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Hello everyone,

today I will talk about

a few important design factors of character impressions

In designing characters, the design parts of the character

such as clothes, hairstyle, face shape, skin tone,

accessories, equipment, etc. provide a lot of information

on reflecting the key role of the character and their stories

However, there is something that those design information cannot fully replace

which is the personalities or

impressions of the character

We can think about how we can visually express such

personalities or impressions

And here, when we think about what factors could effectively

display the character’s personalities visually,

we can think of options such as facial expressions, body language,

meaning expressions done by a particular pose, etc

In particular, when the story has to be expressed in detail

through characters like key art

or key illustration, I believe this would be the most important design factor

Now, I will explain how to use the character bust sketch as a base

to add expressions to the facial structure using a few methods

The reference you can see on the screen now is a reference board I made

by collecting faces

As you can see, there are various types of impressions,

but if we were to

categorize this,

first there is angry, smiling, surprised, laughing, crying,

sad, and expressionless, etc

Here, what we have to put importance on is

that which expressions the face muscles move the most

To look at the types of impressions with the most facial movement,

surprised face, screaming, angry, or

crying, laughing, and

a painful face where there is a lot of force put on,

or in fact that could also be a type of angry expression

We look at focus more on faces that have more muscle movement

and collect more references on such faces

more effective for research

This means that using images in the drawing to express characters

is effective

Also, when drawing impressions, one of the best methods

is to use your own face or a real model

and use a mirror or take pictures

to appropriately use those references

However, in certain situations, such models or people may not be available

to reference for imaging the character impression

in a timely manner

In such cases, I use another method,

without using a real model,

but using these references to draw impressions I will explain

some methods

First, let me call the portrait that I drew in the previous lecture

Here it is

As you can see, this character is expressionless

How can we add more animation to this expressionless face

Currently, I used image references and utilized them to draw

So, as this is a collection of features from

two or three faces,

it would be difficult to find a model that would have the exact face we want

So, from this pre developed figure painting,

how would we add animation to the impression

Let us talk about that

One method is with the portrait here,

when you press Ctrl+R, the ruler comes up

Use the ruler and roughly measure

the proportion of the character

See where the chin meets,

where the lip line ends,

where the nose line ends,

where the eyelash ends, and etc

Look at the ratio

approximately

like this,

line it up, and open the structure up

like this

This will tell you what the proportion is

Establish the outline like this, then look at the reference

Now, what impression would fit to this character

We could try out

a kind of heroic face

for this character,

or a tough, macho style that looks a little angry,

so a violent bandit style face would also be good

So when we look at various impressions,

on the eyes we want to go a bit dynamic, so

roaring face would be nice in my opinion

This would also be good with a sense of

frowning impression

We have to think about whether the mouth should be opened or closed

This also looks good,

and so does this

Let’s try and select a few

So here are the candidates

I will remove the outline

because it could get in the way of my view

Looking at this, I think the angry face would be more suitable

for the feeling of this character

So let me try that out

After this kind of structure is made, the most important thing to see

is where the big muscles are moving

You have to first identify the muscle that makes a large change in the front facial expression

I think those muscles are these sections

that I have colored in green here

So first with the forehead section, as you can see from the reference

there may be wrinkles on this section, or it can be standing out depending on the impression

Also, when making an angry or screaming face with large facial movements,

when you see the impression here

like this

there is a tendency for the nose to go up

Also this part, which we call the bridge of the nose,

has a wrinkle effect on the muscles

Moreover with the cheeks here,

depending on how the chin is moving, and whether the mouth is opened or closed,

it can move greatly around this area

Also, the muscles around the mouth also change greatly

depending on the expression

The eyes also become smaller or bigger,

but since the area around the eyes is a very small detail,

you can easily reflect impressions on these,

so I don’t think of those as the ‘big’ muscles

However, I think what helps to give a clear picture when you zoom out

are the shapes of the big muscles

So the details

around the eyes are very small details

such as for instance if the structure was made

with the eyebrows facing down,

as you know,

you can erase the eyebrows

and make

small changes to it

I am indicating these in a very cartoon like way,

so if I change the eyebrows as such, I could go from angry,

sad,

or

happy and express them very easily

But when you see from far away, the silhouette is often covered

So when we see the muscles on the forehead, nose,

cheek and around the lips and

draw while considering their relationship and

the overall big picture,

the changes in eyebrows or the size of the eyes

can be amplified by this overall picture

, and when looking at the character, the character’s facial expression

can give an immediate impression

So here, if you want to draw

an angry face of the character,

then start with drawing the basic structure

Since there is one already here

just follow it to make the drawing

First

draw the base structure of the base,

then now I will

look at the reference on this side

and continue to draw while looking at

the reference at the same time

Since the proportion is somewhat decided,

now you have to look at what part of the character is the most noticeable

The cheek area looks very distinct here

I am drawing while looking at what is on top, but the easier method is to

take it apart,

match the proportion guideline,

then approximately match it right here

You would draw directly on the top of it

Here is the nose, and the nose would be around this long,

the lips would be around this size,

and the chin as such

First, draw the shadows, then the eyes

to go slightly further down

This method draws the structure like this and uses it as a guideline

This method is something you can use when

you have a lot of time

and not pressured by it

Some people do this relatively easily,

if they are used to it

It just takes some time to draw the structure and

identify the features

We can see that the cheek is sticking out this much from the reference,

the nose bridge

and eyes around here,

then now I will quickly color the hair

and make a quick indication

first

The shape is as such, and it is very approximated

Approximately

draw up the positions like this

and slowly grasp the shapes

Move away from the compulsion that it has to be perfectly matching,

and first

think what the biggest silhouette is for this character

while drawing

When looking at the lips, we are looking at this side of the face

A good method here is to find a reference with a similar angle

and compare with it while drawing

Since I have already established the proportion,

I will start with the drawing

So draw the big muscles first,

then if you see here this person’s nose is moving

and it forms a muscle line that connects nose and mouth

Indicate that right over here

I think the teeth would show up around this much.

Draw the teeth like this,

and since the beard covers up the bottom lip of the character,

deal with the structure

like this

This is one way of drawing it

If you draw

it like this

there is one I have drawn already

if you continue to the finish this is what it would look like

I have added some lighting information,

which is a common method used by many illustrators

or cartoonists

This involves looking at the structure and the reference

and continuing to change and polish the structure

There is another method I like to use

To speak of this metaphorically,

it would be like adding special effects onto the face

Think of it as something like adding makeup

So for this method,

let us go to the reference first

let’s try a more heroic figure this time

This looks like a very heroic reference

with a more confident face

Let’s try using this face

as a base,

then as I have done before for the base of the face

I use the hue a lot to make it somewhat like a lightroom

Some people change the fill or the opacity like this

and draw on the top of it

I will increase the brightness like this

so that the pencil line is more visible

First take an outline of the structure

This person has a somewhat arrow like nose,

and the mouth line drops this much This person

has the nose line dropping like this, and so do his eyes

I will start with drawing the base

Indicate these things

and make the drawing

Also draw the chin line,

and also the hairline We won’t need to draw the glasses

Let’s make this, which completes the face shape

So now, we

copy paste the hunter’s face again as a reference,

then rotate it

like this,

Now, we are literally reshaping the face.

Here, for the eyelids of the character,

if the eyelids are small, make them small

Let’s draw while looking at the face of the character at the same time

The reason I am looking at the reference again

is to look at the lighting information more

It is like this,

and the nose is slightly more leaning

as this is a drawing

Also, the cheeks would go

somewhat like this

Then the forehead would end around

here

and the beard structure would be like this

The beard line comes to here

A more heroic eyebrows

So for this Asian character

I think the biggest muscle area that has effect is this part

This area, and the cheek,

then the nose bridge that is slightly leaning and going up

So you just have to catch those characteristics,

while constantly looking at the reference to check for the shadowing

like this

And

this character has a completely different lighting

Keep that in mind, and keep checking with the reference

while continuing with the drawing

The difficult parts are more or less over

as the face feature is somewhat complete

The most important overall shape,

there is a crucial part of this,

which is this hair area

Let’s start working

on the details

around the hair

So this method sometimes helps

drawing the face of the character

quicker and easier with a more realistic sense

This is because the image reference is already outlined

and you are drawing on the top of the base

and modifying it, so it is more effective

in emphasizing the details and from a time perspective

Let’s draw the hair now

Draw the hair and there’s a lot of hair

Draw these small details

and emphasize

You can continue to add

small details one by one, carefully

Highlight like this,

and

continue the

process of adding small details

so that it fits the feeling of the character’s face

There is a highlight here, so indicate that,

then highlight

the eyeballs

Keep adding these details

while keeping the structure alive so that the character face

that I want is

properly created

This person is smiling, and his lips are slightly going down

Because of the beard, this may be difficult to express,

but try and get that feeling

as much as possible

Also add

lighting information on this side,

and I will also indicate the form in the neck

Let’s make the face more resolute

Resolute face

Also, since the lighting goes here and is dropping like this,

indicate that as well

I often use selections a lot to increase the lighting

This is easier to control than drawing with a brush

So like this

Some people tend to select this, copy,

and use this level key to move it

This level also allows detailed adjustments in strength

Since the reference itself

already has various basic tools

perfectly explained,

and there is a lot of information,

if you draw using that as a guide

it tends to give good results

This is very rough,

but the idea is like this

Look at the reference, then draw the structure on the top

If you see here

I started here

and there was a process through which I drew the details

There are these two methods

The method I use a lot is this kind of reshaping,

where you can use the reference to draw the base of the face, then change

the structure on the top and keep drawing it

This would work if there is no model, but if there is one

then I would take a lot of pictures of that model

such as facial expressions, etc

Or,

in the company there is a face library

where the models’ faces are

read and moved around

So this would be images

of various tests

on the faces such as

angry, sad, frowning, etc

Such references are available in abundance

with a lot of screenshots in multiple angles

So I would often look at those and use them as references

Let’s make the hair like this

So I have given an example of what I would do when

I am drawing a figure painting and I am adding impressions onto

the character’s faces, and what methods I would use to

complete this

So when looking at the references for character faces

and during the process of adding impressions to the character

there are methods to amplify these character impressions

further,

which would be settings related to the lighting direction

Through the lighting direction setting, there can be a few more feelings

added to the character, and there are a few types of this lighting

There are around four commonly known types,

out of which I like to often use three of them

The first is frontal

or direct lighting, which if I were to explain

would be lighting like this

or like this, so lighting on the front of the face

Then for the lateral lighting, it would be like this

The frontal lighting is

often used when the character is heroic,

righteous, bright, or lonely, happy,

and it is also a lighting that gives a sense of confidence

Then these lateral lightings are used

if you want to give the character a sharper feel,

or if the character is cunning,

authoritative,

or if you want to give an evil atmosphere

Also if you were to

emphasize the highlights on the side

that would also help amplify such atmosphere

Another example of lateral lighting is

where you give a much stronger dark silhouette

This lighting is also used to give similar kinds of atmosphere

of evil or dark, or also for sharpness

This would also be a reference for that

Then there is also lighting from both sides

which is also called as a halo lighting

So the light is shining from behind and from both sides

For this type of lighting,

here is the reference,

it would involve the highlights further emphasized from lateral lighting

So with this light here

this would most likely be a direction light

Then the lighting coming from this side is more emphasized

With the highlight emphasized, a shadow is formed in this area

When this happens,

it shows a concentrating face, distressed face

or one with evil intentions

Horror films tend to use this a lot for their characters

There is a strong highlight here as well

and the strong lighting from both sides would make the shadow

go towards the center of the face

to bring out those kinds of tone

Then there is one more type of lighting,

which is something like this

lighting that shoots from bottom to top

This type of lighting is not used very often in drawings,

particularly when doing character variations, this lighting is barely used

But when you are doing illustrations or book covers, etc. and

describing very dramatic scenes for instance

this type of lighting could be used

However, this type of lighting structure involves sacrificing a huge amount

of the character structure,

so from the perspective of emphasizing the character,

this type of lighting involves a lot of risks

and a lot of sacrifices

So, this lighting is used for a more horror feeling or

when the character is surprised, or if there is a bomb explosion,

a magical occurrence, or similar

wonder involving

scenes, but it is not very generally used

extensively

Then using the hunter’s face that I drew with these images

as samples,

I will show what kind of feeling we are getting

If you see, this face has a more heroic design to it,

but I could go brighter than this

If I were to do that, I could do it in this way,

and I will do it with levels this time

The shortcut for levels is Ctrl+L

So this

kind of feeling is what you would get

So now, compared to before,

the character looks a lot nicer

Here, let me just make some fun changes to the eyebrows

This is a very

simple touch, and I will

try to create a different type of impression

Let’s look at the reference and see how the middle of the forehead is wrinkled

Even if I try to make this impression and make twists to the shape

,since the overall atmosphere of the character is

bright because of the lighting, the effect is relatively smaller

If it is a more serious face

and you want to establish a serious scene,

this could give a more righteous, heroic feeling, but

, if you want to show more distress with the character

or a crisis,

or

if you want to further describe

the dark sides of the character,

then you

would add a shadow here

If it drops from the forehead

like this

I could add a stronger shadow

here

I will lower the opacity a little bit,

and make this stronger

This has a different feeling to it

Compare this with this

The difference might not be too big but

if you make this stronger

depending on other environmental factors

and how the arrangement is between the character

and the background,

this kind of lighting can give a more sense of realism

when making these atmospheres

Also, if I was to add lighting

to both sides,

I would use stronger highlights

and use lateral highlights a bit excessively

Let’s see how this is

After I make the character,

I sometimes intentionally do these lighting tests,

because

when the character moves inside games for instance

the lighting can change the impression greatly

In order to test those things further

I try these tests on purpose

to see the feeling

If this face shape is hit by this type of lighting,

what kind of feeling would it create

is what I am trying to briefly test out

From this feeling,

when I remove the impression

and go like this

this impression can be very different from the beginning

You can see the difference

Also, let’s make the sides

a bit stronger

After making this stronger,

I can try and erase this

so that the feeling is not too strong

Let me arrange this and compare the feelings

This one has lighting on both

sides

this one is just

lateral lighting

and then

we have one without

lateral lighting

So when you are creating character designs like this

you can try and test variations in the lighting

and see what type of lightings and character expressions

can effectively reflect character tones and impressions

This testing and development process is very important

So if this character has a stronger appeal with this

lighting situation,

then from here if you were to proceed with coloring,

creating the full character and the pose,

then moving onto the polishing work,

these things could work as a guide

So, this lecture talked about interpreting the character expressions

and the structures to transfer the impressions,

reshaping method using references, and

effects of lighting on impressions

After this lecture, you can try this with someone you want to draw

or yourself would also be fine

Look at an image or the mirror

and use these two steps to describe and apply the impressions

, then use the character impression

to try the four types of lighting sketches

That is it

for today’s lecture

Thank you