Learn to Draw Action Heroes_ An Easy Step by Step Guide to Drawing Comic Book Characters ( PDFDrive )

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.