Create a Comic Book Character
High School / Arts / Art
Teaching artist Dave McDonald demonstrates ho
For me coming up with another brand new character or new comic idea always starts with my sketchbook for the drawing
And I wanna show with you my process okay
In my sketchbook sometimes I'll be sitting there and I think okay what I wanna draw today. I'm not sure what I wanna draw. I knew I want a new comic or a new character So what I do, It's called a 30 second challenge. This is something that I do to my self I give myself 30 seconds to take a simple shape and turn it into a brand new character And the idea of this exercise is not so much to come up with a finish drawing in 30 seconds but kickstarts your imagination and makes you put something that on a paper and usually you have to start on a really cool character.
So all I have is to put a simple shape in my sketchbook with my pencil like that and then I'll grab my ink marker and I will give myself 30 seconds or 15 seconds and challenge myself to come up with a character Now, I'll show you that right now So if you want to just count yourself right now So give me about 15 seconds or so and see what I can turn this shape into Are you ready? Okay go and count
Alright Not sure about the 15 seconds And if you notice it doesn't look like a finish drawing you know It's kinda sloppy but it does kickstart my imagination because I have a __01:40 __ I start to think I looked at it and I get some pictures in my head I looked at him and I say I bet that guy is an alien because I draw some antenna on him Of course now I get to thinking oh I wanna give him a name What should I name him?
I'll name him Freddie Alien. So now I got Freddie Alien staring at me from my sketchbook, okay But I can't stop my imagination. I kept looking at him and think well if he is an alien he must live on some kind of a cool planet Or maybe he lives on Mars or Jupiter Or could it be a planet that I make up? Sure! I can make up a planet How about he lives on a planet- oh let's see- How about it's a shape of a chicken drumstick He lives on a planet drumstick Let's make it something really wild.
So in my sketchbook as I'm thinking of these ideas I'm writing them down and drawing them in my sketchbook So here's a small up here I night draw a little drumstick idea so I don't forget about that Alright, so there it is the planet and I'm gonna right it down "Planet Drumstick"
Alright, so what is Freddie Alien doing on a planet drumstick? Hmm I get to thinking maybe he is a chicken farmer. Okay. Maybe he's just a - maybe they are not normal chickens, maybe they are dancing chickens Alright, let your imagination go think of some wild and --03:01-- things Here's the farmer of some dancing chicken on a planet drumstick So what does he do out there what does he want to do? How about as I look at him here how about he wants to come to earth, he is watching some satellite TV and he notices on earth your school is having a dance contest and he wants to enter some of his chickens in your dance contest so you can win the prize, alright So now he's gonna get to earth. He's gonna have a spaceship right, so maybe as I'm thinking I'll draw myself a real quick little spaceship and some little puffs some clouds Alright so there's a spaceship
Alright so dancing chicekn is gonna come to your school but now there's some problem I'm still thinking. My imagination is still going. He gets to your school and all of the sudden his star dancing chicken has been injured What's he going to do? He's gotta think of something really quick So maybe he gets a chicken costume and he has to put it on. He has to compete in the contest.
Kinda of wacky ideas but you know what we just did? In 15 seconds we took a simple shape and we turn it into a character, okay Then we took a couple more minutes and asked ourselves a simple questions What is our characters name? Were do they live? What do they do? What do they like? What do they dislike? What are they afraid of? Are there any enemies or friends? And by asking those simple questions what you are actually doing is starting to write a story
Writing can be as much fun as drawing that's what I mean It was really fun to sit here looking at the sketchbook and look at my character and ask myself these questions and develop this character into a comic book story and again it started in a drawing And that's what I mean when I say my story start with a picture And then I write from there and my sketchbook is full of little notes and little drawings fater the side of my character and that's how I develop the stories. Okay.
So I want you to give it a try. Give yourself a simple shape on your page and challenge yourself See what you can come up within 30 seconds. Turn it into a character and then maybe flip the page over and draw a 4 different simple shape. It's triangles can become nacho chips or banana or a quare can be a character, right? A circle can become an orange or grape.
It's amazing what your imagination can unlock once you start this little exercise. So go ahead give it a try take the 30 second challenge
In my sketchbook sometimes I'll be sitting there and I think okay what I wanna draw today. I'm not sure what I wanna draw. I knew I want a new comic or a new character So what I do, It's called a 30 second challenge. This is something that I do to my self I give myself 30 seconds to take a simple shape and turn it into a brand new character And the idea of this exercise is not so much to come up with a finish drawing in 30 seconds but kickstarts your imagination and makes you put something that on a paper and usually you have to start on a really cool character.
So all I have is to put a simple shape in my sketchbook with my pencil like that and then I'll grab my ink marker and I will give myself 30 seconds or 15 seconds and challenge myself to come up with a character Now, I'll show you that right now So if you want to just count yourself right now So give me about 15 seconds or so and see what I can turn this shape into Are you ready? Okay go and count
Alright Not sure about the 15 seconds And if you notice it doesn't look like a finish drawing you know It's kinda sloppy but it does kickstart my imagination because I have a __01:40 __ I start to think I looked at it and I get some pictures in my head I looked at him and I say I bet that guy is an alien because I draw some antenna on him Of course now I get to thinking oh I wanna give him a name What should I name him?
I'll name him Freddie Alien. So now I got Freddie Alien staring at me from my sketchbook, okay But I can't stop my imagination. I kept looking at him and think well if he is an alien he must live on some kind of a cool planet Or maybe he lives on Mars or Jupiter Or could it be a planet that I make up? Sure! I can make up a planet How about he lives on a planet- oh let's see- How about it's a shape of a chicken drumstick He lives on a planet drumstick Let's make it something really wild.
So in my sketchbook as I'm thinking of these ideas I'm writing them down and drawing them in my sketchbook So here's a small up here I night draw a little drumstick idea so I don't forget about that Alright, so there it is the planet and I'm gonna right it down "Planet Drumstick"
Alright, so what is Freddie Alien doing on a planet drumstick? Hmm I get to thinking maybe he is a chicken farmer. Okay. Maybe he's just a - maybe they are not normal chickens, maybe they are dancing chickens Alright, let your imagination go think of some wild and --03:01-- things Here's the farmer of some dancing chicken on a planet drumstick So what does he do out there what does he want to do? How about as I look at him here how about he wants to come to earth, he is watching some satellite TV and he notices on earth your school is having a dance contest and he wants to enter some of his chickens in your dance contest so you can win the prize, alright So now he's gonna get to earth. He's gonna have a spaceship right, so maybe as I'm thinking I'll draw myself a real quick little spaceship and some little puffs some clouds Alright so there's a spaceship
Alright so dancing chicekn is gonna come to your school but now there's some problem I'm still thinking. My imagination is still going. He gets to your school and all of the sudden his star dancing chicken has been injured What's he going to do? He's gotta think of something really quick So maybe he gets a chicken costume and he has to put it on. He has to compete in the contest.
Kinda of wacky ideas but you know what we just did? In 15 seconds we took a simple shape and we turn it into a character, okay Then we took a couple more minutes and asked ourselves a simple questions What is our characters name? Were do they live? What do they do? What do they like? What do they dislike? What are they afraid of? Are there any enemies or friends? And by asking those simple questions what you are actually doing is starting to write a story
Writing can be as much fun as drawing that's what I mean It was really fun to sit here looking at the sketchbook and look at my character and ask myself these questions and develop this character into a comic book story and again it started in a drawing And that's what I mean when I say my story start with a picture And then I write from there and my sketchbook is full of little notes and little drawings fater the side of my character and that's how I develop the stories. Okay.
So I want you to give it a try. Give yourself a simple shape on your page and challenge yourself See what you can come up within 30 seconds. Turn it into a character and then maybe flip the page over and draw a 4 different simple shape. It's triangles can become nacho chips or banana or a quare can be a character, right? A circle can become an orange or grape.
It's amazing what your imagination can unlock once you start this little exercise. So go ahead give it a try take the 30 second challenge
