Drawing the same character from different angles

character drawingDrawing characters which look like the same person when drawn from different angles can be difficult. Especially for an inexperienced traditional artist like myself. The following is a method I have used to work around this problem.

Start drawing the front and side images on two different pieces of paper placed next to each other, use light lines to align the nose, eyes and moth across the two images. These two drawings should outline the characters main features, but should not be taken any further than an outline. After these are finished, stick them on the wall right in front of your drawing chair.

Using the front/side pair, create a 3/4 view of the character in the same style as the previous drawings. It will take a bit of experimentation until the characters features match the appearance of the character, just keep moving things around until it looks right. When this is finished, put it on the wall as well.

Combined, the front, side and 3/4 view show the characters proportions, from which it is easy to mentally interpolate the characters appearance from any other angles which you need, with a little tweaking.

Concept images on a wall