How to draw (sort of). Part III.

In the third installment of this reference guide, sort of drawing…thing, we will continue to go over various details relating to comics, manga, and the thing somewhere in between that I am trying to create. (This makes me wonder how many I will end up with.) Previously I sort of went on a rant about eyes…I apologize for that, they are just so much fun! Anyway, now to move on with things such as clothing and appearance and how it affects characters and such.

Expressions, physical features, and clothing all play a part in how a character is perceived by the reader. Looking at people you know, even strangers, you can collect some basic information about them simply by what they’re wearing. Expensive accessories? Status symbol. Polo and khaki shorts? A guy on the preppy side that goes with the social flow to fit in. Clothes several sizes too small? Someone at odds with their body image. You won’t always be right, but you do naturally form opinions of people without realizing it depending on how they appear in public.

Everyone keeping up so far? Good. Now, the point to this is that if you have a character to draw that plans to annihilate the human race for their own means, you probably don’t want to give them a sparkly cheerleading outfit. This is a very ‘dress for the job you want’ sort of thing. Superhero? Capes, masks, and lots of spandex will achieve your look. Little details will make all the difference.
Lets give some basic character templates, for time and convenience.

First up, the main character. Not much different between the cultures (though I’ll be focusing on superhero type comics first). Most typically, they start out totally normal…something the average reader can apply to. This all changes epically through mutant powers, radioactive spiders, extraterrestrial origins, vampire bites…the list goes on and on…the point being, something makes this average person extraordinary. This pulls them into the plot, whether it be good verses evil, whatever. The point is, world changing shit. From an artistic perspective, the main character has to have traits that draw the eye most. The story is about them after all. Wolverine for example. Mutant, big shiny claws, lots of muscle and crazy hair. That draws attention.



Moving on… Villains. There are two typical kinds. The Brainy kind of villain and the brawn. The brainy type tends to be scrawny in appearance, and stereotypically they are unattractive, bad posture, bad demeanor, etc… The muscle bound villain tends to lack in the intelligence department, also unattractive, usually just wanting to destroy everything for their own reasons. Not as much world dominating like the brainy villain. There is a third category though, the perfect bad guy is a mix of mind and strength, attractive, manipulative, these guys (or girls) tend to be the most dangerous.


Supporting characters! They can be best friends, previous enemies that changed their ways, total strangers that got thrown into the plot with the main character; the point is…they are there to support. Important note: I tend to get too attached to my side characters… Yes they can have wonderful back stories and contribute to the plot… But they can Not attract more attention than your main character(s). There has to be a least a little clarity.

The most important aspect to the whole graphic novel character setup is the dynamic between all the people contributing to the plot. For example, its difficult to have a good protagonist without a good antagonist. And what is a hero without anyone to support them? The reason the appearance of the people drawn makes such a difference is that with the varying pictures, the differences and similarities between people weave an interesting story on their own. The words and dialogue only support the flow that is already there.
This concludes today’s section, but there will be more about graphic novels soon (mainly because I have much more to learn).
Artists can all be found on deviantart.com.