Learn to draw action heroes [1, 1 ed.] 9781440351020

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LEARN TO DRAW ACTION HEROES

An Easy Step-by-Step Guide to Drawing Comic Book Characters ROBERT MARZULLO

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DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this book to my son Roman. My little Superhero! :)

CONTENTS Special Offers Materials CHAPTER 1 DRAWING THE FACE CHAPTER 2 SUPERHERO BODIES CHAPTER 3 CREATING CHARACTER DETAILS CHAPTER 4 LAYING OUT A SCENE About the Author

MATERIALS Here we will talk about the tools that can be used for your comic book heroes creation process. There can often be a lot of debate on which is better, but I assure you the ability lies within the artist and not the tools they choose to create the work. Given enough time, you can master any tool that you choose to wield!

Traditional Mediums When working traditionally you have lots of options. From various types of pencils to all sorts of ways to ink the work. You will generally use a pencil to sketch the lines and a brush and/or crow quill to ink the lines. There are many options to each one of these tools so you need to practice and find out which suits your style. The best paper to work on is bristol board smooth in my opinion. There are lots of options there as

bristol board smooth in my opinion. There are lots of options there as well. Just remember that no matter what tool you pick you can create great art as long as you put in the time!

Digital Mediums When using digital tools you will need a tablet of some kind. There are plenty of great devices to choose from and some take a bit more practice than others. The digital drawing tablet has many added benefits to creating your artwork such as not having to scan every page and touch up the work. They can be a bit harder to get used to from traditional drawing but when you finally get the hang of it, you will be glad you put forth the effort. They can be huge time savers and you will never need to buy paper again. Well, almost never!

CHAPTER 1

DRAWING THE FACE In this chapter you will learn how to draw various male and female faces. I will cover how to draw each part of the face and talk about what goes into constructing them. By drawing the face in its parts you will gain more confidence drawing the entire face and creating lots of various character types.

Measuring the Face Proportions: Front View The trickiest thing about drawing the face is where to place the features. We will first cover how to align the facial features and how to quickly place them in the right spots. This method is good to know because it makes the process of aligning the features much easier to do.

1 DRAW A VERTICAL GUIDELINE Start by drawing the height that you would like your head to be. Then mark the halfway point with a horizontal line. It doesn’t have to be perfect

mark the halfway point with a horizontal line. It doesn’t have to be perfect but close to the middle is a nice place to start. This will also be the point where we later place the eyes.

2 MARK GUIDES FOR THE FACIAL FEATURES From the middle line that you just made to the bottom line that represents the chin area, create another horizontal line at the halfway point. This will be where the nose goes later. From this point to the chin, create three sections evenly spaced by drawing two more horizontal lines.

3 DRAW THE HEAD SHAPE GUIDE Draw a circle that starts at the top line and finishes between the third and fourth lines. This is an approximation. Remember that these measurements will vary depending on the character that you are drawing. Chop off the sides of the circle so the head doesn’t appear to be a perfect sphere.

sphere.

4 DRAW THE JAWLINE Draw a wedge shape for the jawline. For action heroes, I like to draw the jawline curving from the third and fourth line down. You can move this curve up or down depending upon your character’s specific features. Square the jawline off for a more masculine character. Now draw a horizontal line across the space where the eyes will be located.

Remember this is approximately halfway down the face.

5 MARK THE PLACEMENT OF THE FEATURES You can measure the eyes by leaving a space equal to one eye width in the middle and half an eye width on each side of the head. The distance between the eyes will also mark the approximate width of the nose. The width of the mouth will line up to the middle of the eyes. Then the ears can be drawn in with disk-like shapes that will line up with the eyes and the mark for the nose.

6 DEVELOP THE FEATURES With all the feature lines marked, it’s much easier to draw your stylized comic book character’s face. By moving the feature lines around, you can create new and interesting characters. This base understanding of design will help with symmetry and consistency in your artwork. And don’t worry, we will cover all the other details of drawing the face as we progress through the book.

Measuring the Face Proportions: Side View We will now use the same measurement tool to create a profile. When practicing your profile drawings study the silhouette of the face, as well as the proportions of the features from one another.

1 DRAW A VERTICAL GUIDELINE Start by drawing the height that you would like your head to be. Then mark the halfway point with a horizontal line. It doesn’t have to be perfect but close to the middle is a nice place to start. This will also be the point where we later place the eyes.

2 ADD THE HEAD SHAPE Add a circle. Make sure it passes through the third and fourth horizontal line from the top. Now draw a curved line on the right to start to form the shape of the face. Don’t worry if yours looks a bit different than the example. It will take some experimentation to get it right, and your character might come out looking pretty neat anyway, so just have fun with it!

CHANGE YOUR GUIDES Keep in mind that these guides are meant to be changed when

you’re creating various character types. The more stylized you want your characters to be, the more you will change the initial diagram to suit your needs!

3 SKETCH THE EYE, JAW AND NECK Place the eye by drawing a triangle shape with a rounded side. It can be about an eye length (or a bit less) back from the forehead. Again, this will vary based on the character and your style. Place the ear to the bottom left of the cross section. Draw it as a disk shape with a slight tilt. Now block in the nose and mouth area with a wedge-like shape. This will help you remember to draw the tilt of the nose and relationship of the mouth. From there, draw in a jawline that starts from the chin area and connects to the lower part of the ear.

to the lower part of the ear.

4 SKETCH THE FEATURES Start to draw the features with more detail and a little more confidence. Remember to use curved lines unless your style requires otherwise. I try to use mostly smooth lines on the female characters. Doing so helps produce a feminine look. Notice how the lips conform to the curved wedge-like shape we sketched out in the previous step. Be careful not to make the chin too pronounced.

5 DEVELOP THE FEATURES Divide the top portion of the head into thirds. The top third will give us a point of reference for the hairline. Next draw the shape of the hair. Drawing the overall shape of the hair makes it much easier to add the details in the next step. Use the existing sphere shape as a guide, but feel free to draw past it. Don’t draw the shape of the hair too tightly to the sphere or the hair will look plain.

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS Draw the rest of the hair details and start to render the sketch. The great thing about working this way is that once the groundwork is established you can focus on the details and the style. Start to texture the hair, darken the eyes and leave a small glare on it to make it appear wet. Darken the lips and leave a small highlight on them as well. Add small shadows on the inside of the ear, beneath the ear and beneath the neck. Shadows help to round the forms and give them depth.

Drawing Eye Proportions and Shapes When drawing eyes you must start with the basic forms. When you learn to compare them to other objects and techniques you’ve memorized, they become much easier to reconstruct. It’s quicker as well.

Iris Measurement Notice that the iris part of the eyes is about one third the width of the overall eye. This can vary greatly in comics because of style, but proportions like this will help to keep your drawings consistent if you know what to look for.

Showing Expression Notice how the eye has an expression of fear or excitement. This is because we are leaving white on both sides of the iris as well as making the pupil smaller. Small changes like this have a big effect on the look and expression of your characters.

Constructing a Rounded Eye Try an exercise where you place the iris on the spherical shape of the eye. Draw a circle with two ovals to create a dimensional effect. Where the two inside circles meet at the lower right will be the placement for the

the two inside circles meet at the lower right will be the placement for the iris. This is a drawing you should practice often. It comes in handy for various things in comics and drawing in general. Draw the iris over the point you marked. From this angle the iris and the pupil will appear to be a bit more oval in shape. This shaping is something you have to learn to see in your drawings to make them appear realistic to the viewer. Now draw the rest of the eye around the iris. Try to make the shapes curve with the sphere. Notice that the eye tapers away from the viewer at this angle. Practice this method often and you will soon get the hang of it. Eye promise!

1 DEFINE THE SHAPE When drawing eyes, think of a dove’s head with the back of the head being higher than the beak area. Eyes are not level so you have to tilt the shapes a bit. To draw the eyebrow, start off thicker in beginning and the middle brow area and taper it toward the outer portion of the eye.

middle brow area and taper it toward the outer portion of the eye.

2 DARKEN THE EDGES OF THE EYE To darken the edges you basically start to add eyeliner. Then define a shape for the top and bottom eyelid. There are a multitude of eye shapes, so feel free to experiment when creating a character’s eyes.

3 DRAW THE IRIS The iris is generally one third of the horizontal distance of the eye. This varies greatly in comics and cartoon styles. Just remember that the smaller the pupil, the more you can show fear, anger or excitement!

4 DRAW THE LASHES AND FILL THE IRIS With all the base shapes in place, you can now create more detail in the eyelashes. It is good to keep them pretty solid for comics, but a few small eyelash tips won’t hurt. Just don’t over do it. Draw in the glint of the eye. You can also give it contrast by shading the iris a bit.

5 RENDER THE EYE Solidify the lines and add crosshatching to help round the forms. Remember that the eyes are compound rounded shapes, so do your best to illustrate that with your shading.

Drawing Eyes: Male vs. Female In this lesson you will learn about the differences to look for when drawing the male and female eye. They are basically the same but the male eye is narrower and less pronounced. With less detail added to the eye lashes, but the same techniques apply to drawing them both.

1 DEFINE THE SHAPE Start by drawing the basic eye shapes. Though they are similar, the

Start by drawing the basic eye shapes. Though they are similar, the female eye is generally larger and a bit more rounded. Of course that is purely based upon the person you are drawing because there are exceptions to every rule. Draw the tear duct lower than the outer edge of the eye. Just think about the bottom eyelid curving up and back to meet the top lid.

2 DRAW THE IRIS Draw the iris, pupil and glint. Remember that the iris is usually one third the width of the eye. You can draw the iris larger for style, as I did here. You can draw the glints pretty much anywhere, but I like to put them on the top of the eye near the drop shadow, so let’s draw it there.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO ADD STYLE

The eyes of comic characters can be very stylized. You can’t really get it wrong. Use the realistic eye to study from, but add lots of neat style choices when creating your own. Wild eyelashes, crazy eyebrows and oversized glints with shading are lots of fun to experiment with.

3 DRAW THE EYELID Draw the top eyelid. You can use the eye you drew as your guide, but be careful not to draw the same exact curve. Doing so makes the eye look flat and boring. When drawing this part of the eye, think about the effect the brow and skin above might have on the eyelid. You can also show more or less of this to help with drawing expressions. We will cover that topic later.

4 DRAW THE LASHES Add more weight to the top eyelid. By giving the top eyelid a drop shadow you create a sense of depth. Draw in the bottom ridge of the lower lid. This also helps to convey depth to the eye. Now draw the shapes for the lashes on the female eye. You can omit this detail on the male eyes, as their eyelashes are generally not as pronounced. It’s a style choice. Overall, male eyes are more condensed than the female.

5 RENDER THE EYE Draw the eyebrow. The male eyebrow is thicker and usually closer to the eye. The female eyebrow is generally thinner and more elegant. At this point, draw in the stylized eyelashes on the female eye. Then draw the shading and you’re ready to go!

Drawing Eyes on an Angle In this lesson you will learn how to draw the female eyes on an angle. This can be tricky because the shape of the eyes is different in a perspective like this. Taking note of these subtle differences is important to drawing this example properly, as is setting up the proportions to aid in that process.

SAVE THE EXTREME EXPRESSIONS FOR BIG MOMENTS When drawing the eyes, keep in mind that if you show too much white either below or above the iris your character will look excited or scared. Save those expressions for big impact moments in your comic drawings.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw a rectangular box with a slight bend, and make a division at the center from left to right. Then create two more lines where the eyes will be placed. These boxes can be almost equal widths, but to add a foreshortened perspective for the angle of the head make the two on the right side a bit smaller. This is a judgment call based upon the style and look you are going for. Just remember that the eyes from a straight-on perspective are generally equally spaced apart by the distance of one eye.

2 SKETCH THE SHAPE OF THE EYES Draw your eye shapes. With the template in place it becomes much easier to align the features of the eyes. Just study the shapes back and forth when drawing the eyes. Remember that the curve on the top is not the same as the curve on the bottom of the eye. Also the tear duct is generally lower than the back part of the eye. You’ll also want to draw in the ridge of the lower lid since we are looking downward at these eyes.

3 ADD EYEBROWS AND LASHES Draw the shapes of the eyelashes. To simplify the process, start by drawing them in as single solid shapes for the top set and bottom set. We can add more details later. Now draw the shape of the iris. It doesn’t need to be a perfect circle; from this angle it would be somewhat oval anyway. Remember to make it about one third of the width of the eye. This is also a style choice when drawing comics. Now draw in the eyebrows, making them curve with the shape of the brow. If it would help, you can also draw a line for the nose to better visualize the position of the eyes.

4 BUILD UP THE EYE’S FEATURES Draw the pupils along with the glints of the eyes. Be careful not to draw the pupils too close to the top eyelid or the character will look sleepy or possibly angry. Also take this time to add more line weight and define the shapes a bit more.

5 ADD FINAL DETAILS Darken the shapes and add a few tips on the eyelashes. You can really have fun with this part to give your comic book eyes your own flare. Do the same with the eyebrows. Then add in some render lines or crosshatching to provide depth. Remember to draw a drop shadow onto the iris from the top eyelid and brow area.

Drawing the Nose: Male vs. Female Let’s talk about the most noticeable differences between the male nose and the female nose. By comparing these forms we can help to commit some of the process to memory. The male nose is much more angular and larger where the female nose is smaller and has softer curves.

The Curve of the Nose Notice with these basic profiles that the drawing of the male nose is more angular and the female nose has more curves. The overall shapes in the female nose are smaller and less defined. This may vary based upon the character.

Shading the Nose Fewer lines are used to define the shading of the female nose, as seen in the nose on the right. This is another way to show the differences when drawing the male to female features. Lighter and thinner lines compliment the smaller nose’s more subtle features.

Experiment and Practice! Noses comes in so many different shapes and sizes that the best way to get better at them is to experiment. Try drawing noses with various distortions from what you are used to. Larger nostrils, more curvature to the bridge of the nose, or a larger tip to the nose are just a few things you can try to create a variety of noses for your characters.

Shaping the Nose from the Front Let’s look at the same principles from the front. The male nose is still larger than the female nose and also more angular. Even when drawing the plane change from the lower ball of the nose to where the nostrils are, you can still define that area with angular lines for the male and curved lines for the female.

curved lines for the female.

Shading with Fewer Lines Again when shading these forms, you’ll generally use fewer lines on the female nose. A good way to practice this is to draw the nose with as few lines as possible. Sometimes less is more. The more lines you add, the more the nose will appear older and weathered. For pretty noses, keep the details to a minimum.

Practice Various Shapes Here are some more nose shapes to practice with. Play around with proportions in the different areas. Study from life but then make your own stylized version and pretty soon you will be drawing them without any reference at all!

Drawing Noses: Downward Angle Let’s learn to draw the nose in a downward angle, starting with the larger primitive shapes and then working in the details. Many parts of the body can be drawn using this simplified process.

1 BLOCK IN THE BASIC SHAPES Draw the basic triangular shapes. You can draw the bridge of the nose with half of a thin pyramid shape with an angle cut off at the lower end for the edge of the nose. Then for the nostril, repeat this shape (in a much smaller version) and flipped in the other direction. These shapes are simple building blocks to work with and can vary.

simple building blocks to work with and can vary.

2 START ROUNDING THE FORMS Add two ovals to the existing building blocks: one for the end of the nose and one for the nostril. These should help you to start thinking of the forms in a more organic perspective.

3 CURVE AND SHAPE THE NOSE Draw some more curved lines to define the shape of the nose. Remember that if you have a hard time figuring out where the curves should go, drawing guidelines can help. First draw a line down the middle of the nose, making sure to curve it around the existing forms. Then draw the cross sections up and around the nose. This technique will help you think in three-dimensional terms about your drawings.

4 DEFINE THE NOSE Gently erase your construction lines and start to really envision what your nose will look like. Use concise lines and draw out your shapes. You can add some line weight now to help define areas that are more pronounced. Add thicker lines by the ball of the nose and the area where the nostril meets the cheek. This can give the nose more depth and make those areas stand out a bit more.

5 ADD FINAL DETAILS Add lines to render your form. Create a drop shadow under the nose. This is another useful way to make the nose look more threedimensional. Don’t forget to draw the line at the bottom of the nose to show the plane change. It is the line near the very bottom that curves

show the plane change. It is the line near the very bottom that curves around the nose to create a highlight effect. That can be a style choice as well, but it almost always makes the nose look more rounded.

Try Different Angles Here are some more downward angle shots to practice. Just practice lots of variations and you will become comfortable creating all types of noses in no time.

Drawing Noses: Upward Angle Now you will draw the nose in an upward angle. This is one of the more difficult positions in which to draw the nose, but with some practice it will become easy. Like any task that seems difficult, always start with the basics.

1 BLOCK IN THE BASIC SHAPES Draw the nose as a basic three-dimensional wedge-like shape. This allows you to remember the perspective of the nose when drawing in your details.

your details.

2 START ROUNDING THE FORMS Add a ball at the end of the wedge to represent the tip of the nose. Also draw a slight plane change at the top of the wedge to hint at the brow area where the bridge of the nose changes shape.

3 CURVE AND SHAPE THE NOSE Draw the organic shapes over your basics. Draw a bump on the top bridge area of the nose to give it more character. Draw the nostrils larger from this perspective. They are generally bean shaped from this angle.

4 DEFINE THE NOSE Draw the plane change at the bottom of the nose. Remember that it curves back and forth with the multiple shapes of the nose. You can draw this with a thinner line so it will be less pronounced. Also draw in a few thicker lines to show definition on the bump of the bridge area and the ball of the nose. Then draw a few more lines under the septum of the nose and near the nostrils to give them a bit of depth.

5 ADD FINAL DETAILS Add your rendering lines to bring out the forms of the nose. The amount of shading is purely up to you and your style, but try to reinforce the shapes that you have already drawn. Curving the lines in the direction of the rounded shapes will help with that effect. It is also a good idea to use thinner lines than those used in the original drawing so they do not distract from the overall shapes.

More Upward Angles Here are a few more nose shapes to play around with. Experiment with all of the basic forms to get a nice variety. No two noses are alike so feel free to mess up and try again and again!

Drawing Lips: Male Let’s focus on the mouths of our characters. First you will draw a male mouth from the front and from the side. This is an easy one. Well, it’s easy when the mouth is closed!

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw a stretched out M for the front view of the mouth. Then place a line below the M for the bottom lip. Then draw a Y shape turned on its side for the profile view of the mouth. Notice that the line that separates the top lip from the bottom lip tilts downward slightly. Draw the bottom lip just a bit thicker than the top lip.

2 DRAW MORE ORGANIC SHAPES Lightly erase your rough guidelines and draw over them with more organic shapes. Focus on giving the lips a softer look than the previous sketch. Add in a few more details for the top lip and a crescent shape where the bottom lip connects to the chin. Do not add too much detail to the top lip on the male or the lips will look feminine.

Three-Dimensional Thinking Here is another example of trying to envision the forms in a threedimensional space. Practice studies like these to reinforce your knowledge of the forms. Draw the lines bending around the lips and try to imagine the subtle changes that the forms make.

imagine the subtle changes that the forms make.

3 REFINE THE LINES Draw larger line weights to give the lips more defined shape. Also draw in the shadows beneath the lower lip and on the edges of the top lip.

4 ADD FINAL DETAILS Render the lines with crosshatching to round out the shapes even further. Remember to keep these lines thinner and less pronounced than the previous line work. When shading the lips, use fewer lines if you want them to appear younger and use more lines to give the appearance of age.

Keep Practicing In these examples, notice that the top lip is usually a bit thinner than the bottom. The top lip is going to produce more of a shadow due to the plane change. Male lips generally are less pronounced.

Drawing Lips: Female For this lesson you will draw the female mouth closed. The idea is to use more pronounced curves to give them a more sultry look than the male version.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Start with the same basic lines as the male lips but add a bit more curve and more distance from the bottom lip line to the M-shape line. This will leave room to make the lip more voluptuous. Also notice the angle difference from the top lip to the bottom lip.

2 MARK GUIDES FOR THE FACIAL FEATURES From the middle line that you just made to the bottom line that represents the chin area, create another horizontal line at the halfway point. This will be where the nose goes later. From this point to the chin, create three sections evenly spaced by drawing two more horizontal lines.

3 CURVE THE LIP SHAPES Gently erase your previous lines and draw over them with the curves that you see in the lips. Notice how they taper inward toward the area where they meet the cheeks. Keep in mind that they are compounding curves, and they bend downward and back from this perspective.

4 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPES Now that the main shapes are in place, you can build up the definition. Draw in the shapes of shadows or, in this case, the shape of the highlight on the lips. Also draw in the more-defined lines for the chin and the dimple above the lip.

5 ADD FINAL DETAILS Render the lines with crosshatching to show the curves of the lips. Tapering the lines and curving them in the direction of the forms will help to make them appear more three-dimensional.

Keep Practicing Here are some more examples to practice. Try creating multiple lip poses with the same style. Try to envision as many closed lips studies as you can. Exercises like these will help you to feel comfortable with a given area of your drawings. Then, after you have the hang of it, try changing something about the style and do the studies again!

Drawing the Mouth: Screaming In this lesson you will draw the mouth screaming. You can’t have a comic without someone screaming at least once. So let’s get screaming, shall we?

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw the opening of the mouth. Start angular and we will smooth out the

Draw the opening of the mouth. Start angular and we will smooth out the lines in the next steps. Draw a curved rectangular shape for the top teeth and the gums. From this angle, we are going to see more of the bottom teeth so draw a horseshoe shape for now. The bottom front teeth are thinner than the rest so draw the shape accordingly. Also draw in a line for the bottom lip.

2 SKETCH THE TEETH

Start to draw the teeth with more detail. We will only see a few of the front top teeth, but the bottom will be much more visible, so focus on them more. The bottom front four are thinner and line up straight across. Then you have the two canines, which are generally sharper looking. Draw the rest of the molars straight back, getting larger at the back of the mouth. Understanding the size and shape differences of the teeth from one another can be tricky, but draw them enough times and you will begin to understand it.

3 START ADDING DETAIL Draw more detail on the teeth. Try drawing the separations of the teeth from the top and bottom of each tooth but not fully connecting the lines. It is better to hint at some lines than drawing them all the way through. Draw the indents of the lower teeth. These are shaped like an X or a

Draw the indents of the lower teeth. These are shaped like an X or a tilted Y, as I have drawn here. Draw in the shapes for the gums on the bottom. Use a small A between each tooth.

4 DEFINE THE SHAPES Gently erase the sketch lines and draw them back in with more definition. Think about cleaning up the work but also about thickening the lines in the right areas to give the drawing more life. Well-placed line weights are very important in comics and drawing in general.

5 ADD SHADOW SHAPES Fill in your shadow shapes. This will make some areas of your drawing really stand out. Fill in areas like the back of the mouth to make the tongue stand out more. Fill in the gums to make the teeth more visible, and add a drop shadow beneath the tongue to give the appearance of depth.

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS Render the lines by adding crosshatching and more shading. Try to think of these as gradients and use them to transition from the dark areas to the light. Also use some thicker lines to contrast the smaller lighter lines. If the lines become too distracting, then that defeats the purpose. Be mindful of how you use them.

mindful of how you use them.

Try a Different Angle Practice drawing mouths over and over again. When you are ready, you can start drawing crazy creatures of the night like this one. It may look quite different, but I assure you the same fundamentals apply!

quite different, but I assure you the same fundamentals apply!

Drawing the Mouth: Smiling For this lesson you will draw the mouth smiling. We will approach the smile at an angle to study the change in shape from one side to the other.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw a bowed vertical line. The bow will help you to remember the curve

Draw a bowed vertical line. The bow will help you to remember the curve that is present in the mouth from this angle. Now draw an M shape for the top lip. The same shape will work for the lower line of the top lip, but it will be more stretched out to meet the edges.

2 SKETCH THE TEETH SHAPE Draw a block shape for the teeth. You can make it angular at first and smooth out the lines later. Draw the divide for the top and bottom teeth, but make sure to leave more room for the top teeth. Don’t make the mistake of drawing the line in the middle of the teeth. You also don’t need

to continue this line all the way across. The missing part will look like a highlight on the front of the teeth.

3 ADD THE BOTTOM LIP Draw the bottom shape of the lower lip. It will be thicker toward the front and taper inward toward the cheeks. Just remember that most of the time the lower lip is thicker than the top lip. Getting the transition of the thicker part of the lip to the thinner part can be tricky, but the more you study this area the easier it will get.

4 ADD DETAILS Draw the teeth. I like to add more of the visible details to the inner back part of the mouth and omit the details at the front. Doing so helps to convey depth and lighting. Drawing every tooth can make the mouth look flat and overly detailed.

5 DRAW THE HIGHLIGHTS Draw the highlights of the lips. I tend to do this only on the female lips to help illustrate a glare or the effect of lipstick. This also helps to round out the lips and adds another dynamic to them.

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS Shade in the rest of the lips and add in rendering lines on the bottom lip to round out the form.

Drawing the Ears: Front View In this lesson you will draw a front view of the ear. This is the easiest perspective of the ear to draw. It can still be a little tricky, but with practice everything becomes easier. So let’s put in some of that practice right now.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Define the overall shape of the ear by drawing a disk-like shape on a slight angle. Make sure to start out a bit wider at the top. Then draw another shape to represent the area that connects to the head. This is similar to the larger shape, but tapers more drastically at the bottom.

2 SKETCH THE EAR SHAPES Start to think about the depth of the shape of the ear. Draw a line to create the inner ridge of the ear on the right side. Draw a smaller oval to represent the opening in the ear. The shapes of the ear are more complex than this, so give yourself plenty of guides to work up to those more complex areas.

3 CURVE AND DEVELOP THE SHAPES Gently erase your construction lines and begin to draw the more organic shapes of the ear. This part takes time to get right so don’t rush and don’t feel bad if it doesn’t work out at first. Study from life and just keep at it. One thing to notice is how the inner part of the ear will actually extend out past the ear ridge from this angle.

4 ADD FINAL DETAILS Gently erase the rest of your rough sketch lines and draw in the shapes of shadows. Add more line work to round out the forms. Use more or less lines depending on the style you are going for.

Ear Variations This example shows you how easy it is to take the existing ear and add some variation to it. You don’t always have to start from scratch with your designs. Recycling your work can save lots of time, and it’s better for the environment! You can change an ear design by tweaking just one element. Shorten or extend a piece, make it sharper or more rounded. Experiment and practice.

Drawing the Ears: Side View Now let’s learn to draw the ears from the side view. Although this is a bit tougher to accomplish, there are still some fun ways to make the process easier to achieve.

1 DRAW A VERTICAL GUIDELINE Start by drawing the height that you would like your head to be. Then mark the halfway point with a horizontal line. It doesn’t have to be perfect but close to the middle is a nice place to start. This will also be the point where we later place the eyes.

2 START ADDING DETAILS Draw the Y-like shape in the top middle of the ear. Have the shape taper in and almost connect to the bottom ear lobe area. Now draw in the tragus which looks like the little bump on the left side of the ear. Think of it like a cover for the opening to the ear. Add two small curved lines for the shape of the opening to the ear.

3 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPES Draw the shadows. Using the guides that we have put into place, this becomes very easy to do. Try to imagine how the shadows would wrap around the forms in a three-dimensional environment. The more you envision that concept, the better your drawings will get.

4 ADD FINAL DETAILS Add crosshatching to further round out the forms. The ear has lots of

Add crosshatching to further round out the forms. The ear has lots of curves and bends so feel free to show it in your line work. Curving the lines around with the shapes you have drawn will add to that effect.

Changing the Shape Once again you can take the existing ear drawing and convert it to a fictional ear with just a few changes in shape. Practice drawing lots of

fictional ear with just a few changes in shape. Practice drawing lots of variations of this same design to take your ear art to the next level.

Hairstyles: Defining the Hairline In this lesson you will work on drawing hair. In order to do so you must first figure out where to put it. Hair can get a little wild at times, so let’s try to tame it a bit.

1 SKETCH THE HAIRLINE When drawing hair, first define a hairline on your character. This helps you to focus on where to put all those fancy lines you are about to draw. This is a basic step, but it is a very important one.

2 DEVELOP THE HAIR Draw the general hair shapes but keep them bulked together and overlapping in various ways. Don’t try to draw each strand or the hair will look like spaghetti. I love spaghetti but not in my hair! Think of the hair as ribbons flowing in and out of one another.

Practice Drawing Texture and Shape Practice drawing samples like this one off to the side of your work. It helps to get the basics down before drawing your masterpiece. Practice the shape and texture hair can have. Log in lots of these samples, and your art will improve very quickly.

1 SKETCH THE HAIRLINE Let’s try it again on this angled pose using the same concept. We will make the hair a bit thinner and refine the line work this time. Draw the hairline as before.

2 SKETCH THE DIRECTION OF THE HAIR Start to think about the shape of the hair and also the direction that the forms will be taking. The more you visualize before you start drawing, the better. Make sure to curve the lines in and out of one another to avoid hair that appears flat or plain.

3 DRAW THE HAIR SHAPES Draw the general shapes and use quick curved lines to create the forms. Then go back in with more lines to add to the texture of the hair. Avoid short sketchy lines for this type of drawing. Smooth fluid lines work better here.

4 ADD FINAL DETAILS With all your line work in place, you can refine the hair with your shading. Use the shadows to give your forms depth. Leave areas white to show highlights and also to illustrate loose strands of hair flowing around the larger shapes. Don’t forget to add little curves here and there at the ends of your lines. It gives the hair more life.

Drawing Hairstyles: Curly Hair In this lesson you will be tackling the topic of curly hair. You will be drawing some basic shapes to help put the curls into place, so let’s get moving shall we?

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINE First, draw a cup. Well, no it’s not a cup but it does resemble one. This cone-like shape will help keep our curls in place.

2 SKETCH THE OUTLINE Draw a ribbon flowing downward into the cup. Use the sides of the cup like barriers to confine the curls.

3 ADD TEXTURE AND SHADOWS Gently erase your guidelines and start to add in the texture of the hair. Use drop shadows to help define the forms and give them depth.

4 ADD FINAL DETAILS Refine the texture of the hair even further with line variations. Try to

Refine the texture of the hair even further with line variations. Try to picture high and low areas in the hair. Then draw loose strands of hair coming off the edges to add to the realism.

1 SKETCH THE OUTLINE Let’s draw some curls that are elongated. Start by drawing the basic overlapping shapes. Try to envision them flowing in and out of the larger form. Taper toward the ends and put a bit of curve on the tips.

2 ADD LINE WEIGHT Start adding in shadows and line weight. Think about how certain parts of the hair would cast shadows on other parts. Round some of the edges of the shadows so they appear to have body. Use line weight to give the hair more depth.

3 ADD FINAL DETAILS The groundwork is in place and now the rendering is much easier to do. Think about where the highlights might be and how they would react to surface of the hair. Use white edge lighting to keep some separation in the forms. Make sure to include smaller loose strands of hair to finish off the work.

1 SKETCH THE HAIRLINE Start with the shape of the character’s head. Draw out the basic hairline.

2 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPE When drawing tighter curls you can first draw the overall shape of the hair. Then draw in the shapes of shadows to round out the form. This provides a guide for adding in the curls.

3 ADD FINAL DETAILS Draw tiny curls that start tighter together and begin to separate to show the highlight area. You can get this effect by using any type of stipple shading. The further the character is away from the camera, the tinier the effect will be.

Drawing Heads: Forward View In this lesson you will draw the male head in a forward facing view. We will focus on the alignment of the features and the distance of them from one another.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw a line the height of the character’s head. Then draw another line at the halfway point. Divide the bottom section into halves and draw another line there. Now take the remaining section at the bottom and draw two more lines to divide it into equal thirds. Draw a circle for the top of the head. Don’t worry about this being a perfect measurement. A larger circle will create a wider face and a smaller circle will give us a more elongated face.

2 DRAW THE EARS Use the top two marks as the guidelines for the ears. You can draw horizontal lines to help you mark the location for the ears. Draw the ears as simple disk shapes for now. They can angle slightly inward at the bottom to help you visualize your character a bit better. Connect the edge

bottom to help you visualize your character a bit better. Connect the edge of the circle to the ears with a small line on each side.

3 ADD THE REST OF THE GUIDELINES Draw a horizontal line from the third line up from the bottom. This is our top lip line, but it will also give us a guide for where the curve of the jawline will go. Draw the shape of the jaw by connecting the ears to that new line and then drawing the angles that meet the chin area. Now draw a cylinder for the neck area. Notice that everything is very angular at this stage. It helps to figure out perspective this way. We will add more organic lines over top of these.

4 PLACE THE FEATURES Draw the eyes in below the top line that meets the top of the ears. Remember that the eyes are equally spaced to the width of one eye. Use the distance between the eyes to determine the width of the nose. Draw the nose shape like a pyramid that ends at the bottom of the ears. Draw an M shape for the top lip and a stretched-out U shape for the bottom lip. Then divide the top of the head into thirds. The hairline belongs around the top one-third area.

5 DEVELOP THE FEATURES Gently erase your construction lines and start to add in more organic lines. All the measurements are done, and now we can get to the fun stuff! Draw the hair with wavy lines that go in and out of the larger forms. Draw the iris one third of the width of the eye. Do not put the pupil too close to the top eyelid unless you want the character to look sleepy. Remember to draw a drop shadow onto the iris to give the eyes more depth. Be sure to use lots of curves at this stage of your drawing.

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS Now that the drawing is in place, add shading and refine your lines. This is where style takes over and you can be more creative. Focus on trying to render different surfaces in your comic drawings. The shirt should render differently than the hair and skin, for example. And when in doubt, give your character some chin fuzz.

Drawing Heads: Downward Angle In this lesson you will learn how to draw the face pointed downward. This can be a nice touch to a dramatic scene or a great way to make a tough guy look more tough. When the head is pointed downward with the eyes looking up it conveys a threatening look much like an animal getting ready to attack!

1 DRAW ROUGH GUIDELINES Draw a circle for the top of the head. Then draw a box tapering slightly at the bottom. This will help to draw the face in a downward perspective. If you need to push the downward effect, taper the corners in even more.

you need to push the downward effect, taper the corners in even more.

2 SKETCH A MEASURING GRID Draw a line from corner to corner of the box. The intersection of lines will give us our middle mark in proper perspective. Draw a vertical middle line. Then draw a line across horizontally from this middle mark and give it a curve upward on the ends. This will help us to place the eyes and also start to envision our drawing as a three-dimensional shape.

3 SKETCH THE HEAD SHAPE Gently erase the box and use the light lines as a guide to draw in your head shape. Remember to taper the sides of the head and to create angles for the jawline. Notice how much we removed from the original circle shape to create the shape of the head.

4 PRACTICE WORKING WITH MEASURING GRIDS Let’s go over this measuring device in more detail. Split the box in half horizontally then split the lower half again. Draw lines from corner to corner. We now have more lines to work with on the bottom half to help with placement of the nose and mouth. They are again in perfect perspective. This is a useful tool for drawing characters and architecture as well.

5 ADD THE NOSE Gently erase again and define the character features. We can use the new line from the segmented grid to place the nose. Draw the nose as a triangular shape. Also use the middle line to place the brows. Remember that from this angle all these lines will take a downward curve more dramatically than before. Start to shape the face by adding in the cheekbones. Keep the narrowing of the face in mind from this angle.

6 DRAW THE EYES AND MOUTH Draw the mouth. We know that it goes beneath the nose and above the chin, but placement can be tricky. I would err on the side of closer to the nose from this angle. Remember that the top lip will be less visible, and the bottom lip will be more visible. Now draw in the ears. To help push the perspective, make sure to raise them above the eyes. Draw the eye shapes as well.

7 DEVELOP THE FEATURES Gently erase all the guidelines and start to create the look of your character. Flesh out the forms and make the lines more organic looking with curves. The drawing can still be rough, even at this stage. You want to hold off on tightening up your details until you have all your ideas worked out in your head. Then you can render away with crosshatching and final line work.

8 REFINE THE FINAL LOOK Gently erase any leftover sketch lines and bring your character to life. Now you can draw in your lines with more conviction and tighten up all your edges. Don’t be afraid to add lots of little lines for texture and grit if it’s right for your character. That is the fun stuff that your fans like to see.

it’s right for your character. That is the fun stuff that your fans like to see.

Drawing Heads: Upward Angle This lesson demonstrates a more advanced drawing of the head. It’s a tricky topic for a lot of artists so we will be using some techniques from the Andrew Loomis Method, which is popular among a lot of comic book professionals.

1 START WITH A BASIC CIRCLE GUIDE Draw a circle and then draw an oval shape within that circle. You will need to practice what size this oval will be based upon the character you are trying to draw. Facial features are different for all sorts of character

types, but this gives you a basic starting point. For this exercise, draw the circle about 6/8 the size of the original one. Create a cross section in the smaller oval, then continue the middle line across the larger circle to represent the position of the brow.

2 DIVIDE THE CIRCLE Square off the edge of the small oval and bring a line across from the bottom. This will represent the nose area and also help to divide the face into thirds. Using the section you just drew, mark a bottom third and also a top third. Keep in mind the top third will be shorter from this perspective than the bottom third. Draw a small curve for the start of the jawline at the bottom of the smaller circle.

3 SKETCH THE NOSE AND EAR PLACEMENT Draw a pyramid shape to help form the nose. From this angle we would see the bottom of the nose so draw just a primitive shape for now. Also draw in the bottom of the jawline. I like to shade this in to get a better idea of how this shape looks. It can be a confusing area since we are not used to this perspective, so study it often. Now draw a small oval in the bottom left quarter of the first small circle we drew. Finally draw a line from that cross section on the left to the chin. This helps to further shape the face.

4 DRAW ROUGH FACIAL FEATURES Gently erase the construction lines and start to draw in the more organic lines of the face. Here we can start to really define what our character looks like. Draw in the mouth with the M shape we talked about before, shortening the side furthest away from us to illustrate the depth. Draw in the eyes. From this angle, the further eye will be slightly covered by the bridge of the nose. Detail the lower part of the nose and remember that one nostril will be covered by the septum of the nose. You can also draw in a cylinder shape for the neck area. Give the neck a bend so it doesn’t look like an actual cylinder.

look like an actual cylinder.

5 SKETCH THE HAIR SHAPE AND FACIAL FEATURES Now draw in the shape and style of the hair. Start with basic clumps and patterns for the hair and add the details later. Draw the eyes. Remember that the iris makes up a third of the eyes from a front view. So you have to perceive what that will look like from this angle. The circles of the iris would take an oval shape and the pupils would as well.

6 REFINE THE FEATURES Gently erase your lines again, and draw the character one more time with heavier line weight. Repeat this step as many times as you need to feel comfortable with your lines. Don’t waste time rendering a bunch of lines over a design that you are still unhappy with. Clean up the lines; doing so will make your rendering look more confident.

7 ADD FINAL DETAILS Define your final line work and shading. You don’t have to add extreme shadows to every piece to get the work to stand out. Add small shadows along the edges and vary your detail lines to create depth. Add both light

along the edges and vary your detail lines to create depth. Add both light and heavy lines to the hair to create the effect you’re looking for. And there you have it: a character doing some intense bird watching!

Drawing Expressions: Anger This lesson covers how to draw the expression of anger. This is a very important expression to get right, since most of your characters will more than likely be mad during your epic fight scenes!

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw a circle for the top part of the head. Then draw a line to represent the height of the head. Then draw a line halfway down where the eyes will go.

2 ADD THE JAW AND EARS Draw the jawline as a basic rounded wedge shape. We are going to change the proportions a bit from the other exercises and give this character a more animated look. So make the ears rather large this time.

3 SKETCH THE FEATURES Use the horizontal line to place the eyes. Instead of placing the nose halfway between the eyes and chin, this time draw it closer to the eyes. Doing so scrunches up the face a bit. Now draw a larger mouth shape with the character grinding his teeth. Draw the eyebrows, curving down the larger middle brow area. This is the most telling feature. Also draw in some tiny pupils to further illustrate the intensity of the glare in his eyes.

4 ADD THE HAIR Gently erase your sketch lines and clean up the line work. Draw the lines near the cheeks so that we can more clearly see the grimace he is making. Draw the lines for the teeth and gums. When people get really mad they tend to show more teeth just like animals do, so be careful! Now draw in the shape of the hair. You can try to make the hair look angry with sharp lines but if that doesn’t work, just make it look messy.

5 REFINE THE FEATURES Draw the details of the face more clearly using thicker lines to make more of an impact. Make the lines in the middle of the brow really pointed and add more lines around the bridge of the nose. Look in the mirror when you make an angry face, and you will notice the skin bunches up in those areas.

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS Now you can add hunched shoulders and a clenched fist and finish the

illustration with color. With some refinement you can draw lots of angry people. He looks ticked! Someone stole his lunch money and now he is out to give them a knuckle sandwich.

Drawing Expressions: Scared In this lesson you will learn to draw a different expression: scared. There are lots of degrees to the intensity of this expression, but for now you will do a basic fearful look.

1 DRAW A BASIC HEAD SHAPE Create a basic head shape like this one so that we can focus on the features and expression in the following steps.

2 MARK THE MEASUREMENTS Draw out the line measurements the same way you did in the previous exercises. Just remember that the eyes line up to the top of the ears, the nose sits around the bottom of the ears, and the eyes are spaced equal to one eye’s width, which also gives you the approximate width of the nose. The mouth is around the width of the middle of the eyes. The mouth starts and ends at the middle of each eye. Generally the ends of the mouth line up to the pupils. You can vary these proportions based on style and character types.

3 SKETCH THE FEATURE SHAPES Now start to draw those fearful features. In my opinion, the things you must get right in this expression are the eyes. They should be very widely opened, with the eyebrows tilted back and extended upward. This is the human reaction to danger. We instinctively open our eyes as wide as possible to take in all the surrounding information. Neat, huh? Notice that I extended the jawline a bit further down. I left the previous mark in the

I extended the jawline a bit further down. I left the previous mark in the form of a dotted line to show you the difference. When the mouth opens further, the jawline drops so make room for the change of the mouth shape. Draw the mouth slightly open. This will reinforce the look of disbelief and confusion.

4 REFINE THE FEATURES Draw the iris of the eyes. They are one third the width of the eye, but to add to the fear factor, show the whole thing. You won’t see the white on the top and bottom of the iris unless the character is exhibiting an extreme emotion like fear or surprise. Also, make the pupil tiny to reinforce this look.

5 DRAW THE HAIR Draw the hair shape. It’s best to leave this detail for the end or it can distract from getting the expression just right. This way the hair and final sketch lines become much easier to focus on.

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS Give it one final pass to clean up and finalize your line work. Add crosshatching, shading and heavier line work to the hair and mouth area. And there you have it: a girl that is scared of spiders. Can you blame her?

CHAPTER 2

SUPERHERO BODIES In this chapter you will learn how to construct the superhero body. You will learn about gesture drawing, proportions, drawing in the anatomy and refining the artwork. These are the steps that I use to create characters every day. Breaking down the work into these stages will help you to draw complex characters more quickly and easily. Practice these studies every day to help them become second nature in your workflow.

Gestures

Practice the Basics Drawing gestures is an extremely important skill for any comic book

artist. You must first learn how to capture the form with basic lines and shapes. Focus on the action line of the body (i.e., the flow in which the body or parts move).

Try Complex Forms You will need to practice the complex forms as well. Strange and unfamiliar poses will give your mind a workout and make you less likely to draw static boring shots.

Action Lines With practice, you will start to fit more information in with your gestures such as foreshortening and action. Notice in the first two examples that the action line is relatively straight but still helps to convey the movement in those shots. In the third shot a character hangs upside down. This is another great exercise to do. By forcing yourself out of your comfort zone and drawing the figure upside down, it changes your perspective on the forms and forces you to study them further.

Draw Quickly Gestures should be quick and expressive. Start with as few lines as possible, focusing on a quick representation of the forms. Sweeping lines work very well for the body and its movements.

Do Timed Sketches As you begin to feel more comfortable with the process, start to add more hints of detail during the next stage of your drawing. Practice timed drawings. Try drawing your poses in intervals of ten-minute, five-minute and even one-minute sketches. Doing timed sketches then slowly reducing the amount of time for the sketches will help you to build speed and confidence. You will have a better understanding of what you can complete in a certain amount of time, which you must know if you are going to do client work. You will be amazed at what you learn about the body in action with timed sketches. By adding in more information, your pictures will attain more of a mannequin style. Continue to fill up those sketchpads.

more of a mannequin style. Continue to fill up those sketchpads. Hundreds if not thousands of these little sketches will lead to your artistic greatness!

Practice Movement Practice drawing the body engaged in various movements. Study from life but then exaggerate a little or a lot. Remember that we are drawing comics here, so we really want to push our poses to the limit.

Drawing Proportions: Male In this lesson we will study the proportions of our superhero characters. First we’ll study the different looks you can get by varying the character’s height by the amount of heads tall he or she may be. Normal: This character is seven and a half heads tall. This is the standard height of a normal male character. Aside from the physique, there is nothing too special about this guy. Super: This character is eight heads tall and already looks a lot more dynamic in stature. Notice the longer legs and the slightly wider shoulders. Small changes like these add up. Because the head size remains the same, the character looks bigger and stronger by comparison. Superhero: With the character at nine heads tall, he is truly more powerful. Bigger shoulders and limbs signify his strength. This guy could lift a house and not break a sweat!

Drawing Proportions: Female Females aren’t usually as tall as males, but you can still change their physique to suit your character style. You can add more or less musculature to any of these poses and make the female look much stronger. Normal: Notice that the woman at seven heads tall appears to be on the shorter side. But that’s only by comparison. She is actually much closer to the norm than the other two. Super: At seven and a half heads tall, she starts to look more heroic. She has longer legs for more kicking power and a longer arm reach to deliver a ka-blam of a punch! Superheroine: At eight heads tall, there is no doubt that you don’t want to mess with this lady. She is large enough to beat up the entire football team and still make it home in time for dinner.

Drawing Arms: Male Arms Flexing In this lesson you will draw the muscular male arm. You know, “The guns!” You can’t have superheroes without big powerful arms, so let’s get to it.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES First draw a basic guide to show where the forms will go. Draw circles for the joints and lines for the bones. It’s very simple and straightforward. This helps you to think only of the distance and therefore the proportions of the arm. The wrist to the elbow should be about the same distance as the elbow to the shoulder.

2 BUILD THE ARM STRUCTURE Draw in cylinder shapes for the upper and lower parts of the arm. Draw a large circle for the shoulder for now to help you think about the shapes in a three-dimensional space. The hand can be drawn as a block or wedgelike shape with smaller cylinders for the fingers. Notice I drew the shapes as dimensional as possible by drawing through the other objects. This again is a way to think of the drawing as three-dimensional. Keep the shapes basic at this point of the drawing.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Gently erase your construction lines and begin to add in the organic shapes of the anatomy. There are no quick work-arounds to good anatomy. Study it and study it often. Focus on where the muscles start and where they end. Muscles go over and under other muscle groups, so keep that in mind when drawing your shapes. And keep straight lines to a minimum when drawing anatomy. They may add style but too many will just look plain wrong.

4 REFINE THE LINES Gently erase your line work again, and this time refine the lines with more definition. Add line weight and clean up any spots that look wrong. Don’t worry about perfection; there is no such thing. Clean, confident lines will always improve your piece though.

5 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPES Outline the shapes of shadows. Try to picture how the light might wrap around the anatomy of the arm. Make sure not to trace each muscle separately and in doing so create too many segments in the arm. Try combining some of the areas, showing small breaks or bends in the shadows. Consider what percentage of the arm you want to be in shadow. In this case, I thought the arm should be 20 to 25 percent in shadow.

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS With the shadow shapes in place, add the line work to shade the arm. Think of these lines like gradients from light to shadow. Try to round out the muscles even further as you crosshatch. Bending the crosshatched lines with the shape of the anatomy is a good way to create a look of depth. Lots and lots of practice is the key to doing it right!

Drawing Arms: Male Arms Pointing In this lesson you will draw the inside of the male muscular arm. It’s the old, “Which way to the beach?” pose. We have all struck this pose at one time or another, right?

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw the pose with the same line and circle method used in the previous lesson. Think of this as the bones under the muscles, and at this stage

lesson. Think of this as the bones under the muscles, and at this stage just focus on the length and direction of each section of the arm and hand. Notice the relationship from the wrist to the shoulder. Also notice the shape of the base of the hand from this angle. They are both triangular. Taking notice of shapes like these makes your drawings more consistent.

2 BUILD THE ARM STRUCTURE Draw the cylindrical shapes. Think of a mannequin or marionette. Keep it simple. At this point, think only about proportions and direction of the segments. Also be open to changes at any stage of this process. Correcting things early on will save you lots of time and heartache later.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Gently erase your lines and start to draw the curvature of the anatomy. Notice the way that each area tapers as it meets the next. The shoulder tapers as it meets the upper arm, and the upper arm tapers as it meets the lower arm and so forth. Also notice where I changed the shape of the anatomy from the initial mannequin stage. I dropped the shoulder down. The basic construction is only meant to be a guide, so never hesitate to make changes if you see something that could be better.

4 REFINE THE LINES Gently erase your guidelines and begin to refine the anatomy. This time give more line weight to the drawing as you add to it. You can also start to draw veins to add to the depth and realism of the drawing.

5 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPES Draw the shapes of shadows for the muscles. If you are working with a freelance artist who will ink your drawing, make sure to sketch small x’s marking the shadows so they can read the artwork more clearly. You don’t necessarily have to do this step if you are inking your own work, but it doesn’t hurt to get in the habit just in case. Then you’ll always remember where the shadow should be filled in.

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS Fill in the shadows and add crosshatching and line weight to start to make the artwork pop off the page. Notice how the veins cast small shadows of their own on one side. And how they catch light even in the shadow of the arm. This is more stylized, but it gives the appearance of depth. Overall this is a very stylized arm drawing but that is the fun of comics—not everything has to be entirely accurate!

Drawing Arms: Outer Female Arms In this lesson you will draw the female arm. There are a few subtle differences to notice when drawing the arm of a woman or girl.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Start by drawing the lines to define the distance between the upper arm, forearm, hand and fingers. This doesn’t have to be perfect. It just provides a guide to get started. Notice that the lines for the upper arm and forearm are roughly the same size at this angle.

2 BUILD THE ARM STRUCTURE Draw the cylinder shapes over your skeleton-like lines. Make sure to have the forearm taper toward the wrist. On the female arm, the wrist can get pretty slender so it is good to start to draw that in even at this stage.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Gently erase your line work, and draw in the organic shapes of the arm. When drawing the female arms, you can use longer sweeping curves whereas the male arms tend to be more angular and abrupt. Notice that the fingers are almost the length of the palm portion of the hand. Some stylized comic art ventures far past those proportions. As long as the fingers are thin and taper toward the tips, they will generally read well.

4 REFINE THE LINES Gently erase one more time and clean up your lines. Notice that we will use little to no shadows and less heavy line weight to finish off the arm. This all helps to create the effect of a softer, more feminine arm. The more lines and shading you add, the more defined the arm will look. But it can quickly become too much. Oftentimes when drawing the female characters in comics, less is more. Don’t forget to add the pretty fingernails!

Try More Poses Here are some arm poses to practice with. Draw them often and with as many variations as you can think of to really memorize the forms. Look at your own arm or photo references and keep practicing.

Drawing Arms: Inner Female Arms In this lesson you will draw another female arm. This time the pose is from the other side. It’s best to understand these basic forms before working on more complex poses with foreshortening.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw the lines and circles to get the basic structure in place. Notice that the knuckles of the hand and fingers are not straight but rather form more of an arc. This concept is important to remember when drawing hands, and this will be covered in more detail later in the book.

2 BUILD THE ARM STRUCTURE Draw cylinders over the basic structure lines in a three-dimensional form. This helps convey the direction that the limb is moving within the space, and also helps you to better visualize your drawings for the next stage.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Gently erase the previous step and draw in the organic lines. Use sweeping lines to convey the female form. Sketch the lines at this stage to best work out the proportions.

4 REFINE THE LINES Gently erase your lines and finalize the drawing. Add in little bits of crosshatching and use line weight to give the arm some depth.

Male vs. Female Notice the differences between the male and the female arms. The male arm consists of more angular and abrupt changes in direction, whereas the female arm is made up of smooth curvatures in the lines. This holds true for much of the body, not just the arms. The male arm can be finished with more shading and heavier line weight. The female arm can be drawn with less line work, conveying a certain softness.

Drawing Male Legs Standing Powerful legs are a necessity for superheroes who leap, run, kick and do all that other stuff that heroes do with their muscular legs.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw the basic skeleton. Notice that the distance from the hip to the knee is only slightly longer than the distance from the knee to the ankle. A lot of artists will make those distances the same, so this is merely a style choice. Draw a line from the heel of the foot to the point where the toes

choice. Draw a line from the heel of the foot to the point where the toes begin, then add a small line to represent the toes.

2 BUILD THE LEG STRUCTURE Draw the cylindrical shapes over the rough lines. The pelvis can be drawn as a wedge-like shape with ovals where the legs attach. Make sure to taper the upper leg toward the knee and to taper the lower part of the leg toward the ankle. Then draw the foot using a distorted pyramid shape.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Gently erase some of the construction lines and begin to draw the anatomy. It’s okay to start with angular shapes. There will be time to smooth out the lines in the next steps. Concentrate on where the muscles start and where they end. Notice how the two larger muscles in the upper leg are not straight across from one another but rather on an angle. The one on the inner part of the leg sits on the knee area, while the other is higher. Little observations like this make a big difference even when drawing stylized artwork.

drawing stylized artwork.

4 REFINE THE LINES Gently erase more of the construction lines and start to draw the more organic and confident line work. Here you can focus on line weight and clarity of the forms. You can remain open to changes at this stage, but by now you should have a better idea of how the forms will come together.

5 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPES Add the shadow shapes. The best way to get better at these is to study from life. The same goes for improving your knowledge of anatomy. Just remember that once you learn how to do this realistically, there is no reason you cannot overdramatize the effect for your comic illustrations. Notice how I added an angular effect to my shadows. That was merely a style choice.

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS Now to fully render the piece. Remember to curve the final lines around the form to add depth and to crosshatch any areas that need to be slightly darker than the other areas. There is no right or wrong way to shade in this fashion. Just play around with a variety of line weights and overlapping effects until you find your desired style. Always keep a light

overlapping effects until you find your desired style. Always keep a light source in mind when rendering your comic art!

Drawing Male Legs Crouching In this lesson you will draw the male legs in a squatting position. You don’t want to get into the bad habit of only drawing our heroes and villains standing straight up. Even they have to rest their muscle-bound legs once in a while.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Start by drawing the basic skeleton. Get in the habit of drawing the lines and circles even for the areas that may be hidden by other parts of the body. This is helpful for accurate placement of the forms in the following steps.

2 BUILD THE LEG STRUCTURE Draw the cylindrical shapes to determine the proportions and perspective. Notice that I leave a good amount of the previous step in the sketch to help place the back foot behind the right leg. These sketch lines will help you to envision where to place parts of the body in perspective so don’t get rid of them too quickly.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Gently erase the guidelines from the previous step and draw the anatomy of the legs. Keep the drawing loose. It is best to sketch roughly in this stage of the drawing so you are open to changes. Remember, if you find this type of pose tricky to accomplish, don’t hesitate to study from reference. Taking your own photos is a great way to combat these tough perspectives. Always keep a mirror by your art table or workstation.

4 REFINE THE LINES Erase the guidelines again and draw the more defined line work. Here you can use curved lines to give a more organic feel to the muscles.

5 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPES Fill in the shapes of shadows. Do your best to avoid giving each muscle the same curve as the outside edge. This will only make the muscles look like bubbles. You have to vary the shapes of the shadows to show the dynamic curves that the muscles make. This is another thing that you get better at when you study from real life.

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS Add crosshatching and more line weight. Draw these lines coming from the shadows of the previous step and taper them as they get closer to the light source. These lines are a great way to texture various materials as well, a topic we will cover in more detail very soon!

Drawing Female Legs Standing In this lesson you will draw the female legs in a basic pose—with the weight shifted to one side. Characters often lean to one side or another.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw out the skeleton. On a pose like this one we will tilt the hips a bit to

Draw out the skeleton. On a pose like this one we will tilt the hips a bit to show the lean of the posture. Keep in mind that superhero legs can be overexaggerated, so play with these measurements to find the best option. Notice that I have made the front leg longer than the back leg. This is to help reinforce the look of depth in the drawing.

2 BUILD THE LEG STRUCTURE Draw the cylindrical shapes. Here you can draw a bit of curve to them to help get the feeling of the natural bend of the legs. Draw the knee area

help get the feeling of the natural bend of the legs. Draw the knee area as larger circles for now. Draw the feet using simple wedge-like shapes. Always draw the feet pointing slightly outward. They will never point in the same direction unless you are drawing a soldier at full attention.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Gently erase your lines and draw in the anatomy of the legs. Make sure each segment of the leg tapers downward. To make the legs look longer without redrawing at this stage, make the knees and ankles thinner than the rest of the leg. This gives the work a unique style.

4 REFINE THE LINES Refine the lines and add some additional lines for the flexing of the muscles. We want these legs to be more fit, so we will add more definition to the leg muscles. Then give her some suit markings so we

know she is truly a superhero!

5 ADD FINAL DETAILS Refine the lines a final time and add in small amounts of rendering lines by crosshatching. This helps to convey more style. Notice how it also does a good job of bringing out the suit design.

Drawing Female Legs Jumping Now to draw the female superhero legs in a popular pose. With one leg up, the hero appears to take flight. This is a pose you will use quite a bit when drawing comics, so practice it often.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw the basic skeleton of the pose, drawing circles for the joints and lines for the limbs. Condense the leg that bends toward us to illustrate foreshortening. Make sure to give a bit of tilt to the hips.

2 BUILD THE LEG STRUCTURE Draw the cylindrical shapes over the guidelines. This time draw ovals at the halfway point for the upper and lower leg. This is a helpful technique for feeling out the three-dimensional form. It also helps to better convey the direction of the limbs.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Gently erase the guidelines and begin to draw the muscles. The trickiest part of this pose is getting the bent leg to look like it is coming toward the viewer. You can rely on the cylinders to help you visualize tough perspectives like this one.

4 REFINE THE LINES Erase the rest of the guidelines and redraw the forms with more line weight. Line weight can also help to convey depth for foreshortening. The closer the object is to the viewer, the heavier the lines will be around that part of the drawing.

part of the drawing.

5 ADD FINAL DETAILS Clean up the work a bit more and add crosshatching and final line work. Notice how the suit lines around the legs also help to show depth or direction of the forms.

Drawing the Male Torso Here you will draw the male torso. You have to give our characters that strong upper body to hurl large objects at their foes, right?

1 DRAW THE UPPER GUIDELINES First draw the upper chest as an oval with a line down the middle. Chop the bottom off so we have an ending point for the chest. Then draw two ovals for the shoulders. The dotted lines help you visualize how much the one shoulder is covered by the upper chest mass from this angle.

2 DRAW ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES Draw another oval shape for the rib cage with a centerline from the chest. Then add another oval where the stomach muscles will go. Segment this area into eight parts. Draw an arc on the top for the trapezius muscles. Then add cylinders for the arms, though you will only focus on the torso.

3 DRAW THE TORSO STRUCTURE Gently erase the lines in the middle chest area and redraw the shape of the chest muscles for more accurate anatomy. They tend to taper inward toward the middle of the chest. Now draw the lines to represent the lats and obliques.

4 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Gently erase the construction lines and start to draw in the anatomy more clearly. Study bodybuilders to learn where the muscles go and also where certain muscle groups start and end. Through repetition you will start to make sense of it.

5 REFINE THE LINES Gently erase the rest of the guidelines and draw more defined forms. Use line weight to really push the shapes toward the viewer. By darkening the lines on the lower parts of forms and using thinner lines on the top edges you help to convey depth, size and shape to your line work.

6 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPES Add the shadows. Study from life. Remember that every object should have a different size and shape of shadow. The shadows should look and feel organic.

7 ADD FINAL DETAILS Add your final lines with crosshatching and shading to further round out the shapes. You can taper the lines as they move toward the light to round out the forms.

Drawing the Female Torso In this lesson you will be drawing the female torso. The same rules apply as with the male counterpart but with different proportions. The forms are more slender and elongated.

1 DRAW THE UPPER GUIDELINES Draw a rounded box-like shape for the chest, much like you did for the male torso. Draw a line down the middle along with an oval for the bottom to show that this shape is rounded. Draw two more ovals for the shoulders and notice the dotted lines to illustrate the overlapping shapes.

2 DRAW MORE GUIDELINES Draw additional ovals for the rib cage area. Notice that the stomach muscles look like an elongated football at this stage of the drawing. Add more curved lines for the lower side of the waist area. Then add a curved line for the top of the shoulders and a partial cylinder for the upper arm.

line for the top of the shoulders and a partial cylinder for the upper arm. Then divide the stomach into eight parts. This can all be very loose at this stage. Remember these are just guides to help you draw the next stages of the artwork.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Begin to draw in the anatomy and gently erase the guidelines as you go. Use more curved lines when drawing the female body. Try to think of the

shapes as fading in and out of the other forms. That helps you to not trace everything with the same line weight and intensity. Add areas that are soft and less defined.

4 REFINE THE LINES Now draw the shapes in with more clarity and line weight. Thick to thin

Now draw the shapes in with more clarity and line weight. Thick to thin lines will help the artwork pop off the page with more dimension.

5 ADD SHADOWS AND FINAL DETAILS Mark the shadow shapes. Draw some crosshatching but make sure to use less on the female form than you did on the male form. Over using the rendering lines here will make the forms look harder and therefore less feminine. In this case less is more!

Drawing the Male Back In this lesson you will draw the back of the male superhero. The back is where much of the power in the figure comes from, so let’s make sure we show it.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Since this pose will be drawn straight on, let’s start with a centerline that represents the spine. Then draw a somewhat rounded shape for the upper back, with a cylinder shape at the base to represent the waist. Notice the V-like shape to the back even at this stage.

2 BUILD THE STRUCTURE Draw the basic forms of the shoulders and a perimeter or outline of the back. Also draw the half cylinders for the upper arms. Notice how the latissimus dorsi, or lats for short, cover the arms from this angle. Then draw in a rounded shape for the top of the shoulders meeting a tapered cylinder for the neck.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Gently erase the construction lines and begin to sketch in your anatomy. Study from life, but make sure you beef up the proportions and give it your own style. At this stage of the drawing you can make all kinds of fun style choices. Experiment to see what you like for your superhero proportions.

4 REFINE THE LINES Gently erase the rest of the construction lines and refine the work. Further enhance the definition of the muscles using different line weights. Use line breaks to keep the muscles from looking too segmented across the back.

5 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPES Draw your shadows. Try to imagine where your light source is coming from at all times. If it helps, draw a mark on the page to stay focused on the placement of the light.

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS Now add crosshatching to further bring out the forms. This is another area where experimenting can be fun and is very important to finding your style. Just try not to create distractions in your work. If it doesn’t read well, get it out of there!

Drawing the Female Back In this lesson you will learn to draw the female back. Although the anatomy is the same as the male’s, the proportions are very different.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw the basic shapes the same way you would for the male back. Draw the centerline, the V for the upper back and the cylinder for the waist. This time make the shapes a bit thinner from left to right to illustrate the smaller torso of the woman.

2 BUILD THE STRUCTURE Gently erase marks you made in the previous step and start to draw in the basic shapes of the body. Notice the definition of the shoulder blades at this stage. The trapezius muscle, a muscle extending over the shoulders and back of the neck, is usually less visible on most women. This makes the shoulder blades more visible.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Sketch in the anatomy with a bit more detail. Take note of the diamondlike shape at the top of trapezius muscle, or traps for short. Also notice how the lats muscle in the lower part of the back creates an arrow up the back.

4 REFINE THE LINES

Erase again and draw in the anatomy with more clarity. Notice how the hips are wider in this step. This gives the form a bit more of an hourglass look that is more feminine. Don’t be afraid to make small tweaks as you draw.

5 ADD FINAL DETAILS Draw the shadows and add your line weight and crosshatching. When

Draw the shadows and add your line weight and crosshatching. When drawing in the shadows and lines, don’t cover the entire form. This will help to soften the form compared to the male back. Just like that, you have drawn the female back. I knew you could do it!

Drawing the Male Torso Bending We have covered the male torso from the front and back but now we will create one with a bend. It is very important to stretch these poses as often as possible and this is a great place to start. To stretch the pose you want to extend the parts outward away from the whole. In this case move the shoulders away from the torso as well as extending the abdominal area, stretching on one side and pinching on the other. Can’t draw that superhero punch without some bend to the torso for maximum power!

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw the torso as a bean-like shape with a flat bottom. Then draw a line across the top to connect the shoulders. One side should be higher than the other. This will help you to show the stretch and flexing of the muscles in the pose.

2 BUILD THE STRUCTURE Gently erase the lines you made in the previous step and draw the basic shapes of the anatomy. Use an arrow shape pointing up for the stomach into the rib cage. Draw the bottom of the chest muscles with a slight upward bend from this perspective. The lats will be visible only on the right side so draw them in with a large rounded curve under the arm cylinder. Add a small basic cylinder for the neck area as well.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Now redraw in the anatomy a bit more clearly. Notice the pinch on the right side of the inner torso and the stretched out curve to the left side. This effect really helps to show the stretching muscles of the torso and give the pose a more dynamic feel.

4 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPES Draw the shadows. Picture the light coming from the upper left of the superhero torso.

5 ADD THE FINAL DETAILS Draw the final shading lines and round out the forms a bit more. Add a fair amount of shading in the rib cage and lat areas under the right side to add depth to the drawing.

Drawing the Female Torso Bending Let’s approach the female torso once again, but this time let’s add more of a bend and a twisting motion to the pose. This can really push the dynamic feel of the forms.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw the shape for the rib cage. At the top, draw a line for the shoulders or collarbones. Connect this line to two circles for the shoulders. Then draw a curved line down the middle. Try to imagine the bend in the stomach and show the twist in the hips by drawing the bottom line at a different angle than the top and the midsection.

2 BUILD THE STRUCTURE Before you start to draw the primitive shapes of the anatomy, focus on the overall shape of the torso. Notice how the left side is pinched and the right side is elongated. Pay attention to the hourglass shape that women are so famous for. By adding that twist to the hips, the form seems to be in motion, which is great for comics.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Now draw the basic shapes of the anatomy. Keep it rough and really feel out the shapes. Add the cylinders for the arms to further illustrate the direction of the character’s movement. Avoid drawing the breasts as

direction of the character’s movement. Avoid drawing the breasts as perfect circles. This is a common mistake. It is better to think of them as teardrops rather than circles.

4 REFINE THE ANATOMY Now add more definition to the anatomy but remember to stay loose at this stage. You can fix a lot in your work by knowing when to sketch and when to clean up your lines. Play with that idea when creating your drawings.

5 FINALIZE THE LINE WORK Gently erase the sketching you did in the previous step and draw the forms over with more deliberate lines. Notice how the thicker curved line on the right of the drawing helps to push the form off the page. The

on the right of the drawing helps to push the form off the page. The weighted lines also help to direct the viewer to parts of the illustration.

6 ADD THE FINAL DETAILS Finally add in the shadows and your final line work. Remember that less is more on the female form. We want it to appear softer in comparison to the male counterpart—and thus more feminine.

CHAPTER 3

CREATING CHARACTER DETAILS In this chapter you will learn how to design characters that have lots of unique traits. We will cover the differences that create variety in our heroes and characters. You will learn about face shapes, superhero poses, foreshortening, line of action, lighting, clothing and armor. Putting together all these various elements will help to design your unique characters for comics.

Drawing Characters with Various Face Shapes This lesson focuses on some of the primary face shapes to consider when drawing your characters. No two faces are exactly alike, but you can rely on some common face shapes.

Face Shapes There are lots of shapes when it comes to the face. A helpful exercise

There are lots of shapes when it comes to the face. A helpful exercise entails creating a variety of faces with a few primitive shapes such as these. Notice how each of these characters was formed using one of these basic shapes. And keep in mind, it isn’t just the face shape but also the hairline that helps to define these looks. Now give it a try. Start with any of these shapes and create as many characters you can think of. This can be lots of fun and an excellent way to learn.

Character Design

Character Design Can you tell what basic primitive shape was used to draw each character? If I am any good at my job, you should be able to figure it out. If not, it’s back to the drawing board I go!

The Superhero Body: Three Main Masses In this lesson we will work on developing the superhero pose. Let’s start by studying the three main parts of the body that construct the pose: the head, torso and pelvis. Training your eye to see the relationship of these three masses will help you to construct more poses from memory. Study the way these areas of the body align in certain poses and separate away from one another in other poses, as well as how they twist from one another in more dynamic poses.

Create a Strong Pose Draw a typical superhero pose like this one and focus on the distances between the head, upper body and pelvis. Paying close attention to the spaces between these areas is very important to constructing a dynamic pose.

Practice the Basics Draw as many poses as possible. Make sure to study basic poses like this pose of a character standing with its arms resting on its hips. Including some basic poses will help to make the superhero poses more impressive by comparison. You need lots of variation in your poses to tell a good story.

Try a More Complex Pose After you get some basic poses under your belt, try something a little

After you get some basic poses under your belt, try something a little more complex, with forms that overlap one another. Try getting as much expressiveness as you can out of the drawing even though these are basic drawings. Just like gestures, this practice is a very important part to building a comfort level with drawing the dynamic figure.

Don’t Forget the Side View Notice in this profile view how the three main masses are at different angles from each other. It helps to pay attention to details like this so you don’t draw the forms completely straight up and down.

Superhero Poses Study and draw lots of various poses like these. They don’t have to be completely refined to convey the idea. It is more important that you draw lots of these without too much time spent on each so that you have a great variety of poses to work with. Drawing the same poses over and over again can be a problem and studies like these will help to fix that issue. Look at life, comics, take your own photos and even just imagine. There is no one singular way to create and you never want to limit yourself with that idea. The main thing is to fill up those sketchbooks with as many various characters and poses as you can. You will learn a ton in that process!

Drawing Foreshortening In this lesson you will put foreshortening into action on a muscular arm. Concentrate on the overlap that is evident in this type of example.

Learn the Basics Draw a series of cylinders that taper toward the bottom. Create three segments and use lines on both sides to keep the forms consistent as they taper. Notice how we can draw through the objects to better perceive them in a three-dimensional plane.

perceive them in a three-dimensional plane.

Practice Different Angles Draw the same cylinders but in a perspective view directed toward the camera. Notice that they now appear larger at the closest point, even though they are actually smaller on this side. This is how foreshortening appears. Since we didn’t measure the objects and simply drew them by eye, the segments are not in the right place.

1 SKETCH SHAPES FOR FORESHORTENING Draw a series of cylinders to represent the arm coming out at an angle toward the viewer. The overlap of the forms helps to convey depth. Notice in the bottom example how much longer the individual sections would appear in the horizontal perspective. To get the foreshortening to look believable, you must overlap the forms and condense the length of the shapes according to the viewer’s position.

2 ADD THE HAND SHAPES Now add in the hand using a wedge-like shape for the palm area and smaller cylinders to define the fingers. When drawing tricky hand poses use a mirror. Try not to use your drawing hand to pose with, unless you are ambidextrous, of course.

3 DEFINE THE ANATOMY Gently erase your guidelines and begin to draw the anatomy of the arm. Notice how each muscle goes in front of the previous muscle group as it comes closer to the viewer. Even if one line is only slightly in front of the other it will help to convey depth.

4 CLEAN UP THE ANATOMY Now draw over the arm again and this time focus on your line weight. Give the muscles more depth by adding thick to thin lines around the curves. There are lots of ways to stylize your work with line weight. The main thing is that you vary the line weights to give the art more appeal. You can also add thicker lines to the forms that are closer to the viewer (to create depth) or on the shadow side of the form (to enhance the light source).

5 ADD SHADOW SHAPES Shade the arm like it is covered with a darker suit material. Use heavy coverage to illustrate that material. When drawing the shadows make sure to give the lines a feeling of movement or flow. Since you are shading muscles, they should look and feel organic. Notice that you are drawing a dual light source on this arm. It helps to add more curve to the muscles and provides a nice effect for coloring later.

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS Add in the final lines. There are lots of ways to create your line work for the final shading. Using short abrupt lines illustrates a more specular material. On the second lower light source, use more line coverage to make that area appear darker. You can also leave a small white line around the bottom of the arm. This helps to keep the line weight separate and can provide a night effect against a darker background where the forms might otherwise get lost.

The Superhero Body: Characters in Action In this lesson you will take the three main masses concept and put it into practice. Let’s create a couple characters jumping into action!

1 DRAW THE BASIC GUIDELINES First draw a line of action. In this case a couple of elongated C curves get you started. Draw the head, upper torso and pelvis against the action line. Remember that each of these parts can be angled differently to give

line. Remember that each of these parts can be angled differently to give the pose a dynamic feel. Once you get more comfortable with this method you can really stretch these parts away from one another to create more expressive poses. But always use life drawing as your guide so you don’t take it too far beyond the believable realm.

2 BUILD THE POSE WITH BASIC SHAPES Add the direction of the legs and arms. Use basic circles and lines to represent the length of the limbs and their direction. Don’t get caught up in the details yet. That is where too many artists fail at figure drawings. Get the foundation of the pose and focus only on the action line, length of the limbs and relationships of the three main masses. That is enough to worry about at this stage. Action poses can be very tricky to get right. We don’t see them as much as we see static poses so our minds have a tough time remembering placement of the limbs and how the body contorts. Study

remembering placement of the limbs and how the body contorts. Study contact sports, gymnastics and dancing. Use your imagination to put different poses together. Through practice it will all start to make sense.

3 BLOCK IN THE FORMS Here you will add the solid forms to the characters in action. The previous steps determined the direction and scale. Now you have to add the rest of the solid shapes. Gently erase the guidelines. Begin drawing in the cylinders for the limbs. It’s okay if you want to change something from the previous step. Don’t feel confined by your early sketches. This process should be an exploration of the pose and structure. Each time you make a change for better or worse, you get closer to the right choice. Use wedge-like shapes for the hands and feet. Keep the drawing very basic at this stage and

for the hands and feet. Keep the drawing very basic at this stage and worry more about proportions and the direction of the limbs.

4 REFINE THE FIGURES Lightly erase the guidelines and focus on the new line work. Notice I have the lines in blue to help illustrate the next step. Now draw in the anatomy. Use the cylinders as a base, but again don’t hesitate to go outside or inside their lines. They are more like perspective tools at this point. Use them to stay focused on the look of the muscles. When drawing your anatomy, try a variety of curves with small amounts of angular lines. Lines used to draw the anatomy will feel organic when they flow in and out of one another.

5 SKETCH THE DESIGN At this stage you can have some fun with your concepts. You can use this redraw stage to further tighten up the anatomy as well. Let’s give the character on the left robotic arms and legs. Suit markings can be as simple as a few dividing lines that you will shade differently in the next step. For the character on the right, add a large logo on the chest and a utility belt. Character branding can be lots of fun and great for toy sales later!

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS At this point you’ll render the characters better. Use large shadows to push the forms around. Remember that shadow pushes areas back into space and light pulls them forward off the page. Use larger amounts of shadows on the suit materials, which will be darker in color. Notice how it helps to add contrast to the character on the left. With the darker suit material on his upper legs and shoulders, it provides contrast to those other areas. To help bring out those mechanical limbs, create shadows with swirling lines breaking away from them. Don’t forget to include neat little glares on the side with the light source. Effects like these go a long way in helping your illustrations become unique but believable.

Designing Characters: Varied Suit Designs In this lesson we will talk about adding variety to your character concepts. There’s nothing worse than all your characters looking the same. It is hard to tell a great story with a bunch of clones running around.

Practice Different Styles Notice with these examples that they are all from the same initial drawing. This can be a great exercise to stretch the imagination. Working from the same pose but adding lots of variety allows you to focus more on the concept and less on the foundation of the character. The first hero is drawn with simple suit markings. By adding various shapes and contrast to the materials you can quickly create a costume. This can be a great design for a hero that needs a large range movement when he fights. On the second design the character has lots of armor and weaponry. Obviously he’s a lot less limber of a character with all that luggage. The great thing about a design like this is that it is easy to add textures and effects to the various materials and add depth to the character. Adding lots of contrast to the design will tend to make the character look more interesting to the viewer.

A Traditional Hero With this hero concept we go with the cape and cuffs. It’s a very traditional look, and we know right away that this character can fly as well as maintain some style in the process. A logo on the chest can be a great asset for identifying this hero in a line up. It also gives you some clue to the nature of his power and/or his backstory. The mask tells you that he needs to protect his identity and adds a bit of mystique to his character.

Weapon and Suit Elements You also need to practice drawing a variety of weapons and suit designs. There are countless possibilities when it comes to this subject, so be

There are countless possibilities when it comes to this subject, so be creative. Don't worry too much about what has been done before. Just create and have fun. You will put your own spin on it as you create and refine it. Use basic shapes and build up the ideas like the other lessons in this book have shown you. Notice how many of the forms in these sketches are basic shapes. Oval, diamonds, triangles and squares comprise most of the design with basic lines connecting them together. Then the shading creates the effect that they are all one object.

Drawing Clothing and Armor: Light Sources This lesson will discuss light sources. Superheroes wear a large variety of materials, and the way those materials reflect light plays a big role in how you finish the work.

1 DECIDE ON A SINGLE LIGHT SOURCE Draw a muscular arm. Also draw a small symbol to indicate the light source. In this case I drew a mini sun but you can draw whatever you like. Use that reference point to figure out where the light might hit the object. You can think of this the same way you would when drawing in perspective, but you have to imagine how the light would react as it passes a series of rounded forms such as the muscles.

2 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPES Outline the shapes of the shadows. It is better to draw the shape of the shadows versus trying to sketch them in. It is quicker and more focused so your work will look cleaner because of it.

3 FILL THE SHADOWS Now fill in your shadow shapes. Don’t hesitate to change something just because you have already outlined the shape. I often add to the shapes here and there as I fill them in.

4 ADD FINAL DETAILS Add final line weight and crosshatching to finish off the drawing.

1 DECIDE ON THE LIGHT SOURCE Draw another arm and this time add a second light source. I drew one light source smaller than the other to show that one should be more prominent and from a slightly different angle in almost all cases.

2 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPES Draw the shadows. This time use your imagination to envision the light on both sides of the arm. If you can’t seem to get it right, study from life. You don’t have to find an exact match to learn how shadows work. You can adjust the work accordingly and add your own style. Photos can help you in a pinch.

3 FILL THE SHADOWS Fill in your shadow shapes and adjust any edges that need it. Remember to try this exercise with all sorts of shapes and objects. Only then will you start to feel comfortable with this technique. One day you will forget that you ever struggled with shadows, and what a fine day that will be!

4 ADD FINAL DETAILS Add your final lines to finish rounding out your shapes. You can even choose to use one type of line on one side and another type of line on the other side. This will further indicate the difference in the light sources. Then when your drawings go to the colorist, the effect can be enhanced!

Drawing Clothing and Armor: Capes In this lesson you will draw the superhero cape. It’s an essential suit design for your fantastic flying friendly superhero!

1 DRAW THE BASIC GUIDELINES Draw a basic perimeter shape in which the cape details will reside. This is just a basic perimeter shape so don’t hesitate to draw through it or go outside of the lines. Make sure to draw the bottom wider than the top to

give it the feeling of the material flowing outward.

2 SKETCH DIRECTION LINES Begin to draw lines for the folds. Think of the directional lines coming

from the area where the material pinches at the shoulders. They will widen outward as the material is more free to flow around the base of the cape.

3 ADD FOLD LINES Begin to add the folds in the material. A good way to practice this is to

Begin to add the folds in the material. A good way to practice this is to hang a shirt over the back of a chair and study the different folds it creates. For thicker materials you will have less compressed folds, but they still react in a similar way. Add a series of curves on the bottom edge to give more depth to the flowing area of the cape.

4 REFINE THE DESIGN Now draw in the folds with more clarity and line weight. Add small hints of shadow where the material overlaps itself.

5 ADD FINAL DETAILS Finish it off with some added line work and crosshatching. And there you have it: the ever popular superhero cape!

Drawing Clothing and Armor: Gauntlet In this lesson you will draw and fully render an armor gauntlet. It will allow you to study the chrome-like effect that is so popular with comic book hero suit designs.

1 DRAW THE BASIC GUIDELINES Draw out the basic shapes of a fist and the wrist area with a cylinder for the arm and small circles for each knuckle. Since it will be armor plated, make sure the primitive shape of the forearm is wider than a human forearm would be.

2 SKETCH THE DESIGN Roughly sketch the design of the armor. Keep the lines loose and sketch in tiny details. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your design at this stage

in tiny details. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your design at this stage of the drawing. If you are unsure about the look that you want, draw lightly to give your imagination time to kick in. When all else fails, seek out references from the knights of old. You’ll find lots of great designs to learn from there.

3 CLEAN UP THE DESIGN Gently erase your previous sketch and redraw the lines with more clarity. When drawing a segmented object such as this, remember to make certain areas appear in front of the next by drawing it larger and with an overlap to the previous segment. Notice this is evident in the wristguard

and the larger segments on the bottom of the forearm area. As the shadows are applied in the next steps we can further illustrate these areas being raised over the other parts of the gauntlet.

4 ADD SHADOW SHAPES Continue to clean up your lines and begin to add the shapes for the shadows. Try to envision how the segments will look with a light source coming from the top left of the gauntlet. Drop shadows are a great way to help illustrate the highs and lows of your design. Also consider how the

shadow will react against a reflective surface.

5 ADD FINAL DETAILS When shading a reflective surface, try to think of the shadows as swirling around the object. Remember that this is simply the environment reflecting off the object in a distorted way because the object is not flat. So your shadows need to look as if they are moving across the surface. You’ll also want to add crosshatching to further round out the object and give it additional shading.

give it additional shading.

Drawing Clothing and Armor: Helmet In this lesson you will learn how to draw a superhero helmet for our do good-er. Helmets can serve a few purposes for our characters. They can conceal their secret identity, and they can add a much needed bit of style and flare to the costume. So let’s get to it!

1 DRAW THE BASIC GUIDELINES You need a head to put a helmet on so draw a character of your choice. I like to keep them pretty basic in the beginning to not distract too much from the helmet design. Place some features so you know where to add in the details of the helmet concept.

2 SKETCH THE DESIGN Draw the basic shapes of your helmet design. Try to start with a very simple design since you can always add to it later. You want to show the area the hero can see through, so draw a visor that covers his eyes. Adding segments to the helmet can be a nice touch. It also allows you to shade the various areas differently for some added effects.

3 ADD SHADOW SHAPES Now draw in the larger shapes of shadows. You want parts of the helmet to look specular so you can draw in some rounded glares to help illustrate that. For areas like the visor that need to be darker you can draw larger shapes of shadows with smaller highlights.

4 ADD FINAL DETAILS Draw smaller line work to finish out the detail effect. You can use small

Draw smaller line work to finish out the detail effect. You can use small wavy lines to show the reflective look to the helmet’s material. Then add your cross-hatching to the lower parts of the metal areas to round the forms and show the effect of bounced light. Notice how I even added a small amount of shading behind our hero to help him stand off the page. Just remember that by using different thicknesses of lines you can vary the intensity of the shading and make the illustration appear more interesting.

Drawing Clothing: Suit Design This lesson covers the design process of a new character’s suit. This can be tons of fun, and there is no right or wrong way to do it. The only rule is to experiment with new ideas!

1 DRAW THE BASIC GUIDELINES We need a character’s frame to begin with, so draw something heroic like this guy to get started. Just keep the details to a minimum since you will be drawing all that fancy gear on top of the pose.

2 MARK GUIDES FOR THE SUIT DESIGN Begin adding outlines for the design of the suit. Indicate where the leg cuffs, wrist armor, belt and chest shield will go. You can also begin adding facial features. Don’t get too detailed at this point.

3 CLEAN UP THE DESIGN Now draw some gear. Things like belts and pouches add dimension to the hero. You can use simple shapes like a partial oval for the chest belt and cubes for the pouches. Then add some details on top. You can also add details to the mask area as well by changing the shape and defining the mouth.

4 ADD SHADOW SHAPES Draw the shadows to add depth and weight to the character. By strategically placing more shadows on parts of the suit design, you can convey the contrasting materials. It is now more clear that part of the suit is a much darker and even slightly specular material. Add shadows on the lighter part of the suit to help shape the anatomy.

5 ADD FINAL DETAILS Finalize the drawing by darkening the pencil lines and adding crosshatching. And now you have a superhero all suited up and ready to fight some crime!

CHAPTER 4

LAYING OUT A SCENE In this chapter you will learn how to put all of what you have learned so far into a scene. How to make the characters occupy space and react with it is a big part of drawing superheroes. We will cover various perspectives and compositions when creating your scenes, as well as how and where to add your details to those scenes. And finally you will learn how to apply power effects to those amazing characters.

Laying Out a Scene: The Rough Sketch Here we will talk about laying out the scene with the rough sketch. This type of quick drawing is very important to creating your ideas fast and expressively. I like to use rough sketches to work through lots of ideas and warm up my imagination. Time your sketches and see how much information you can fit into the sketch within a couple of minutes. The trick here is to express ideas and not worry about refinement yet. The refinement process can sometimes hurt your creativity and slow you down so save that for after you have worked through your concept. Put as much information as you can think of into your rough sketch.

Try a Different Perspective

Try a Different Perspective Before you start any new project you will need to get your ideas in order. There is no better way to do this than by drawing a rough sketch or thumbnail of your concept. Here you can add in and edit your work very quickly. Try various camera angles and perspectives.

Try Out Details Rough sketches allow you to think more dynamically about your characters and scene. You can add lots of small details in the rough sketch and see how they work together before putting in the time and work on a refined piece.

Block in Shapes Even at this thumbnail stage you can block in the shapes of shadows to see how the composition is working. Don’t worry about your perspective or details looking just right at this stage. Just put the information in there and you can refine it later in the drawing process.

Keep It Loose By keeping the drawing loose and unrefined, you become more expressive and less inhibited with your concepts.

Plan a Scene Everything is drawn better when an initial rough sketch is done. Even an action scene like this one can be better visualized with a quick rough sketch. This becomes the blueprint for the real drawing!

Laying Out a Scene: Blocking in Shapes This lesson covers blocking in shapes, a great way to get a feel for the overall scene before spending too much time on something you might not like in the end. Blocking in shapes allows you to see the composition very quickly.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw a typical superhero stance, strong with clenched fists. Use basic

Draw a typical superhero stance, strong with clenched fists. Use basic primitive shapes to place the pose and the limbs. Block in a few buildings in a one-point perspective. Think of this scene in three parts. The character and the ledge is part one (the foreground). The buildings in red are part two (the midground) and the distant buildings in blue are part three (the background).

2 START TO DEFINE THE CHARACTER DETAILS Sketch in more anatomy and suit markings for the hero. Take your time

and don’t move past this stage until you are satisfied with your work. You want to work out as many imperfections as you can in this beginning stage to save yourself time and heartache later on.

3 ADD BUILDING DETAILS Draw the details of the buildings. Keep the lines loose, and draw through the artwork. This helps prevent proportion mistakes by stopping at the

the artwork. This helps prevent proportion mistakes by stopping at the existing lines. Add the most details up close but feel free to reduce the details as the buildings or objects are farther away. You will save yourself time, and we cannot see tiny details at a long distance anyway. Unless you are a superhero of course!

4 DRAW THE SHADOWS Block in the shapes of shadows on the character and on the buildings. This is where the scene really starts to pop off the page. Strong shadows give your illustrations weight and depth. It is easy to shy away from using good shadows, but I assure you, your drawings will look much better with them.

5 ADD FINAL DETAILS Render the line weight and crosshatching to add more depth. For the

Render the line weight and crosshatching to add more depth. For the hero, round the lines around his muscles and think more spherical and organic when adding them. For the buildings, think more about the shadows and textures working in perspective. Then add another pass of textures that are more random. For instance, I added the cracks in the ledge next to the hero. There are lots of ways to stylize your shading, so have fun with it and always experiment with new effects.

Laying Out a Scene: Perspective In this lesson I will cover the basics of perspective drawing. This will help you understand a scene and better make your characters fit within that scene.

One Vanishing Point By drawing a forward-facing square with a horizon line (hl) above it. We can establish a vanishing point (vp). By drawing perspective (p) lines from each corner of the square to the vanishing point, we can easily construct a three-dimensional cube.

Two Vanishing Points By adding a second vanishing point, we can turn the cube on an angle to the viewer very easily. This works well when creating the perspective of the viewer looking down at a street corner.

Three Vanishing Points By adding a third vanishing point at the bottom of the cube, we can add a bit of distortion and a dynamic feel to the perspective. The blue lines from the previously drawn cube illustrate the change it has on the overall shape.

One Vanishing Point, Low Horizon Now back to the single vanishing point, but this time use a low horizon line. Just remember that anything above the horizon line will appear to be over the viewer’s head and anything below the horizon line will appear to be below the viewer’s head.

Two Vanishing Points on the Horizon Notice how this cube occupies space above and below the horizon line. So you are able to look up at the top edge and down to the bottom edge from this perspective. And the same rule for finding center by creating lines from corner to corner applies here as well. This is a great way for quickly drawing in building details while maintaining the correct perspective.

Laying Out a Scene: One-Point Perspective In this lesson, start using some basic perspective to work out the scene. One-point perspective is probably the most used in comics and is very powerful for directing the viewer.

1 DRAW PERSPECTIVE GUIDELINES Start by creating a frame, or panel, to contain the scene. Draw a horizon line a little above the halfway point. Now add some directional lines to

line a little above the halfway point. Now add some directional lines to show the vanishing point within the scene.

2 BLOCK IN BUILDING GUIDELINES Start blocking in some building shapes. You want to create the

Start blocking in some building shapes. You want to create the impression that we are looking down on the scene, so keep most of the shapes below the horizon line. Vary the sizes and shapes of the buildings. Remember to space them out to make room for streets and parking lots, and to add a bit more realism to the scene.

3 SKETCH THE FIGURE GUIDES Block in a foreshortened pose of the hero flying toward the viewer. This can be a very impactful shot, so practice it often until you get it right. Use

overlapping shapes to convey the arm coming outward. Hide parts of the body such as the midsection since it wouldn’t be in view from this angle. Use the perspective lines to help with the character as well. The body can be drawn in perspective, just like anything else, but you must figure out how the anatomy looks from that particular angle. That is why figure drawing studies are so important.

4 START DEVELOPING THE ANATOMY Refine the character a bit further and draw in the muscles. If you have a hard time with the arm coming out toward the viewer, study the pose in a mirror. Or take a photo. You don’t need to look like the superhero to get

mirror. Or take a photo. You don’t need to look like the superhero to get the information needed for the pose. Your imagination will take over from there.

5 DRAW THE SUIT DESIGN Draw the suit for the hero. Since he is in the air, let’s give him a cape. This is where you can really be creative. There are so many things that you can do when it comes to the look and style of your character. Anything goes! There is no right or wrong way to design a superhero.

6 DRAW THE CITY DETAILS Add in the details of the city. Add windows and ledges to the buildings, and put cars on the road. This may look like a lot to take in at first, but it

really isn’t. Each little detail converges to the single vanishing point. The only other details are created with the horizontal or vertical lines. You can mix in a few angles so that the city doesn’t look too boring, and then some small details such as the cars and people can appear down below. They don’t have to be perfect since they are not the focal point of this scene. The hero is.

7 ADD FINAL DETAILS Add in final line work to the scene and the superhero with crosshatching and darker lines. Make the character pop more by placing shadows below his chest and by shading in the legs. This helps to push the upper body out further and to create depth. Add in motion lines to create the feeling of speed. Notice that they all rest on the perspective lines as well. Now the superhero is rushing to save the day!

Laying Out a Scene: Two-Point Perspective In this lesson I will cover the two-point perspective. There are lots of ways to construct a two-point perspective and the vanishing points can be well outside the frame as we will practice in this example.

1 DRAW PERSPECTIVE GUIDES Draw your panel and place a low horizon below it. This will ensure that we are looking up at our hero. Then add two vanishing points and begin to draw in some perspective lines. Draw them across one another and get a feel for the space.

2 BLOCK IN THE BUILDING Now block in a ledge of a building to the lower fourth of the panel. Then draw in some rough building shapes for the background. Keep the idea very loose at this stage and just focus on the large forms.

3 SKETCH THE FIGURE GUIDES Draw some basic shapes for the hero leaning over the edge of the building. Poses like this can be tricky since we don’t see them every day. Do your best to keep the idea loose and free-flowing. Not all poses will work, but sometimes you can save them through the drawing process.

4 START DEVELOPING THE ANATOMY Gently erase the sketchy guidelines of the character and start to add more details of the anatomy. Notice that the front leg looks a bit out of place and the arm looks a bit strange in that pose. This is because we are drawing superheroes and a normal person wouldn’t look or pose like this. As we refine the drawing, it will start to make sense. Sometimes it’s okay to be more focused on being creative than on making sure

okay to be more focused on being creative than on making sure everything is perfectly correct.

5 ADD DETAILS TO THE FIGURE Draw the details of the superhero. Use the suit markings to help push the perspective of the arms, legs and torso. Notice how it is already starting to look more correct, even though the anatomy is far from correct. Sometimes you have to let style be your guide.

6 DEFINE THE BUILDINGS Detail the buildings in the background. Practice overlapping various sets of lines to create depth. Study buildings and simplify some of the details.

of lines to create depth. Study buildings and simplify some of the details. Over time you will naturally draw with more detail, so keep it basic in the beginning and complete the work. Nothing is worse than trying to do too much on your first try and then getting discouraged. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is an accomplished artist.

7 ADD FINAL DETAILS With all the hard work done, it is time to have some fun. Start shading and adding in all those fancy little lines that we love to create. Add shadows on the lower parts of the arms to round out those muscles. Shade the lower parts of the legs to push the character up and create a more dynamic feel. Shade in the darker parts of the suit to give the hero some contrast. Add lots of cracks and imperfections in the ledge below him. This also will contrast the other materials in the scene and give the shot more style.

Laying Out a Scene: Three-Point Perspective This lesson covers the three-point perspective. We will also be creating another dynamic by breaking the panel border with our hero.

1 DRAW PERSPECTIVE GUIDES Draw a high horizon line so that you are looking downward onto the scene. Add two vanishing points to the outside of the border. The third vanishing point will go into the inside bottom of the panel. This will give a steep downward angle to really push the depth of the scene. You should experiment with the placements of these points to find all sorts of neat perspectives for your illustrations.

2 BLOCK IN THE BUILDING Block in the overall basic shapes of the city. Don’t worry about details at

Block in the overall basic shapes of the city. Don’t worry about details at this stage and just try to picture the overall scene with large forms. Notice how the buildings begin to line up as they get closer to the horizon line and appear to be stacked as they get closer to the bottom of the scene. This sort of distortion can give the shot a dynamic feel.

3 SKETCH THE FIGURE GUIDES Draw a basic pose of the superhero looking down at the city. We will also break one of the cardinal rules in comics: Don’t draw outside the panels! Well, not unless you’re a pro. Then you can do whatever you want. This adds a nice effect and will give the scene more depth. You want the hero to look as if she is flying backwards. Notice that this pose could be achieved with someone sitting on a chair. Paying attention to things like that will help you to reference your poses when needed.

4 START DEVELOPING THE ANATOMY Clean up the pose and refine the sketch. Give her hair a bit of movement to show that she is flying through the air. Use open hand poses to add to the effect of weightlessness. Notice that the arm closest to the viewer is much larger than the one pointing towards the city. This is a quick way to create foreshortening and depth.

create foreshortening and depth.

5 ADD DETAILS TO THE FIGURE Draw the suit design. Try something modern looking and add a few segments that can be shaded in various ways. Add a billowing cape to solidify the fact that she is flying. The cape, just like the hair, can show movement and add another dynamic to the scene.

6 DEFINE THE CITY BUILDINGS Draw the details of the city. Give the buildings small variations in design. They are all very similar, but by adding small varied details you can start to give the city a more interesting look. Every line in this scene goes back to the three vanishing points. Even the circular-shaped building is really just a series of squares that you can use to draw and align the circles for the windows. When drawing a scene with depth, remember that you can

the windows. When drawing a scene with depth, remember that you can let the details fade as the objects recede into the distance.

7 ADD FINAL DETAILS Refine the character and add in the shadows. Use the various parts of the suit as opportunities to add contrast. Shading in the darker part of the suit helps to add contrast against the cape and the city. Add small

suit helps to add contrast against the cape and the city. Add small crosshatching to help the armor of her suit appear reflective. Each material should be rendered in a slightly different way. I felt the city was still too rough at the previous stage, so I gave it one last level of refinement. Adding thicker lines around the edges of the buildings can add depth. You can add a white edge right next to the dark line to further illustrate that depth. You can see this used around the hero against the frame of the panel.

Characters Reacting to a Background: Lifting This lesson features a brutish behemoth lifting a large object. In comics, there are lots of opportunities where this should come in handy. So let’s get to the heavy lifting, shall we?

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw the basic skeleton guidelines. Tilt the torso back to illustrate the

Draw the basic skeleton guidelines. Tilt the torso back to illustrate the character lifting the object over his head. Draw one leg up on a rock ledge to add some contrapposto to the pose. This helps to make the body look more dynamic and realistic. Notice even at this beginning stage you can widen the torso and the pelvis to ready the character’s frame for all those muscles.

2 BUILD THE FIGURE STRUCTURE Draw the cylinders over the guidelines as you have in previous demos, but this time make them much wider. The head will be a bit smaller proportionally compared to the larger muscles to help convey the body mass. You can play around with changing the head size to make the character’s muscles and limbs appear larger. Just don’t make the head too small or he will have to start buying his baseball caps in the kid’s section.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Draw the anatomy of this muscle-bound brute. Don’t worry, the muscles are identical to other heroes, though a bit bulkier. Once you learn where they start and where they end, it becomes much easier to do. Just practice, practice. With beefy characters like this one, you just have to work on the connections such as the elbows, knees, shoulders and hips. That tends to be a little difficult at first. Remember to experiment with the amount of angular lines for the anatomy.

4 DEFINE THE ROCK SHAPES Speaking of angular lines, let’s detail the boulder and the rock formation he is standing upon. This style of texturing is very handy for these types of materials. It can also offer a nice contrast to the organic feeling of the hero. Use lots of straight lines to chisel out some rock planes. Just kind of let your mind go free when texturing like this. It is more about a general look and feel. You don’t have to place every line in just the right spot. It is important that you don’t noticeably repeat patterns though, unless you truly want that in your drawing.

5 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPES Add the shadows to the rocks and figure. The light source is coming from the top right of our superstrong tough guy. Give a slight drop shadow from the rock onto the character. This is a great way to connect the objects in the scene while giving them a more solid feel. You can also add larger shadows to the lower parts of the legs to show the change in the direction as the legs bend back to hold the weight.

6 ADD MORE TEXTURE Add some crosshatching to further illustrate the rock textures. This helps to not only add more texture to the rocks, but also to define the plane changes in more detail. You can vary the lines here in lots of different ways. I try to add a few different line weights to give it the feeling of randomness that I notice when studying rock formations. Obviously real rocks don’t have all these little lines, but in comics you can get away with it!

7 ADD THE FINAL DETAILS Add final lines to the brute. Make his body appear more metallic using swirling little lines to get the job done. This effect will also provide a contrast to the rock textures that you just added. Add in crosshatching from the larger shapes of shadows on the body. This helps to soften the transition from dark to light. Notice how the segments in the armor stand out more with little bits of white on the edges. This is a quick effect that you can use on segmented objects like weapons and gadgets. And there you have it: a very big guy ready to throw a very big rock!

Characters Reacting to a Background: Running This lesson features a character running toward the camera. This can be a tricky pose to get right, so be ready to try it a few times before you hit the nail on the head. Let’s not waste any time getting to it, shall we?

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Rough out the pose using the mannequin style of sketching, paying attention to the relationship of the head, torso and pelvis. Getting these forms to overlap and turn from one another can be tricky, but if done right

forms to overlap and turn from one another can be tricky, but if done right it will help convey motion. Make sure they not only overlap but face the same way. The body will contort with this type of action so you need to show that.

2 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Roughly sketch in your anatomy. Keep the overlaps in mind with the limbs as well. For the character’s left arm, overlap the forearm in front of

limbs as well. For the character’s left arm, overlap the forearm in front of the bicep and the bicep in front of the shoulder. Doing so helps to convey the depth and foreshortening of this pose. Notice how the stomach muscles overlap one another as they recede toward the pelvis. This all helps to create the illusion that the forms are receding.

3 REFINE THE LINES Draw the anatomy with more clarity and use line weights to help further detail the forms. Use angular lines to chisel out our hero’s muscles and smooth lines to soften areas up and connect the limbs to one another. Getting the right combination of angular and smooth lines takes practice but is worth the effort.

4 DRAW THE SHADOWS Add the shadow shapes and the hero’s suit markings. We won’t put a bunch of gear on this type of character. It might get in the way of him reaching those superfast running speeds. Some identifiable markings and a mask to conceal his secret identity will be enough. Notice how the larger shadows help give the suit a two-tone effect and lift the character off the page.

5 ADD THE FINAL DETAILS Add final detail lines with crosshatching. Use larger tapered lines on the rear leg to push it back into space. You can also use a different line weight from each material on the suit to further illustrate the separation. Then use a popular method in comics to show speed, adding motion lines behind the hero. This is really just a single point perspective where all those little lines converge. Then erase some of the lines on the ends for an added speed effect. This superfast hero is running to save the day!

Drawing Characters in Action: Punching This lesson covers how to draw a character punching through a brick wall. Drawing characters is one thing, but having them interact with their surroundings really helps to bring the image to life.

1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES Draw your basic pose with the primitive shapes. Since the character’s hand is coming toward the viewer, make sure to draw it larger to help illustrate the foreshortening. Also make sure the body is leaning into the punch to give the pose more power. Then draw a wall with a broken shape where the impact has occurred. To align the breaks in the wall you can use a one point perspective but since breaks don’t need to be perfect, I did it by eye in this example.

2 BUILD THE STRUCTURE Draw the larger forms to help convey the size of your character. We want this guy to be a bit of a bruiser, so let’s give him the big arms that are necessary for punching through walls. Notice how the overlap of these shapes can really start to sell the depth of the pose even at this early stage.

3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY Refine the character by drawing in the anatomy with more clarity. Let’s give him a grimace to show he is really angry at this wall that stands in his way. Remember to use your line weight to help push the forms off the page. A constant line weight around the character will make them appear flat and boring. Using thicker lines on the shadow side and thinner lines on the side where the light is hitting the forms will make the image appear more interesting and three dimensional.

4 REFINE THE LINES Draw some of the busted rocks flying toward the viewer. This is a quick

way to add more depth to the scene while also giving it a more dynamic feel. Add texture to the sides of the brick with line work to show the direction they are facing. Keep your light source in mind when adding these textures.

5 DRAW THE SHADOWS Add shadows to the character along with some of his suit design. You can even draw small wrinkles in the suit by adding shadows to one side of them as they pass over the muscles. This is done the same way that you would draw veins on your characters.

6 ADD FINAL DETAILS Add crosshatching and more line weight to give the image more depth. You can add more effect to the flying debris by drawing some motion lines behind the pieces. An area of impact using a one-point perspective with the lines tapering toward that point adds to the effect as well.

Characters Reacting to a Background: Powers This lesson features some super powers for our character. Power effects can add lots of dynamics to the scene and convey mood and intensity within the storytelling.

1 DRAW THE BASIC SHAPES This character is ready to wield some magic, so let’s help her out. First draw the orbs of energy around her hands. They don’t have to be perfect circles, but if you can make them perfect then more power to you! Now draw a wavy line, sort of like a ribbon flowing from one orb to the next. This will give the area of focus for the energy.

2 ADD MORE LINES CONNECTING THE ORBS Draw smaller, ribbon-like shapes moving around the larger one and connecting to the orbs. I try to think about the energy flowing around and connecting to itself at various points. As it breaks away from the source, it tends to get smaller by comparison. But there are really no rules when it

tends to get smaller by comparison. But there are really no rules when it comes to drawing powers.

3 START ADDING DETAIL TO THE ORBS Draw more detail inside of the orbs or energy. Try to imagine the power moving around the sphere, and keep the lines smooth. Vary the shapes to avoid an overly repetitive effect.

4 REFINE THE LINE WORK Add some line weight to the power effect, which can be extremely helpful with these types of effects. It helps to create a sense of intensity to the larger areas and also will keep the design from looking flat.

5 ADD FINAL DETAILS Refine the line work one more time and add in the final details. Add in some smaller stars, drawing them in various sizes to help convey distance and intensity. And, voilà! Instant magic!

Characters Reacting to a Background: Other Powers The power in this lesson is more focused and intense. Some rolling smoke may be an aftereffect of such destructive power.

Various Power Designs Try drawing a variety of these textures. Use all sorts of line work, dots and crosshatching to create a multitude of special effects. These will come in handy later, so save them for future drawings. And keep in mind

come in handy later, so save them for future drawings. And keep in mind there is no right or wrong way to draw textures like these, so let your imagination go wild in this exercise!

1 DRAW THE BASIC OUTLINES First you need a character who’s directing this amazing energy. Draw whoever you like with the arms out toward the viewer to show the energy in perspective. Draw the basic shapes of where the power will go. Keep in mind that for the beams of energy coming from his hands, the same perspective rules apply. When drawing the rolling smoke around the character, try to keep the line smooth by creating it with one long consistent pull. A few bumps will help to make the smoke look like it moves freely.

2 BUILD UP THE LINES Add some darker shaded lines where the intensity of the power will be in the middle of the beams. This helps to make the energy appear hotter in the center and can make for some nice coloring effects later on. To add more depth to the rolling smoke, simply draw a few more lines swirling around inside the larger shapes. Make sure they flow in and out toward the edges to give the appearance of the smoke swirling around itself. You can also draw these lines thinner in certain areas to help illustrate this effect.

3 ADD TEXTURE Begin to texture the beams of power. Shade them in around the hands to show where the power is coming from. This is really just a series of scribbles that break away from the larger area of shadows. Stipple shading like this can be very handy for power effects.

4 ADD FINAL DETAILS Darken the line work that makes up the powers a bit more. Then come back with white and draw through the shadows. This is a handy effect for all sorts of neat tricks. You can do this very easily with either digital or traditional drawings. With traditional work you will use a white-out pen or a brush with white ink. Notice I used line work to further highlight the power around his hands. Add more line weight to the rolling smoke effect. Notice that just by adding in some darker lines, the smoke looks less flat than it does in the previous step.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Marzullo has been creating comics and illustrations for more than 20 years. He is the artist and writer of the Blackstone comic and enjoys sharing his techniques on his YouTube channel. Robert has worked in comics, 3D animation and storyboarding. He also shares tutorials and lessons on his website at ramstudioscomics.com for the aspiring comic book artist.

IDEAS. INSTRUCTION. INSPIRATION.

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Learn to Draw Action Heroes. Copyright © 2017 by Robert Marzullo. All rights reserved. No part of this eBook may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by IMPACT Books, an imprint of F+W Inc., 10151 Carver Road, Suite 200, Blue Ash, OH 45242. (800) 289-0963. Other fine IMPACT products are available from your local bookstore, art supply store or online supplier. Visit our website at fwmedia.com. eISBN: 9781440351020 This e-book edition: June 2017 (v.1.0).