In this exercise, I am asked to collect examples of different characters and catalogue them according to types.  I will decide upon a character to create and then brainstorm around my character.  I will then draw a 360-degree drawing of my character, draw the character in a role, and explore their mood, expression, and personality.  I will then create another completely different character. 

I have explored the following comic artist and illustrators.

Bill Watterson

Jeff Kinney

Tove Jansson

Hergé

Chris Ware

I also looked at comics and illustrations in the New Yorker magazine and children books lying around in my house.  I have decided to choose a familiar and personal character, so I explored characters in a family and categorised them under Mum, Dad and child.

I will choose a mum character and brainstorm the word “mum”.  I looked at both archetypes and stereotypes while brainstorming and decided to choose my own mother as a character.  She is an interesting person, and I know her very well.  When I brainstormed my mother, words that came to mind were; eccentric, watercolour painter, vegan, artsy, authentic, healthy eater, explorer, easily distracted, photographer and talkative.

I would like to illustrate my mother as a young woman but still include the character traits she developed over the years.  I searched my photo libraries and discovered photos when she and my father met at university.

I then started drawing a few drafts to explore how I would be drawing her eyes, nose, hair, body and face.  I referred to my books and the reference material I have researched.

The character should have a trait mark to be recognised in a crowd of characters.  I’ve decided to use neckless as a trait together with the curls of her hair.  When drawing my character repeatedly, I will be consistent with keeping those elements the same.  The only time I will change it might be when she is experiencing an emotion.  For instance, when she’s upset, I might make her hair wilder but keep the general shape of the curls.  She will still be recognisable by her neckless.

Next, I have done the 360-degree drawing by using draw lines to get the proportions correct.  This was a great learning experience, and I had to think in 3D.  If a curl sticks out from the side when viewed from the front, what will it look like when viewed from the side? I have found myself making tweaks to the front-view and vice-versa to make all the drawings work together.

 

I then made drawings to express my character’s personality, mood, and interests.  My character is vegan and gets easily distracted by an insect or anything unusual that needs to be explored.

I was curious to see my character in colour as it is another way of bringing her personality to life.

My second character will be a child, but I want to create this character purely from my imagination.  I have looked at many drawings of a child, and while paging through the books, this picture developed in my mind.  

This character is a little girl who tries to do right by her parents but somehow finds herself in trouble in one way or another.  She is a dreamer and wears her school play costume as regular clothes.

It is interesting to notice how the smallest mark can change an expression or mood.  Overall, I would love to explore character drawing further and find it to be a fascinating way of telling a story.