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Unique Features Tutorial: Pt 2
Published: 2010-02-20 05:08:02 +0000 UTC; Views: 233684; Favourites: 12603; Downloads: 5813
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Description
Hey! I have two webcomics where you can see this in action: Miamaska and Trial of the Sun . If you liked these tutorials give them a shot!Check out part 1 here! jeinu.deviantart.com/art/Uniqu...
and part 3 here! fav.me/d3a6v8u
Part 2: Lady Faces! Sorry I took more than a week! The next one will be next month sometime, keep an eye out for it. Feel free to pass this along to artists who are struggling with this sort of problem. I hope it helps
All those characters up there are copyrighted to their respective owners, I do not claim ownership to any of them.
This tutorial series was inspired in part by an article on the TvTropes website. tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php... Click there to see more examples!
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Comments: 431
I really want to make a comment here. The contour shadows is a really awesome way of putting smoke in the air to see what we usually think is invisible nonsense. We take that shape recognition for granted.
Also, I really love the commentary about the hook noses. People do have small, preconceived judgments that go along with similar face patterns. For example, freckles appear childish and sharp, square jawlines reflect sternness. Many things usually based off of personal experience. There is something else that has been categorized as a type of science known as "personology" that has put face features into an actual representation of personality. There's some proof too it. There are some people who have this small bump on the bridge of their nose. I have one and I remember being asked every so often if I ever broke my nose to have that bump formed somehow. My fiance has one too that makes his Latino face suddenly appear Middle Eastern. His aunt is a health specialist that usually works on cases that reverse trauma and she has studied personology extensively. She says that bump can actually be caused by childhood trauma. In my fiance's case, his mother was murdered when he was nine. In my case... I have no idea. Molesting or something. I think. I blocked it. Anyways, narrow nostrils show the individual is passive. Wide nostrils show an individual who is stubborn. The chin can show confidence if it is even with the tip of the nose (profile), but if it sticks out it shows a selfishness or if it's shorter than the nose tip, it's low confidence. Eyebrows have a lot of meaning to them too. For example, if the peak of the eyebrow comes to a triangle, it shows high achievement. My fiance has that and he's got high expectations and his daughter does too. She's really hard on herself when she doesn't meet her own expectations. My eyebrows are almost invisible. I have no ability to set goals or expectations whatsoever.lol The spacing between eyes relates to your patience. I have a fairly wide space between them; I can use dial-up internet all day and not have a mental break down. My fiance is not. They are rather close together and he's... he has ZERO patience... for everything. Especially me when I make mistakes. Space from the top of the ear to the top of the head can show intelligence and I think the size of the ear can show creativity and the space from the head to the ear (how far they stick off the head) can show how well the individual lies... I think.
Anyways, there's a lot more to it like the size of the nose, how far it sticks out, angles of the eyebrow, the space between the eyebrows, definition of the cheekbones, formation of your teeth can relate to childhood trauma just like the nose, ect.. I don't remember everything she said but I can remember enough that it's influenced some of my characters when I flesh them out in literature. This might help you too,... I don't know.
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What are comic sans everybody hates em but idk what they are
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Nice Tutorial, will consider it the next time i draw humanoids
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this is amazing.. i suffer with this problem too! I think its because i get lazy and have become too cozy drawing the same basic style of face .-.
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Can somebody tell me all the characters (series) in the grid pic? I recognize Sailor Moon, Winx and Fairly Odd Parents. Thank you! 8)
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This was very helpful. Thank you so much for making this 
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This is such a wonderful tutorial. I see this issue all the time in shows and in artists works. I get some people do it for style but you can keep a style and still change the face. Know most of my guys. Plus the face should reflect the body. A chubby fella isn't going to have a nice small face. Given them cute poofy cheeks!
Like my cute little rogue has a long narrow chin area, but wide jawline and head. Kinda like a diamond/rectangle you have shown. While one of his sisters has the heart shape, but still longer chin area (its more of a race trait) and the youngest has the round head.. still longer chin. :3
It really does give them unique looks with out needing to go strictly by hair type and cloths.
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In the WITCH comics, the girls look pretty unique. Will has a regular, anime-shaped head, Irma has a round head with thick eye brows, Taranee has a round head and a big nose, Cornelia has catty eyes and a long face, and Hay Lin has Asian eyes and a big mouth. In the cartoon... ehhhhhh, not much difference.
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Yeah I noticed this a lot in manga to anime adaptions as well. It's been a while since I've revisited them, but CLAMP comics usually had unique designs intra-storyline (that sometimes got recycled in other stories) but most of the anime adaptions really fell short and didn't deliver on designs.Β
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I love CLAMP as well, but i agree as well. One Piece, on the other hand, have a wide arrange of unique-looking characters that you can immediately tell who is who.
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Thank you thank you thank you! As I'm currently picking up drawing again, I nééd this kind of stuff! Because I keep making the same shapes (yes, anime-style ) and I think your tutorials will help me a lot. Have I said 'thank you' already?
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I tend to study my OCs naked and shaved first. Because I believe that they should look complete and alive without any extra stuff.
But I realized that occaionally is also necessary to draw them dressed and with hair, because, if we take the beard in account, if you draw a character with a too big chin, with beard it will look even bigger.
But why even professionals do this mitake?
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I think some good things to add would be freckles, buck teeth, tooth gaps, big ears, glasses, warts, acne, birthmarks, piercings, tattoos, scars, etc. I see a lot of "everyone has perfect skin and teeth"
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That's true, but these tutorials so far have only covered structural differences. Surface details like acne, freckles, tattoos, piercings should be considered after you have your basic shapes down. (Ideally you should be able to tell characters apart from silhouette/profile alone-- no glasses/accessories, specific hairstyles, piercings included).Β
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Agreed. I just think it's worth mentioning, since I see people struggling with surface representation as well. I had a friend on dA who made an OC that looked too much like a character from a show, and was looking for suggestions. I pretty much gave him a slightly angry masterpost of everything he could do to make the OC different-- make her shorter, give her freckles, cut her hair, make her skinnier, make her old, change her race, change her age. It's like all he could think of was white females with the same body type.
Although...and I know it sounds a little silly, I think you should be able to tell people apart by "structural differences" in their teeth. They add a lot of character!
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Yep, pretty true about teeth!Β However, I rarely see many beginner artists actually draw teeth (besides a sort of row/single ridge). I know I go with a single ridge often since seeing that level of detail just isn't seen at the resolution I export to (though two characters in one of my comics are missing a tooth/have chipped teeth, really only visible when they're really showing them off).
I sort of categorize teeth as a surface level detail since they usually aren't noticeable unless the mouth is quite open... though I suppose it would depend on the style being used (like bugs bunny's super exaggerated teeth). My own style is pretty muted in that regard, so that's probably why I don't consider teeth very important to a silhouette.
If I ever felt comfortable making an advanced series, I'd definitely include teeth among details to consider varying. Β Or maybe I'll just add on a final part to this series when it's "done" with the "basics", whenever that is.Β
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I'm making a female character with a square face right now but I'm having trouble with symmetry,any tips would be appreciated
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That triangle face looks like Michael Jackson! D:
Silliness aside, this is a great tutorial and you included lots of different variations.
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i love this! Really helpful and also very clearly explained
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Gah! lips and noses. Possibly what i need to practice most. Thanks for this. I'm starting to get into comic-style art and the "everyone has the same face and body shape" thing really really bothers me. These tutorials will definitely come in handy!
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OMFG I'M FINDING ALL THESE AMAZING TUTORIALS AND REFERENCES AND STUFF IT'S LIKE A FUCKING GOLD MINE
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This is really helpful. My OC's look different in my mind, but can't draw them that differently...
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I have a question does different shape of the face appear in profile
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Excuse the late reply but yes. Though you won't get much of the cheekbones informing the shape of the face, you should still see differences between noses, chins, slope and weight of the brow, etc.Β
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Thanks so much! These really a lot for amateurs on people hehe
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These really *help a lot ughhhh I fail
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I've never really understood why people use the same face shape + features because they really open up a good way to give a first impression about a character. Want your 13 year old to look more mature? Give her a longer face and fuller lips. Want your 15 year old to look younger? Give her a round face and a button nose.
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This is such a wonderful tutorial! Β I absolutely love the way you've put this together. Β Every artist should read this, especially Anime artists. Β I don't use Anime/Manga style myself but I like the big eyes and the way they do hair. Β However it kind of annoys me that even artists who are extremely talented and obviously do this professionally have characters with identical faces. Β I mean even within the confines of the style (big eyes, tiny nose, smallish mouth) there is at least SOME space for variation. Β You've done a very good job explaining this and your art is great! Β And that you've chosen to do your examples in monochrome with hair streight back and no real pupils forces people to see the differences. Β
I may have commented on this before. Β I kinda pop in and look at it now and then.
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OMG I'm an inverted triangle abuser! xD Thank you so much for this tutorial! I really want to get variety into my facetypes!
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for reals how are you gunna ask old pros not to make fun of YOU, and then immediately make fun of less skilled artists than yourself with that whole parody section. the amount of unnecessary that is is just mindblowing.
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He/she didn't make fun of noobs, but rather people who don't make any effort to improve their art (and have a bad typing).Β
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that particular way of typing (and drawing) is common only among teenagers you dumbass. its someone whos obviously an adult making fun of artists who are around 14 years old.... while asking artists older than themselves not to do the exact same thing to them.
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Gather round friends, its storytime with Mathieu!
Once upon a time, my friends and I were 10-12 year olds. I had a very close friend who for the purpose of this story I shall call Moon. I was already good with my words. I could express myself feeling sad in over 80 words, all that a sophomore would be forced to use in an essay. Moon was an artist. She could replicate a professionally done manga scene, without tracing. Impressive for 10-12 year olds, eh? Why were we so impressive? We tried! Moon made it her mission to be a manga artist. I made it my mission to be an author.Β
I had other friends. One of these girls I shall call Sabena. Sabena did not try to be a literary prodigy like I did. She tried to be a manga artist, yes, yes, but her literary skills lacked because she took the easy way of writing. She didn't understand proper grammar because she never made the attempt to learn proper grammar. I found one of our old chat logs and dug up this gem:
'liek omg ull nevr guess wat just happen'
Please note, we were all 10-12 years old. It doesn't matter if they are 14. It really doesn't. As well, its a matter of her telling these kids, "Yo, time to learn something new! You can better your art! Come on and learn~!" not, "GROW THE FUCK UP KIDS YOU ALL NEED TO SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LEARN SOME FUCKIN NEW SHIT BECAUSE YOUR OLD SHIT IS TERRIBLE. YO GUYS LOOK AT THIS OLD ASS ART THAT LOOKS LIKE BS COME OOOOONNNN LETS BURN IT!"
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1. "Dumbass"? Just who do you think you are!?Β
2. I was a teen and I never mistyped, even not being english native.
3. I know adults who mistype and they are usually dumbasses like you.
4. She's talking about drawing skill, not typing skill.
5. Just look at the retarded answer you gave me. I was polite to you, gave a simple opinion even.Β
6. Oh and go get some skill instead of being butthurt for little things.
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i just wish people could make tutorials like this without feeling the need to slam comic/manga art (even internationally successful artists like CLAMP who do draw a variety of facial shapes and can work in more styles than most artists can fathom) and make fun of young artists who are starting out in those styles. like wow way to be an asshole when you could have just been straight to the point
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i see that section as being more "hey! don't panic, it happens to professionals too, in fact, that's where you probably picked it up from". That doesn't mean your'e going to fail as an artist, because obviously these guys made it while still struggling with it. Skill level doesn't really factor into it. Hell, even my personal idol Hayao Miyazaki's designs fall into that category. Does that completely illegitimize all his other aspects of creativity? No.Β
If you think this is a "slam" on comic/manga art, I think you're taking it a little too personally. Some poking fun and light criticism is not a condemnation of a genre, that'd just be silly.
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really, its possible to be like "hey heres how to make a variety of facial shapes" without first mocking young artists who are just starting to learn stylized art tho. the parody dialogue you used made it very clear you were mocking young folk and you know it. it's so unnecessary and people do it ALL the time.
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You're taking things way too seriously... if you call that mocking then you should avoid book and movie reviews where they not only discuss positive stuff butΒ also things that are negative. While learning new stuff you should not only look at good stuff but also be able to tell what might be wring about a picture. I would be really happy if someone took their time and told me what I could improve on.
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Alright dudicon, I'll keep that in mind for the next one.
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These are very helpful as expressions, emotions and features ect are what got me into art and design.
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If a Pro jumps at you for your skills Β THEY ARE JEALOUS!! Β Your tutorial is very helpful and I fave to pass it along Β ^^ Β
What I learn in the past was to make sure your lip edges are always equal to the iris of the eyes. Β Oddly it is true. Β Β I paid attention to people's face and noticed that a lot. Β
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That lip width tip will work for the average face I think, but it is possible for that 'rule' to be broken, so don't feel constrained by it!
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I won't Β Β Like puckering up or Β duck face Β --- those won't line up lol
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Ah, thank you so, so much for this.Β No more clones for this artist!Β
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Thank you, thank you, thank you! Everyone compliment's me on my well developed OCs but frown at their similarities. I wanted to draw them different but I didn't know how, now I do! Β
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OMG I've been searching for a guide like this for awhile now! Thank you so much!!
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