There is a lot to consider when drawing a group of characters. But before getting lost within anatomy, character design and fashion choices, I focus on the story that I want to tell.
For this illustration I want to picture a lively moment of witches sharing a broom ride. I like to add some humour to my work, so I often look for inspiration in mundane, everyday moments and apply it to magical situations. Who doesn’t have a memory of squeezing into a tiny car with too many people? How would this play out on a broom with a group of excited young witches going to a magical party?
Sometimes I plan out what each character is doing in my head before I even start drawing. I think about their mood and how they could interact. When I finally start drawing, I keep it rough to be able to move and bend the characters until I find a composition that works for the story I have in my mind.
After this I can focus on the facial expressions, which I find most important for strong character art. For these, practising from reference is immensely helpful, no matter if it’s from photos or movies, or most conveniently of all your own face!
1. Keep it rough
I plan my composition with rough character sketches. I know my background will be a night sky, which is not so rigid in terms of perspective and scale, so I can ignore it for now and focus on the characters and how they interact. For multi-character scenes like this one, I pay special attention to where bodies overlap and touch. During the sketching process I keep all of the characters on separate layers to be able to move them around easily.
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Denne historien er fra May 2023-utgaven av ImagineFX.
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Jan Wessbecher
Dominic Carter talks to the visual artist about creating his own comic and why sketchbooks are great for creative experiments
Kyounghwan Kim
The Korean character concept artist speaks to Dominic Carter about staying open to ideas and the value of drawing regularly
Slawek Fedorczuk
Dominic Carter talks to the concept artist about what keeps him motivated and the advantages of using physical sketchbooks.
Raquel M. Varela
Raquel is inspired by magic, fantasy and fairy tales. She loves designing female characters from distant worlds. \"My greatest reference is Loish's art, thanks to her I learned to draw the movement and fluidity I like to convey.\"
Estrela Lourenço
Estrela is a children's book author and illustrator. Her work is influenced by her background in character animation and storyboards for clients such as Cartoon Network, and she channels comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes.
Daria Widermanska
Daria, also known as Anako, has been drawing for as long as she can remember. Inspired by Disney and classic anime, she loves creating new characters and often finds that a single sketch can spark a unique story.
Allen Douglas
Allen has been painting professionally since 1994 for the publishing and gaming industries. Inspired by folklore, he distorts the size, relationships and environments of animals, and calls his paintings 'unusual wildlife'.
Thaddeus Robeck
Thaddeus has been drawing from the moment he could hold a pencil, but it was the 2020 lockdowns that gave him the time to focus on honing his skills.
DRAW FASCINATING SYMBOLIC ARTWORK
Learn how JULIÁN DE LA MOTA creates a composition from his imagination with a focus on crafting figures, volumetric modelling, and light and shadow
First Impressions
The artist talks about his journey into the mythological world