Brief
Collect as many examples as possible of different characters – newspapers and magazines are a particular good source. Catalogue these characters as types – babies, children, sportsmen, old women – create your own category headings.
Decide upon a character you would like to create. This might be one from a book or story, or based on an archetype such as a businessman or vicar’s wife.
Begin to brainstorm around your character – perhaps there are characters from the media or your own life you would like to focus on.
Draw your character from the front, from the side and from the back. It may help to draw lines from the neck, shoulder, waist and knees as an aid to scale and to ensure a sense of proportion. (This is known as 360o drawing.)
Draw your character over and over again. Get into role and adopt their mood, expression and personality. It often helps to work out what they are thinking or saying. Try moving the facial features around to extremes and using a few lines and dots to represent the face. Be conscious of the contribution clothing and costume makes in describing a character.
Then try another, different, character. Make sure you come up with someone completely different, not just the same person in different clothes.
Key words:
- Collect as many different examples of different characters as possible
- Catalogue these
- Decide upon a character
- Begin to brainstorm
- Draw your character from the front, from the side and from the back
- Get into role and adopt their mood, expression and personality
- Try moving the facial features around to extremes
- Be conscious of the contribution clothing and costume makes
Research: Female Character Design: A Guide to Designing Female Characters
The primary step in creating any artwork is determining what you want to communicate. This determination is popularly known as ethos, the spiritual brother of thesis. They both have the same purpose: to answer the question of what are you trying to say/show?
Whether you are working on an anime creation, an ad campaign, or a game-characters design, we cannot stress the importance of deciding from the onset which path you want to follow. It will keep you from you being indecisive, thus saving you time and the pain of redoing.
So, drawing women is not a forte for many people. Maybe as much as you want them to look beautiful and stunning, a handsome masculine face always seems to kill the vibe. And hey, it’s okay, it’s not your intention.
How to Design Female Characters
Here is our brief article to help you design awesome female characters and improve your work quality:
The Female Face
There are definite differences between a masculine and feminine face. Testosterone hormone is responsible for the angular, defined facial hair and thickened skin in males. On the flip side, estrogen is the prevalent hormone in women, thus causing them to have softer skin, smaller and rounded faces, and lack facial hair.
When it comes to drawing female faces, you will want to portray feminine characteristics in your work. Some important feminine facial features that you may want to take into consideration include:
- Big lips
- Big eyes
- A small nose
- A thin neck
Usually, female faces tend to be oval, but you can still use a round shape to highlight the character’s weight or if you want your female character to look younger. There are no definite rules, though, and you don’t have to limit yourself to feminine traits only.
Consider using traditional male elements such as fuller eyebrows, a more prominent nose, or a thicker neck to invoke your character’s unique personality.
The Feminine Body
Female bodies come in all shapes, but there are general body type categories that you can reference to make your drawing endeavors easier. All body type groups are determined by the relationship between the shoulders, the chest, waist, and hips.
As you design your female characters, make sure that the audience can quickly identify them as females. Whereas this does not mean that your character has to be cute and super sexy, there are few things to consider:
- The fat content of your female character- A thin female character should have a more conspicuous bone structure while the shape of the bones will possibly be more spectacular. On the other hand, a heavier character is likely to have more curves.
- Weight Composition- What is your female character’s shape? Round or pear? Evaluate the fat distribution on your female character’s body to help you create a perfect design. For instance, heavier characters have fat accumulation around the waist, the waistline will seem to disappear, but curves should still be notable for a feminine form.
- Bust size- In character designing and drawing, breasts are one of the female-specific anatomies, so make no mistake about it. Do not treat the breast tissue and pecs as a uniform mass.
Clothing
It’s important to note that media platforms (such as social media) are particularly keen against nudity. Once your creations start looking inappropriate, anyone can report your work, or sometimes algorithms may auto-flag your drawings and remove it. Therefore, it is crucial to clothe your characters decently so that all your hard work will not go down the drain.
In addition, clothing can speak volumes about your female character to resonate with the audience. It is somewhat a reflection of who the character is. For instance, you can use a head covering to reflect a character’s nature or religious background. Oh, and the shoes. They can make your female character look taller or offer insight to the audience about the personality of your female characters.
Conclusion
Female character design is an exciting journey from designing their looks and imagining their personality. Remember that your character can be whoever you want her to be. Think outside the lines and build an awesome character.
Pinterest board
Character research
I decided to develop a character based on a business woman. I found some pictures of some business women.
Thumbnails
Then I draw some pictures based on my research. I wanted to make my character in three different postures to make a narrative based on that.
Sketches
Design process
I used Procreate to make my designs. I added some text to complete the narrative.
Final designs
Self – reflection
It was the first time that I was developing a character. I really enjoyed the whole process from the beginning to end. I think the three sequences are working well together.
To develop my character, I had some research about a female character design (face, body and clothing), then collected some visual references including real life references and some illustrations. After exploring through sketching, I finalised my character based on a narrative.
To improve my work, I would make more thumbnails and more sequences with different angles. In addition, I would add more textures to the final design.
References
Painterartist. Female Character Design: A Guide to Designing Female Characters. At: https://www.painterartist.com/en/tips/character-design/female/. (Accessed: 01/02/2024)
Maryam: OCA Graphic Design 