Transcripts
1. Drawing Comic Book Art Lesson 2 Faces: Hi everyone and welcome to the second class in my articles on how to
draw comic book carts, your own amazing and
professional standard. Now, in this second lesson, we're gonna be looking at faces. So we'll be looking at
faces as well as how to draw the head and
face as a 3D objects. And as well as that we'd be
looking at how to illustrate any expression that
you can think of and how to properly show
that in your app. And you'll be able
to do this with enough practice with
minimal references. So without further
ado, let's begin.
2. Part 1: The Human Skull: Okay, so we're gonna be using the same equipment
as less than one, which is quality A3
paper, mechanical pencil, and of course an eraser or
a rubber hand techniques. It might be helpful to check
back in the first lesson, just some little
hints and tips as to how to properly hold the pencil. First, as with any
sort of anatomy, we'll look at the
skeleton first. So here is a basic skull
from the front and side. Obviously you're not going
to have to draw this every time you want to draw a
face or anything like that. But it does help to
kind of illustrate the basic structure in how the head and
the face is built. So the only things you, the end joint that you
really have to worry about is the jaw here. Obviously it just
opens and closes. Everything else is gonna be facial movements or
muscle movements, I should say on the
actual face itself. You can see here
that the cranium, which is the top part of the
skull, is slightly wider. This is the widest
point of the head. With the cheekbones
are jets out here. The face comes down here and
follows along the jaw here. When you're looking
at it from the side. Always remember, you have the head that starts
all the way back here. The neck will come
down from here. The jaw. And the year. We'll start much further on. The jaw comes just behind, sort of wrap around halfway
across the cranium here. Okay, so next we're
going to move on to actually building
up this face.
3. Part 2: Basic Facial Structures: Okay, So I have a couple of examples drawn here that I'm
going to kinda build upon. So whenever I'm doing a
character's head along the face, when I'm doing a head or
face that's quite large, I'll normally start with this. Just a basic sort of circle. Doesn't have to be perfect, but circle is best
to start off with, which represents the cranium of the skull over-simplified. Now from here you'll
notice that I do these two crossing
lines going across. So I'll start with the ball. And then Aldi, one
vertical line. One horizontal. Now, the first vertical line. This is going through
exactly the halfway point, down, down the
middle of the face. So it goes down exactly down
the middle of the nose. And this helps to visualize
kind of lateral movement. So anything side to side. And this horizontal line is
where the eyes will sit. And this is to help visualize any movement going up and down. So you have these examples here. So the character is
looking slightly to our rat and slowly upwards. This vertical line is all the way to the right-hand
side of the circle. And this line, which
sits near the bottom, circle, is heading
slightly upwards. You have this example here. Quite neutral point for
the horizontal line. That vertical line is
nearly all the way to the side because
we're looking at nearly the profile
of the character. You have this one here. Again, the vertical line is
slightly to the side because the characters took
him to the side and the horizontal
line with the ice, it is really near the bottom is the
character is looking down. And this one here,
slightly to the side, but a fairly neutral
horizontal line here. Now from here, we can draw
on the soft jaw line. And again, the jaw line
will sit within its never wider than this circle which represents the cranium. And as to where
the chin we'll go. That's going to follow
this vertical line here. It's just going to
go through exactly halfway through the chin, know the sides of the jaw here. And it's a case of joining out. Let's say I'm making
it very angular just to kind of show you guys, but there were
different draw shapes that I'm sure you guys
can experiment with. Okay, So from here, you can build up the basic
features of the face. So again, the eyes sit around the halfway point of this horizontal line
going across the face. Now looking straight on, there should be roughly one eye One eyes worth of space between your two
main ice swab DDS in bold. We can see what the main eyes or you should be able to fit roughly
one I between the two. And then from here, you
can also fit another I roughly to the side of the head. So from here, if you
establish the side of their head, come up. Now, it's not gonna follow
this circle Exactly. Normally I find it the actual head sit just inside the
sides of the circle. So remember if we look
back at that skull, you see that the cranium
isn't a perfect circle. In fact, it's got long lr, square root, squarish
quality to it. I'm not quite square, but not as round as, as you might think. You've got in total, Five Eyes or five eyes worth of space going
across the head here. So we can get rid of
them because they're looking quite confusing now. Unless your character
has flybys, that's fine. So we still want to
keep these lines here. So we've established
that our chin is somewhere down here. Now from here, you want to establish where your
nose is going to be next. So halfway between this line where the eyes sit and the chin. Will be where the
bottom the most sets. Now, when looking straight on, it's fairly easy just
to do a nose shape. Just as a quick example. One more thing, this nose, the nostrils normally lineup roughly with the corner of each. Again, these are
very approximate. I'm going to be
the exact same for every single facial look at. But these are good
guidelines to stick by. When it comes to
drawing the nose from a more difficult kind of angle. Let's take, for
example, this one. We want to go halfway
between these two. And that halfway
point will never change because if the
character is looking down, his chin is only going to
get closer to this line. So it's always going
to stay halfway. So we have this
line here and here. We go halfway. Except it's not just going to sit like how I've drawn it here. Instead, what I like to do
is draw almost this pyramid like shape that ends
where the eyes sit. So it comes to a point on
this horizontal line here. You have this always
pyramid-like shape. From here. This helps as a great
guide to drawing the nose. The nostrils, the ends of the nostrils will come
to this line here. The actual nostrils themselves. I should have said the side of the nose sit underneath here. Then from there. You can do the rest
of their lives. Now when you're doing nostrils, as a quick side note, you might have noticed I did it slight. Don't do a full just to
all of the bigger here. I wouldn't do just two
holes drawn like that. This can make the
nose look a bit sort of pigs now see, instead, what I would do is use lines to hint at something
rather than just draw ray. If we have the side
of the nose here. So we'll have this
line coming down here. That's it. Because there's no hard
looking from this angle, There's no hard line. It just kinda gradually goes
into the inside of the nose. Okay. And finally we have the
mouth which is going to sit. We're going to go halfway again. So between this line that
you've done your nose on, halfway between
that and the chin. Sit where? Our mouth. Now the mouth itself. It's not that complicated. People sometimes are a little bit intimidated
by drawing miles, but the end of the day is it's
just a hole in your face. That's a flexible hole at that. So as long as you remember that this jaw can move up and down. And you have a hole here
which is of a limited space. So if you imagine, if it sits close like that, when the door opens
is going to get longer but less wide. Okay. So we'll draw a
closed just for now, just so we can give
this face and mouth. And then I'll expand on that. Okay. Once again, a closed
mouth will come halfway. A little bit shorter, roughly
halfway between these eyes. So we have the mouth, halfway between the
nose and the chin, and coming perfectly in-between
the midpoint of our eyes. So again, I said before
that we treat the mouth just like flexible Hall at the opening of a
balloon or something. So if we come back
to this one here, let's say the jaw
is fairly open. When we draw the jaw open, just remember that
the jaw itself, a very rudimentary
looking jaw here. The hinge point is here. Which means that it doesn't
just come straight down. It comes in this arcane
motion this way. So it will. And up here. Okay. So when we're
drawing it from the side, we have a character's
mouth open. We don't want to just
make this bit longer. We want to have it come
down an arc backwards. So draw the chin
slightly more back. Again. We visualize, we
started off with a jaw, kind of where it would
have been before. So we know the middle of
the mouth is roughly here. So we know that the
mouth is opened. Just come up here. Still hint at the corners
of the mouth here. The wider the mouth gets, the less it will lose its
kind of diamond shape. Okay. Coming back slightly
here as well.
4. Part 3: Facial Differences: So last but not least, we finish off this face here. Again, when you're
drawing faces, you might find yet go slightly off the
guidelines to make it look a bit more appealing
and that's fine. And also remember, not many faces are perfectly
angularly shaped like this. So you can rub out things
like a very hard square jaw. Make it a little
bit more rounded. Again, this how rounded or how square depends on how you
want to draw your character. Then we have the ears,
which will line up again exactly in line with
the bottom of the nose. We do today. The line of the nose and
the line of the eyes. Okay, Um, another quick
point with the ears. Again, this is something
that a lot of people tend to dislike the idea of doing because they
kind of look complicated. But they're not really
have this kind of C-shape. And then all you've got to do, start from the middle here. You have this little
flappy feeling bit if you feel your own,
you can feel that. Not only just do a line
going around the ear, incorporate the ear lobe. Don't necessarily join
these up exactly. Because again, a lot
of ears are different. Then. Contend that the ear
canal opening just here. Then we can just put in some, some line work here because most people's ears kind of take of a
different sort of shape. But it is generally, what I do is this line
going around the outside, fluffy bit with the ear canal, with the ear lobe and some random indentations and raisings on the inside of that. Now, one quick point. I think it is worth making. When it comes to drawing faces. That is the level of
detail that you put in. I tend to find that
when people draw faces, they put almost a little bit too much detail into the face. So for example, they'll have some really detailed lips
join all the way up here. That'll do this, this, these lines that come up here because that's what
they see all the time. They'll do it for all
these all these lines and where they see shading
and things like that. I personally don't
find this necessary. It does depend on what kind
of style you want to go for. If you want to go more cartoony, the less detail the better. However, if you want to go on a slightly more realistic
looking end of the spectrum. Be careful, because sometimes too much detail can be a detriment if you're
not practiced in it enough. So it can make the
faces look for what, for lack of a better
term, a bit creepy. Features that are attempting
to look realistic. When in fact they, they just kinda make the face look off. So don't be afraid to
not put detail in. Worst comes to worst. You can use shading to put those details in rather
than just line work, rely more on shading
for things like this, then your line work. If, if you want something to look a
little bit more organic. But again, it does depend on how cartoony you
wanted to take them. Now, as was the case
in less than one, no two people look the same. So when you are. Drawing faces, you have
a lot to play with. Now, again, it will depend on your character's personality or what you want to show
about your character. But you can fake, you can play around with
a lot more features than you can on just the body. So not only can you
play around with fat distribution
like we did before, but there's also a lot
of variety to the face, such as almost
infinitely shape noses. So you can have very
sharp looking noses, very flat ones, very rounded ones, or
anything in-between. Just as some quick examples. Another thing that can
vary a lot in his mouth. Again, you can play
around with lip size. You can play around
somewhat with the width. Or how down or slowly up
they might naturally sit. Another thing to
play around with, which is probably going to have the most effect is the eyes. Now you can have a lot
of various shapes. Eyes. We have characters. It really depends on lots of
factors such as their age, what style you're going for, what kind of look you want
to show in your character. Okay? Just remember with eyes. This is the point of
the character that people naturally
tend to look at. The same, The same way that we always look into the
eyes of people that we speak to and interact with is going to be the
same when people look at our character's eyes are probably one of the most
important parts to get right. So it also says a lot about what kind
of style you go for. A lot of people kinda go for the more realistic looking eyes. Other people might
want to go for a more sort of Japanese style. Others more of the Disney
esque going to style. It really, really does
depend on what you're most comfortable with and what kind of image you want to put across. Just remember,
whatever style you do choose that you need to
stay consistent with it. So you can't have
a really realistic diagnosed with this kind
of AI. For example. Next up you can play around
with other features that can illustrate who
your character is and what they're about. So if the character is not afraid to get a
little bit roughed up, you can have the facial scar or, you know, sort of broken nose coming across here
or slightly swollen. Horizontal or broken. Nice. That's a bit better.
5. Part 4: Treating it as a 3D Object: So you can play around
with things like that. Or you can have features that can really soften up the look
of the character. So for example, here, you can soften up the shape of the jaw and you can make the nose a little
bit more dense here, a bit more smoother. Get rid of some of
more of these details and soften up or round
and of the eyes as well. Another little thing that you can play around with
is the actualize itself. Again, this is what your readers are really
going to connect with. So if we write this out just
to show you an example, one thing I like to really
do with the pupils, experiment with just
how warm or cold. You can make them look. If you want something
or surmise that look very cold and nature can have this white or the
color will be and have the, the actual pupil itself. The very small. This can, well, as
you can tell this, this has already, given a bit
more coldness to the eyes. Changed that up
with a shape here. And you can, you can
have a character very cold, steely looking eyes. Or if we warn them up a bit, we can do is add in a highlight. Depending on where
your light sources, like the pupil bigger. You can sort of shade
this in as well and give the iris itself
some warmer colors. And it instantly that has
warmed up this person's eyes. So it can, again, it can bring a bit
more of a warmth and Kylie nature to the character
that you're drawing. So just having experiment with
all these sorts of things. You know, you can have again, thin lips, thick lips. You can have quite
shallow cheeks. I'm looking face or bring some gels and hair as
well to add a bit of age. Ready with the addition
of some lines, it's changed what
the character is. Whereas we change up. A few more things.
Make it the opposite. I'm slightly rounded nose, some softer lines here as well. At some folds for the eyelids. Always makes the
character look more relaxed when you
do this as well. Then if we shade in the corners of the
mouth a little bit, give it a slight upturn. At these in a little
bit higher ups gives them more for the cheeks. Now already, that has given a lot more home and fullness and some youth to the
character as well. So you don't necessarily
have to overthink or change around the basics of the face to put across what
you want on the character. Sometimes it can be
very, very subtle. In terms of features
on the face. Again, this just comes down to getting as experimental
as you like. Just as long as you don't make the same mistake
that I see a lot of comic book artist making in that they made all of their
characters look the same. Obviously they're very
good at drawing a face. And they're very good at doing
that without references. But that tends to, again, make the face is
kind of all look the same. So kind of think about your
character and think about how much you want to play
around with those features. So whether you want them
to be very steady and cold looking or quite
warm or strong or weak. Anything like that. Those features that can, that can really play around, you can really play around is that if I do a couple
of examples now, just to kind of show you
what I'm talking about. Hands down. You have your way. And it's making me
lead you and you're walking back again
into my Campbell, that makes me feel like you I gotta hold of me when I'm awake and you and God knows, that you're pulling me clothes. Stay away, but you. Okay, So here I go. Two faces that I have drawn up. Just to show you an example of how you can
really play around with features to give a character's face or
rules on individual flare. So on the left-hand side, I have drawn, well, let's just say a certain hero
of vengeance and the night. And someone who is very rich, who I'm not going to mention because I'm
terrified of copyright. And as you can see, he's got much more
sharper features, stuff that makes him look a
little bit more grizzled, a little bit more cold, especially with the eyes. And the features that
I've done the shading on. And again, I'm shading will
go on to in later lessons, but this is it for now. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum on the right, you've got a certain
someone who, let's say is a very
powerful alien, came to planet Earth as a baby. He can shoot lasers out because always, again,
terrified copyright. But you get the idea. We've
got this guy on the left, on the right here with much more prettier features,
a little bit more. Typically. So handsome, very pretty boy. As opposed to the one
on the left here, which is a little bit
more sharp and grizzled. But for these both, sorry for both of these faces, or follow the same
basic structure that we've already gone over. But with certain things that
have changed up the nose, the jaw shape, the mouth, the eyes, things
like that, the hair. So again, this is a chance
for people to get really creative with how they do
their character designs. Just so you don't
fall into the trap of making them look
the exact same.
Ryan Hughes
