Learn to Draw Action Heroes Read online

  6 DRAW THE CITY DETAILS

  Add in the details of the city. Add windows and ledges to the buildings, and put cars on the road. This may look like a lot to take in at first, but it really isn’t. Each little detail converges to the single vanishing point. The only other details are created with the horizontal or vertical lines. You can mix in a few angles so that the city doesn’t look too boring, and then some small details such as the cars and people can appear down below. They don’t have to be perfect since they are not the focal point of this scene. The hero is.

  7 ADD FINAL DETAILS

  Add in final line work to the scene and the superhero with crosshatching and darker lines. Make the character pop more by placing shadows below his chest and by shading in the legs. This helps to push the upper body out further and to create depth. Add in motion lines to create the feeling of speed. Notice that they all rest on the perspective lines as well. Now the superhero is rushing to save the day!

  Laying Out a Scene: Two-Point Perspective

  In this lesson I will cover the two-point perspective. There are lots of ways to construct a two-point perspective and the vanishing points can be well outside the frame as we will practice in this example.

  1 DRAW PERSPECTIVE GUIDES

  Draw your panel and place a low horizon below it. This will ensure that we are looking up at our hero. Then add two vanishing points and begin to draw in some perspective lines. Draw them across one another and get a feel for the space.

  2 BLOCK IN THE BUILDING

  Now block in a ledge of a building to the lower fourth of the panel. Then draw in some rough building shapes for the background. Keep the idea very loose at this stage and just focus on the large forms.

  3 SKETCH THE FIGURE GUIDES

  Draw some basic shapes for the hero leaning over the edge of the building. Poses like this can be tricky since we don’t see them every day. Do your best to keep the idea loose and free-flowing. Not all poses will work, but sometimes you can save them through the drawing process.

  4 START DEVELOPING THE ANATOMY

  Gently erase the sketchy guidelines of the character and start to add more details of the anatomy. Notice that the front leg looks a bit out of place and the arm looks a bit strange in that pose. This is because we are drawing superheroes and a normal person wouldn’t look or pose like this. As we refine the drawing, it will start to make sense. Sometimes it’s okay to be more focused on being creative than on making sure everything is perfectly correct.

  5 ADD DETAILS TO THE FIGURE

  Draw the details of the superhero. Use the suit markings to help push the perspective of the arms, legs and torso. Notice how it is already starting to look more correct, even though the anatomy is far from correct. Sometimes you have to let style be your guide.

  6 DEFINE THE BUILDINGS

  Detail the buildings in the background. Practice overlapping various sets of lines to create depth. Study buildings and simplify some of the details. Over time you will naturally draw with more detail, so keep it basic in the beginning and complete the work. Nothing is worse than trying to do too much on your first try and then getting discouraged. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is an accomplished artist.

  7 ADD FINAL DETAILS

  With all the hard work done, it is time to have some fun. Start shading and adding in all those fancy little lines that we love to create. Add shadows on the lower parts of the arms to round out those muscles. Shade the lower parts of the legs to push the character up and create a more dynamic feel. Shade in the darker parts of the suit to give the hero some contrast. Add lots of cracks and imperfections in the ledge below him. This also will contrast the other materials in the scene and give the shot more style.

  Laying Out a Scene: Three-Point Perspective

  This lesson covers the three-point perspective. We will also be creating another dynamic by breaking the panel border with our hero.

  1 DRAW PERSPECTIVE GUIDES

  Draw a high horizon line so that you are looking downward onto the scene. Add two vanishing points to the outside of the border. The third vanishing point will go into the inside bottom of the panel. This will give a steep downward angle to really push the depth of the scene. You should experiment with the placements of these points to find all sorts of neat perspectives for your illustrations.

  2 BLOCK IN THE BUILDING

  Block in the overall basic shapes of the city. Don’t worry about details at this stage and just try to picture the overall scene with large forms. Notice how the buildings begin to line up as they get closer to the horizon line and appear to be stacked as they get closer to the bottom of the scene. This sort of distortion can give the shot a dynamic feel.

  3 SKETCH THE FIGURE GUIDES

  Draw a basic pose of the superhero looking down at the city. We will also break one of the cardinal rules in comics: Don’t draw outside the panels! Well, not unless you’re a pro. Then you can do whatever you want. This adds a nice effect and will give the scene more depth. You want the hero to look as if she is flying backwards. Notice that this pose could be achieved with someone sitting on a chair. Paying attention to things like that will help you to reference your poses when needed.

  4 START DEVELOPING THE ANATOMY

  Clean up the pose and refine the sketch. Give her hair a bit of movement to show that she is flying through the air. Use open hand poses to add to the effect of weightlessness. Notice that the arm closest to the viewer is much larger than the one pointing towards the city. This is a quick way to create foreshortening and depth.

  5 ADD DETAILS TO THE FIGURE

  Draw the suit design. Try something modern looking and add a few segments that can be shaded in various ways. Add a billowing cape to solidify the fact that she is flying. The cape, just like the hair, can show movement and add another dynamic to the scene.

  6 DEFINE THE CITY BUILDINGS

  Draw the details of the city. Give the buildings small variations in design. They are all very similar, but by adding small varied details you can start to give the city a more interesting look. Every line in this scene goes back to the three vanishing points. Even the circular-shaped building is really just a series of squares that you can use to draw and align the circles for the windows. When drawing a scene with depth, remember that you can let the details fade as the objects recede into the distance.

  7 ADD FINAL DETAILS

  Refine the character and add in the shadows. Use the various parts of the suit as opportunities to add contrast. Shading in the darker part of the suit helps to add contrast against the cape and the city. Add small crosshatching to help the armor of her suit appear reflective. Each material should be rendered in a slightly different way. I felt the city was still too rough at the previous stage, so I gave it one last level of refinement. Adding thicker lines around the edges of the buildings can add depth. You can add a white edge right next to the dark line to further illustrate that depth. You can see this used around the hero against the frame of the panel.

  Characters Reacting to a Background: Lifting

  This lesson features a brutish behemoth lifting a large object. In comics, there are lots of opportunities where this should come in handy. So let’s get to the heavy lifting, shall we?

  1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES

  Draw the basic skeleton guidelines. Tilt the torso back to illustrate the character lifting the object over his head. Draw one leg up on a rock ledge to add some contrapposto to the pose. This helps to make the body look more dynamic and realistic. Notice even at this beginning stage you can widen the torso and the pelvis to ready the character’s frame for all those muscles.

  2 BUILD THE FIGURE STRUCTURE

  Draw the cylinders over the guidelines as you have in previous demos, but this time make them much wider. The head will be a bit smaller proportionally compared to the larger muscles to help convey the body mass. You can play around with changing the head size to make the character’s muscles and limbs appear larger. Just don’t make the he
ad too small or he will have to start buying his baseball caps in the kid’s section.

  3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY

  Draw the anatomy of this muscle-bound brute. Don’t worry, the muscles are identical to other heroes, though a bit bulkier. Once you learn where they start and where they end, it becomes much easier to do. Just practice, practice. With beefy characters like this one, you just have to work on the connections such as the elbows, knees, shoulders and hips. That tends to be a little difficult at first. Remember to experiment with the amount of angular lines for the anatomy.

  4 DEFINE THE ROCK SHAPES

  Speaking of angular lines, let’s detail the boulder and the rock formation he is standing upon. This style of texturing is very handy for these types of materials. It can also offer a nice contrast to the organic feeling of the hero. Use lots of straight lines to chisel out some rock planes. Just kind of let your mind go free when texturing like this. It is more about a general look and feel. You don’t have to place every line in just the right spot. It is important that you don’t noticeably repeat patterns though, unless you truly want that in your drawing.

  5 DRAW THE SHADOW SHAPES

  Add the shadows to the rocks and figure. The light source is coming from the top right of our superstrong tough guy. Give a slight drop shadow from the rock onto the character. This is a great way to connect the objects in the scene while giving them a more solid feel. You can also add larger shadows to the lower parts of the legs to show the change in the direction as the legs bend back to hold the weight.

  6 ADD MORE TEXTURE

  Add some crosshatching to further illustrate the rock textures. This helps to not only add more texture to the rocks, but also to define the plane changes in more detail. You can vary the lines here in lots of different ways. I try to add a few different line weights to give it the feeling of randomness that I notice when studying rock formations. Obviously real rocks don’t have all these little lines, but in comics you can get away with it!

  7 ADD THE FINAL DETAILS

  Add final lines to the brute. Make his body appear more metallic using swirling little lines to get the job done. This effect will also provide a contrast to the rock textures that you just added. Add in crosshatching from the larger shapes of shadows on the body. This helps to soften the transition from dark to light. Notice how the segments in the armor stand out more with little bits of white on the edges. This is a quick effect that you can use on segmented objects like weapons and gadgets. And there you have it: a very big guy ready to throw a very big rock!

  Characters Reacting to a Background: Running

  This lesson features a character running toward the camera. This can be a tricky pose to get right, so be ready to try it a few times before you hit the nail on the head. Let’s not waste any time getting to it, shall we?

  1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES

  Rough out the pose using the mannequin style of sketching, paying attention to the relationship of the head, torso and pelvis. Getting these forms to overlap and turn from one another can be tricky, but if done right it will help convey motion. Make sure they not only overlap but face the same way. The body will contort with this type of action so you need to show that.

  2 SKETCH THE ANATOMY

  Roughly sketch in your anatomy. Keep the overlaps in mind with the limbs as well. For the character’s left arm, overlap the forearm in front of the bicep and the bicep in front of the shoulder. Doing so helps to convey the depth and foreshortening of this pose. Notice how the stomach muscles overlap one another as they recede toward the pelvis. This all helps to create the illusion that the forms are receding.

  3 REFINE THE LINES

  Draw the anatomy with more clarity and use line weights to help further detail the forms. Use angular lines to chisel out our hero’s muscles and smooth lines to soften areas up and connect the limbs to one another. Getting the right combination of angular and smooth lines takes practice but is worth the effort.

  4 DRAW THE SHADOWS

  Add the shadow shapes and the hero’s suit markings. We won’t put a bunch of gear on this type of character. It might get in the way of him reaching those superfast running speeds. Some identifiable markings and a mask to conceal his secret identity will be enough. Notice how the larger shadows help give the suit a two-tone effect and lift the character off the page.

  5 ADD THE FINAL DETAILS

  Add final detail lines with crosshatching. Use larger tapered lines on the rear leg to push it back into space. You can also use a different line weight from each material on the suit to further illustrate the separation. Then use a popular method in comics to show speed, adding motion lines behind the hero. This is really just a single point perspective where all those little lines converge. Then erase some of the lines on the ends for an added speed effect. This superfast hero is running to save the day!

  Drawing Characters in Action: Punching

  This lesson covers how to draw a character punching through a brick wall. Drawing characters is one thing, but having them interact with their surroundings really helps to bring the image to life.

  1 DRAW THE GUIDELINES

  Draw your basic pose with the primitive shapes. Since the character’s hand is coming toward the viewer, make sure to draw it larger to help illustrate the foreshortening. Also make sure the body is leaning into the punch to give the pose more power. Then draw a wall with a broken shape where the impact has occurred. To align the breaks in the wall you can use a one point perspective but since breaks don’t need to be perfect, I did it by eye in this example.

  2 BUILD THE STRUCTURE

  Draw the larger forms to help convey the size of your character. We want this guy to be a bit of a bruiser, so let’s give him the big arms that are necessary for punching through walls. Notice how the overlap of these shapes can really start to sell the depth of the pose even at this early stage.

  3 SKETCH THE ANATOMY

  Refine the character by drawing in the anatomy with more clarity. Let’s give him a grimace to show he is really angry at this wall that stands in his way. Remember to use your line weight to help push the forms off the page. A constant line weight around the character will make them appear flat and boring. Using thicker lines on the shadow side and thinner lines on the side where the light is hitting the forms will make the image appear more interesting and three dimensional.

  4 REFINE THE LINES

  Draw some of the busted rocks flying toward the viewer. This is a quick way to add more depth to the scene while also giving it a more dynamic feel. Add texture to the sides of the brick with line work to show the direction they are facing. Keep your light source in mind when adding these textures.

  5 DRAW THE SHADOWS

  Add shadows to the character along with some of his suit design. You can even draw small wrinkles in the suit by adding shadows to one side of them as they pass over the muscles. This is done the same way that you would draw veins on your characters.

  6 ADD FINAL DETAILS

  Add crosshatching and more line weight to give the image more depth. You can add more effect to the flying debris by drawing some motion lines behind the pieces. An area of impact using a one-point perspective with the lines tapering toward that point adds to the effect as well.

  Characters Reacting to a Background: Powers

  This lesson features some super powers for our character. Power effects can add lots of dynamics to the scene and convey mood and intensity within the storytelling.

  1 DRAW THE BASIC SHAPES

  This character is ready to wield some magic, so let’s help her out. First draw the orbs of energy around her hands. They don’t have to be perfect circles, but if you can make them perfect then more power to you! Now draw a wavy line, sort of like a ribbon flowing from one orb to the next. This will give the area of focus for the energy.

  2 ADD MORE LINES CONNECTING THE ORBS

  Draw smaller, ribbon-like shapes moving around the larger one and connecting to the orbs. I try to think about
the energy flowing around and connecting to itself at various points. As it breaks away from the source, it tends to get smaller by comparison. But there are really no rules when it comes to drawing powers.

  3 START ADDING DETAIL TO THE ORBS

  Draw more detail inside of the orbs or energy. Try to imagine the power moving around the sphere, and keep the lines smooth. Vary the shapes to avoid an overly repetitive effect.