Character Design

I've been drawing and writing a story about a girl who goes to a costume party. My main character, April, took some shape over the last month.

I got a great tip on character design from Kelly Light's fabulous workshop during the NJ SCBWI conference in June. She talked about using horizontal guide lines to help "rotate your character" on the page.

 

Kelly reminded me also to practice drawing from life. I've been doing sheets of eyes, noses, mouths, eyebrows, ears and faces from magazines, books and of course, life. Here's my "profiles" page.

I challenge you to design all your characters with all their angles, not just their the best poses in mind. And if you want to know more about April- why she's dressed up as a witch, where's she's going, what gets in her way . . . well, that's another post! A bientot!