I've been working on a dummy for quite a while for a story I've written. Every now and then I get discouraged and stop working on it, so I'm glad for this little push and excuse to keep going on with it. Here are the character sketches. I want you to be brutally honest and help me figure out where I need to improve to keep her looking more consistent. By the way, she's supposed to be somewhere between 3-5 years old. (I know that can be a big difference, so let me know your thoughts on the matter.)I really feel grateful for all of you and the way this group has helped push all of us to do better work. Thanks!
8 comments:
Well, she's quite adorable! :-)
The tricky part is the consistency and I think overall you got it right (especially all the ones in the first row, the one middle drawing in the second row, and the first drawing of the third row.) In all of those I saw a strong consistency.
The problems I see are in the profile poses and also the age level. She looks older to me. When I first looked at the drawings, before reading your post, I thought she was about 8 or 9. To me she seems a bit grown up for 3-5.
Thanks, Monica. Any thoughts on how to make her look younger? And what I am doing wrong with the profiles? (These are all things I have also questioned, but I'm having quite the time figuring them out!)
Angelic: she's very cute & you are consistent with her throughout. I do agree with Monica--she looks older than 3-5. Three to fives look like they're neckless in some way (not that they are). Their features are not strong or well-defined in that they have softer, rounder faces (bone structure is not as evident). Their limbs are shorter & their balance is not great, so they are a bit more awkward and apt to put their whole body into climbing, jumping, running...not sure this helped. Your drawing, by the way, is very good & skillful! (sorry to go on so much)
Hi Angelic-- I agree with Linda as well, I think roundness and shorter limbs will make her look younger. I have a hard time drawing profiles too, so it's hard for me to say do them while keeping the resemblance. My characters usually have rounder features and that helps a bit, I think, the profile keeps the round feature and just adds a bit of a nose... Not sure if this was very helpful, either, but I do think you have a lovely character and your poses very creative and diverse.
I agree with what's been said about the age. Get some info on children's proportions. (a book on children's portraits is great for this.) As children age their proportions change -so the typical eyes half way down the head isn't right. And the proportion of skull size to body size changes greatly at those ages. At two the body is around 4 heads tall and at 6 to 8 it is around 6 heads. There is also something about width of shoulders.
Also with the profiles there is a lot of skull at the back of the head. the middle right profile looks squashed.
But overall I think the consistency and expressions are great.
hi Angelic! these expressions are great! i love this little girl. i think maybe add some information for us about her age if you draw the girl's milk-tooth when her mouth is opened and the eyes in this ages are so big and so honest. and - agree with others - changing proportions can help a lot. little bit shorter arms and little bit "roly-poly" body make her younger. have a good work! i give you joy of your tale! :)
First, I really love the character. She is done in your signature style. You asked about how to make her look younger? Two things you can do right now is make the head a little bit better then the body. Little children or tots, they're heads always seem to be little bigger than their bodies. It's like they have to grow into them. Bigger eyes or eyes that are spaced further apart will make the character look younger as well. Of course as everyone has said making her a little more round. Though out you have been consistent in the appearance of the character and that is seen in your sketches. You are off to a great start.
I really like these character studies - and how, with just a pencil you've filled the page so well, with so many detailed expressions for this character.
Sometimes when I'm trying to figure out a character, I find that asking simple questions about who they are, what they like and dislike etc., or playing with fragments of story ideas, sometimes makes pictures kind of appear that make that character start to feel more 'real'
These are beautiful drawings - and best of luck developing these!! and I hope you have lots of fun too:-)
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