Wapsi Square Forum

For what it's worth, character design and construction is always a challenge. In particular, I've had plenty of trouble trying to build decent looking turn-arounds for the heads. Having things come out even (ears/eyes level, etc) and in decent proportion are an ongoing challenge for me. I've been working on Polly Possum for a while, trying to get the face just right. I had the front and profile working for me, but simply could not get a quarter-view to come out looking decent. Then it hit me -- draw an overhead view, and check the lines of sight! The guides from the middle left head gave me what I needed to construct the top right head. Then things started making sense.

Once I had the blockhead (no emotion distortions) turn-around working, then I could play with squeeze and stretch in the lower right.

This is probably old hat to (much) more experienced artists, but for me, it's a find I hadn't (clearly) seen in the various How To references I've been using. Enjoy!

So -- experienced artists -- what gimmicks/tricks/techniques would you like to share with the rest of us?

Old hat to me, but not as art, as an techical drawings. Almost all of my senior year classes were technical and architectural drawing. (In one class we had to produce a comeplete set of plans for a house.) So a lot of my 'eye' for details come from there.

If I could draw a stick figure without a circle template, it might prove useful.

Still a good use of technique for your solution.