@darky's post on Artfol
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| 19 | ESP/ENGHow do you all draw your oc's multiple times and they look exactly the same?? Plss I can barely draw them once 
May 18, 2021
May 18, 2021#oc
#qott
#questions
Comments
I suffer from inconsistency too, and to tackle that, I’m starting to create some OC refs. They really help keeping them consistent throughout the artworks! The only negative point is that it kinda restrains your style to that way of drawing, so it’s more likely it won’t change your OC as your style changes. But that’s why redesigns are a thing too. :P
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but yeah I can feel that haha
I had hundreds of attempts trying to draw my OCs. Most of them look completely different.
With time and practice I noticed which thing I should add to any character.
One character had round shapes, other has long faces, sharp nose- hiding hair, small eyes etc.
You get it with them time, it took me 2 years(
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My characters thought had Changed a l o t since their first drawing.
With time and practice I noticed which thing I should add to any character.
One character had round shapes, other has long faces, sharp nose- hiding hair, small eyes etc.
You get it with them time, it took me 2 years(
)My characters thought had Changed a l o t since their first drawing.
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•Practice, using basic shapes in their designs; at least for drawing bases before adding more details, making sure proportions are consistent (like making sure a character is like 5 heads tall every time you draw them, their eyes stay the same narrow shape, their arms never go past their knees, etc.)
Making turnaround reference sheets is probably the most helpful thing you can do. It’ll show off the character’s front, side, & back profiles, as well as include any additional details around these three drawings like a small drawing of their hand that shows what their scar looks like or a bigger drawing of just their eye off the side!
To specify a little bit about practice, when I make a new character, I usually have to draw/doodle them at least 5-10 times so I understand how to draw them, I would’ve already simplified more complicated aspects of their design or have gotten better at how to draw that complicated aspect of their design, I would understand their proportions & unknowingly made a few changes to their proportions from drawing them several times over, & can learn/understand the character better! From drawing them a few times over, always looking at previous art of them, you can catch & make notes of anything you forgot to draw on them or ant details you accidentally added onto them!
I hope this helps!
Making turnaround reference sheets is probably the most helpful thing you can do. It’ll show off the character’s front, side, & back profiles, as well as include any additional details around these three drawings like a small drawing of their hand that shows what their scar looks like or a bigger drawing of just their eye off the side!
To specify a little bit about practice, when I make a new character, I usually have to draw/doodle them at least 5-10 times so I understand how to draw them, I would’ve already simplified more complicated aspects of their design or have gotten better at how to draw that complicated aspect of their design, I would understand their proportions & unknowingly made a few changes to their proportions from drawing them several times over, & can learn/understand the character better! From drawing them a few times over, always looking at previous art of them, you can catch & make notes of anything you forgot to draw on them or ant details you accidentally added onto them!
I hope this helps!
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For me the more I drew them the easier it got for them to look the same every time xD :)
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•3 things:
-Proportions
-Structure
-Simple shapes into complex shapes
PROPORTIONS and the placement of the face features (in relation to each other) is really important, especially if you are working on a smaller format. Placing, let's say the nose, too high or too low can make a huge difference. Same with the body, if your character is suposed to have their torso and legs relatively the same but you draw the legs longer than the torso it makes a difference and reads a bit differently.
And while one mistake like that can be overlooked if you make multiple in the same drawing suddenly it makes quite the difference, and while the character can be recognizable they also look different.
Now to get the propotion right it helps to figure out the STRUCTURE. With the head I recommend the Loomis Method.
If you want to learn more about it check out the "Quickly draw the head with the Loomis Method" series by Proko on YouTube. Although he works in a realistic style the realism comes only with the detail. The structure is more or less the same for a cartoony style and the realistic style.
In general this boils down to practicing fundamentals. Sounds boring but it is important.
Another important thing to consider is to START WITH SIMPLE SHAPES AND ADD THE DETAILS LATER. What many people do is add to much detail too early (hi, I'm people). We work too fast because we want to finish quickly. But simple shapes make getting the size and proportion of what we are trying to draw the easiest to see and the easiest to fix. It's easier to spot if the legs are too long or too short if you draw them as simple cylinders than if you need to look past all the wrinkles on clothing.
It also helps with understanding the 3D shape. Sometimes one can draw their character from one angle but once they try to draw their character from another angle it just doesn't work. That's because the artist think about the character as something flat. So when you try to turn it but you do not know the 3D shape of it you will get something that doesn't make sense and doesn't read as the same 3D character seen from a different angle but as a completly different flat thing.
It all boils down to PRACTICE and REPETITION. You always need to draw the character a bunch to get the hang of it. You need to repeat drawing the character from both the same and different angles a lot to get familiar with the character refine it and build a muscle memory.
For example I have this one character that I used to know like the back of my own hand. But I haven't drawn her in like a year and it took me a few tries to get her right.
It also helps to make a CHARACTER SHEET. Which is basically a reference you make yourself. Something that you can always look back on when something doesnt look right. It usually consists of a full body of a character from the front, side viwe 3/4 view, and back view minimum + a lot of face drawings from different angles and different expressions.
-Proportions
-Structure
-Simple shapes into complex shapes
PROPORTIONS and the placement of the face features (in relation to each other) is really important, especially if you are working on a smaller format. Placing, let's say the nose, too high or too low can make a huge difference. Same with the body, if your character is suposed to have their torso and legs relatively the same but you draw the legs longer than the torso it makes a difference and reads a bit differently.
And while one mistake like that can be overlooked if you make multiple in the same drawing suddenly it makes quite the difference, and while the character can be recognizable they also look different.
Now to get the propotion right it helps to figure out the STRUCTURE. With the head I recommend the Loomis Method.
If you want to learn more about it check out the "Quickly draw the head with the Loomis Method" series by Proko on YouTube. Although he works in a realistic style the realism comes only with the detail. The structure is more or less the same for a cartoony style and the realistic style.
In general this boils down to practicing fundamentals. Sounds boring but it is important.
Another important thing to consider is to START WITH SIMPLE SHAPES AND ADD THE DETAILS LATER. What many people do is add to much detail too early (hi, I'm people). We work too fast because we want to finish quickly. But simple shapes make getting the size and proportion of what we are trying to draw the easiest to see and the easiest to fix. It's easier to spot if the legs are too long or too short if you draw them as simple cylinders than if you need to look past all the wrinkles on clothing.
It also helps with understanding the 3D shape. Sometimes one can draw their character from one angle but once they try to draw their character from another angle it just doesn't work. That's because the artist think about the character as something flat. So when you try to turn it but you do not know the 3D shape of it you will get something that doesn't make sense and doesn't read as the same 3D character seen from a different angle but as a completly different flat thing.
It all boils down to PRACTICE and REPETITION. You always need to draw the character a bunch to get the hang of it. You need to repeat drawing the character from both the same and different angles a lot to get familiar with the character refine it and build a muscle memory.
For example I have this one character that I used to know like the back of my own hand. But I haven't drawn her in like a year and it took me a few tries to get her right.
It also helps to make a CHARACTER SHEET. Which is basically a reference you make yourself. Something that you can always look back on when something doesnt look right. It usually consists of a full body of a character from the front, side viwe 3/4 view, and back view minimum + a lot of face drawings from different angles and different expressions.
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•The secret is really just drawing them a lot. I mean, with most ppl here we don't see EVERYTHING they draw, and tbh that's good 
but if you draw a character againand again and again you automatically make conscious and unconcious decisions on what you draw, how you simplify their shapea and features, and so on. And don't fixate too much on "drawing them exactly the same", the first pics of my ocs look vastly different from how them look now, but some key things still stayed, no matter how much the rest changes! And that's when you get recognition value 
but if you draw a character againand again and again you automatically make conscious and unconcious decisions on what you draw, how you simplify their shapea and features, and so on. And don't fixate too much on "drawing them exactly the same", the first pics of my ocs look vastly different from how them look now, but some key things still stayed, no matter how much the rest changes! And that's when you get recognition value •
•Same 
If I put the pictures of my OCs side by side they could be from different universes and time lines, that's how different I draw them every time!
If I put the pictures of my OCs side by side they could be from different universes and time lines, that's how different I draw them every time!
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•References and sometimes reusing old base sketches or pieces of them. And having difficult body parts to draw pre-drawn
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•Ughh sometimes I forget what my OCs are supposed to look like and I’m looking at the canvas like, “who r u??¿?”
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•I have the finalized drawings of all my ocs for my world in one sketchbook and I reference it whenever I have to draw them into anything. Except the ducks, they're fairly simple.
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•I use the same face structure but they still look a bit different in every piece
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•Practice.
But it also helps to gave each OC a few defining characteristics, like a certain head shape or a certain nose, to make them stand out. Then eventually they'll start to look the same as long as those specific traits are there.
But it also helps to gave each OC a few defining characteristics, like a certain head shape or a certain nose, to make them stand out. Then eventually they'll start to look the same as long as those specific traits are there.
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•Just draw them over and over and over
And study the way their lips, eyes, ears, eyebrows
Study every single detail in their design while drawing them
You will get used to them at some point
And study the way their lips, eyes, ears, eyebrows
Study every single detail in their design while drawing them
You will get used to them at some point
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