21-Draw-Illustrators-Guidebook-vol-2-ebook-(2021)

DRAWING FEMALE CHARACTERS
WITH MEIKE SCHNEIDER
FINDING INSPIRATION
Being inspired is essential when
designing and creating new
characters. Have you ever felt
uninspired and just didn’t know what to
draw? If you find yourself stuck without
ideas, try one of my favorite sources when I
need a spark of inspiration:
• Music
• Movies
• Real life (nature, travel)
• Fashion design
• Color schemes
• Hobbies that you enjoy
• Artwork by other artists
USING REFERENCES
Having good references is another critical
part of the design process. Not a single
movie was made without research and a ton
of reference material. If you want to create
believable characters and worlds for them
to live in, it’s a good idea to use reference
material to help you think through every
little detail.
REFERENCE TIP: Create a reference library
by saving pictures you like in different folder
categories (such as poses, facial expressions,
hairstyles, hands, feet) and save this on your
workstation for easy access. After building
your library for a while, it will be a valuable
source of reference material and inspiration.
Some great reference sources are:
• Google
• Pinterest
• Instagram
• Artstation
• Fashion apps for outfits and poses
(ASOS, Zalando, etc.)
Utilizing reference material is not cheating
like many new artists think. It’s actually
smart to use references! Be careful, however,
not to copy someone else’s work in the
process. Instead mix and match ideas from
multiple resources, gathering inspiration
from a wide variety of references that will
help you create a unique design.
QUICK TRICK FOR CHARACTER IDEAS:
One of my favorite methods to quickly
create a new character design is to use
word groups. I think of up to four random
words and use them to create a character.
The more different the words are from one
another, the more interesting the design
can become.
For this chapter, I’ll demonstrate digital
painting techniques using three words to
design a character: sunflower, afro, and
overalls.
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