I've been on a meme binge since finding
this post on tumblr. It's got all sorts of useful memes for character development, so I thought I'd try out a few.
I'm pasting my deviantArt notes in full below. Be warned; they're something of a tl;dr.
Originally I was going to use this for the two main characters of my third year film pitch, but they are intentionally designed to contrast each other and so it would kind of be missing the point. I thought about it for a while and realized that Ciaran and Levi are actually quite similar. It's been ages since I've drawn Ciaran or even worked on Tales of Kenah, and I've learned tons since then, so I actually figured him out a bit as I went. Levi is designed with much more thought in the details.
Overall, disembodied parts of characters are actually really difficult to draw! For Levi's hand I actually had to sketch out a body to put a hand on, then get rid of it. I did the same with faces for the mouths. The more I worked on this, the more I realized just how important line quality is. It's something I've been improving lately without really noticing, but it means a lot when you're not using tones!
Commentary by section:
Hands and feet: Levi is generally characterized as slender and androgynous (or downright feminine, depending). He's the type of person who's really freaking skinny, so his bones would be quite prominent wherever. Ci's stockier, more muscular, and more inclined to spread his toes for balance. The things you think about when you're told to do these things!
Noses: Along with mouths, noses are facial feature I vary the least. Mostly because I have a rather limited opinion of what an attractive nose is, but at the same time it's not something I put much stock in. I do tend to have a general idea - Levi's nose is small, kind of flat due to his part-Asian heritage and the feminine look I'm pushing for him. Ciaran's nose is... average. Bah, nothing interesting in that.
Mouths with teeth showing: I purposely chose two similar characters, and neither Levi and Ciaran are really the type to smile with their mouths open unless they're laughing or talking. Regardless this was very interesting. I find mouths doubly hard to draw when open, and I have never considered varying teeth, partly because if I were to detail every tooth it would look out of place in my style. But I don't want to use "style" as a crutch or excuse. Levi's teeth are pretty standard, and he has thin lips. Ciaran, being a Wevlin, has longer canines, though one's chipped, and he's missing a molar. Life's tough in the wild.
Dialogue: I wanted to come up with something that wouldn't give it away through setting or plot, and thought the best way would be to imagine them both in a similar situation. So in this one they're voicing their attempts to console someone who's upset. For Levi I straight-up took a line from The Phoenix, then I considered the same situation for Ciaran. Funnily enough, Ciaran is even more socially awkward than Levi...
Colours: Basically I took skin, hair, and eyes. Ciaran has fur, so I added that too. Nothing too special here. Of course they're both pale and dark-haired and have bright eyes... I mean, I know these two both have a special place in my heart, but I didn't realize how similarly they were designed until I did this. I can't decide whether it's a bad or good thing. There are plenty of other characters in my arsenal who are completely different.
Eyes: As previously mentioned, Levi's part Asian, and it shows the most in his eyes. Ciaran tends to have this part-lidded thing going on most of the time. Interestingly enough, even though I found these the easiest to draw on their own, I actually found it harder to get them accurate in terms of design. Eyes and eyebrows are the features I differ the most when designing characters, so I'm on a different level with them than I am with other features, and I could push myself to be more accurate in drawing them.
Clothes: Didn't really know what to do here, so Levi's signature waistcoat and Ciaran's overshirt. I realized during this that Kenah probably doesn't have the technology to make the kinds of clothes Ciaran's wearing, and anyway it'd be stupid and impractical. I'm probably going to redesign his clothes if I ever get back to work on ToK.
Stick figures: This was actually quite fun. I allowed myself a shape for the torso because they're built differently, but they also stand differently. I think I didn't draw Ciaran's torso wide enough; as I said before, he's stocky. Because he lives in a setting that emphasizes survival and fighting, he takes a wider stance, but he has a tendency to slouch. Levi, who lives comfortably in the first world, leads a much more casual lifestyle.
Bodies: Wasn't really sure how to do a "different angle" so I picked a profile... which then made it hard for me to add arms. Bad move. Again, Levi's friggin' skinny and tall, and Ciaran's actually fairly short. Probably didn't emphasize that enough in the whole meme, and he should be more muscular considering what he has to do. Things to work on!
Heads without hair etc.: This was in fact quite difficult, but in the end it's just a reiteration of facial features, plus jaw and face shape. I guess skull shape is worth considering, though not that important. Ciaran's head/jaw/face shape is something I'm still not 100% on, since I came up with it as I was doing this meme and I'm not yet sure quite what I want from him.
Hair on mannequins: The only reason Ciaran doesn't have the same parting as Levi is because I specifically decided he shouldn't. There are enough similarities as it is. Ciaran's hair is actually really boring... and girly out of context.
Silhouettes: I LOVE silhouettes. I find legs much easier and more interesting to draw in silhouette than in line for some reason. This is the only place I showed Ciaran's wings and tail, because I figured they'd give it away earlier. Levi needs to eat some food.
I would tag people but I don't know who even follows me anymore. If you have enough characters, pick the two most similar ones you can think of and put them through this! It's great development and practice drawing different things.
You can find the blank meme
here if you'd like to fill it out. I highly recommend it!
- Hex
