tendency to pick the path of least resistance. How many artists do you know whose art never changes? I don’t mean that their publisher only buys a certain style so that’s what you see most of the time, but their overall portfolio looks almost exactly the same, year after year. How boring! As an artist, you should be hunting for new ways to do things; hungry to improve. Why? If you’re not curious and constantly developing new and better ways to do something, then you’re not an artist. It’s that simple. It’s what drives you.

Next time you get a chance, go to a museum and see paintings from some masters. I recommend this over books since prints never do the original painting justice. Take a close look and see how the brush strokes eventually build up to create an illusion that you can fully appreciate when you step back. They knew they couldn’t reproduce the real, so they found ways to fool your eye.

What do you think? Realistic or Cartoony?