Any tips on loosening up your art and character design?

[aqua03]

Hey guys, I've recently been struggling with finding ways to "Loosen up" and "Push" my characters designs. Do you have any tips or tricks on how to do that? I mean, my characters look alright, but they seem to lack an extra "oomph" if you know what I'm getting at. So I'd love to hear some tips and tricks if you have any. Also, some feedback on my current character designs would be nice as well so I know what to improve on in the future.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I'd say try looking up different poses and practicing new angles.
Possibly instead of having them standing and 'posing' for the image, try to have them doing something and the image 'catching' them in motion.

I like your character designs already. You have lots of colors and the actual design of the clothes and armor is really dynamic.

[aqua03]

Never thought of it like that, might give it a shot. Thanks!

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I have the opposite issue. It's very difficult for me to imagine my characters standing still. Which is why I don't do a lot of headshots or simple poses.

[Kittosaurus]

Mix up your drawing tool - if you always use the same brush - try one with a completely different shape, or if you always draw digitally try mixing it up with traditional.

Draw them in different styles - you could try and emulate styles of comic creators you look up to, or your friends - it will help you lock down what is essential in their design.

I think your biggest issue is clarity - for example, I've mentioned this before but with Selene (I think her name is ), her hair blends in with the hat so you would benefit in having more contrast to clearly define the shapes. Consider function in your design - why is their hair styled that way? Why are they wearing that armor/ clothing? Ect. How can you tell a story with their design.

[IndigoShirtProd]

Practice gesture drawing, specifically timed gesture drawing where you only have an allotted amount of time to draw a figure. It will train you to focus on the overall shape and form of the figure rather than the details.
Look up character design tutorials. Most will focus on the silhouette of your character and the function of the design. Streamlining your designs can be very hard, especially if you have a soft spot for them but it is important. Especially for comic characters, simplicity is key, but so is recognizability. Having a clear silhouette for each is important, mainly when compared to your other characters.
When designing character, it's good you have a limited color palette. The palette can be monochrome(different shades and tints of the same hue), analogous (colors next to each other on the color wheel), complementary (opposites on the color wheel, red & green, orange & blue, etc.). There are many more possibilities for the color scheme of your character but what is important about it is that it informs the reader about the character in question. Another thing to keep in mind when choosing your colors is contrast. Contrast between colors will separate the different aspects of the character such as their hair( or fur), skin, clothes, armor, etc., etc.

Honestly I don't really like using my characters because they aren't perfect manifestations of character design, but I think I can make a few points off them (even though I don't draw them in this style anymore).

-First I want to look at the silhouettes. If each character were blacked out, it's unlikely that you would have a problem differentiating between them. Their body types, clothing, hair, and face shape separate them from one another.
-Next we're going to look at color. Each character has their designated color, but then they have supplementary colors individually. Lara, the girl on the left, has the main colors of red and black with the blue of her eyes being the supplementary color. This draws the viewer to her face since the blue stands out. Elliot, the dude in the middle, has the main colors of blue and black. The supplement colors, the red of his hair and the green of his eyes, contrast and are complementary colors. This also draws attention to his face. Lastly Tyler, the boy on the right, has the main color of green. The off-white of his pants and dirty blond color of his hair complement the green which are in contrast with his dark brown eyes.

That's a simple over view of my color choices at least. Some we're intentional, other weren't; none of it is perfect. I think your biggest issue in the design of your character is your color choice. Not enough contrast between colors, too many colors on one character, and most are very saturated colors. The skill to draw your characters more naturally and less stiff will come with time and practice. Fortunately so will your color choice. You'll develop a better eye for this the more you look at references in life and nature, other people's art work, and looking over your own previous art work. Keep working at it; your enthusiasm to grow is only an asset to you.

[monotone_ink]

Like what @IndigoShirtProd said, practice gesture drawing, especially from real life models.

https://line-of-action.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing

The website above is a really great tool for providing images of people in poses. A key thing about gesture drawing is that you do it quickly--don't focus on the details, focus on the pose of the model.

[VibrantFox]

something that comes to mind when you refer to loosening up your characters is figure drawing any dynamic posing. if a character is always drawn in the same "sanding up facing 3/4 left" drawing it'll definitely get stale

I haven't got the links or references that I used to but the etherington bros. and griz and norm had some real good tips about dynamic posing and how to use the line of action. these are a few i could find from searching though:

i'll also just draw the etherington bros' instagram where i got these here:

The Etherington Brothers (@etheringtonbrothers) • Instagram photos and videos

and griz and nowm where you can find some tutprials sprinkled in here:

Griz and Norm Lemay (@grizandnorm) • Instagram photos and videos

I can also drop this link to thundercluck's tutor tuesday's that's got a lot of refs

THUNDERCLUCK!

As well as these two pdfs for human anatomy (still roughly applicable to anthropomorphic dragons i think)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uCnS31WO6wlL3ZbTJM0Bfjyj7VWt41xI/view

and for specific anatomy
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ha0iVp_5mAouozAJ8W6pWN_z-5GNHdVu/view

playing with line weight might also be worth trying. like @Kittosaurus said switching up your drawing tools can help break out of a possible rut. something i do very often is alter between different brushes, from shape or "texture" since it offers a chance to find a new look or style for a drawing. i'm not sure your tools or software but if it's something you can do feel free to try it out.

color theory may also be something to look at, obviously it's up to the artist and their preference in style but it can help to note the palettes you choose for your characters designs. One thing that stands out a bit is a lot of saturated colors in your design and while that's not inherently bad too many bold colors can sometimes clash when all placed together.

I had tutorials on color theory but i'll again point to thundercluck's totorials and this one tutorial from hoopla_art on instagram

You already seem to have a good idea of where you wanna go with your characters so i'm sure you can build on and refine that and you keep going and i wish ya luck as you do so

[nostalgicroxas]

There's several online resources for gestures. One hack is to just watch a yt video with real people in it: pause it and then draw that pose in 20 seconds.

https://www.quickposes.com/en/gestures/timed

[Cavechan]

Design-wise, it looks like everyone has the same expression and same eyes. Like the upper eyelid on almost all of them is a horizontal line. Nobody really looks happy or excited or showing more of their personality. I would also recommend trying some different hairstyles out since they seem very similar. What would a character look like with wavy hair? With braids? Ribbons? Accessories? etc The armor looks good and functional, but you could add some more flair to it, such as... is there a certain pattern, symbol, or the like reminiscent of where the armor comes from? From the character's family, tribe or back story?

Your lineart also looks a little bit shaky. If you're using CSP, you can turn up stabilization to help smooth it out a bit.

[baasinsimple]

Well, look for frequent traits in your art and see what you can do differently. Example: you have a lot of spiky hair and horned people, do something different here and there. maybe someone's bald or they have one ear or something simple like that coupled with different body types. They all look built relatively the same way without any huge difference. Your posing is also pretty scattershot, with nothing beyond the waist-up portrait shot.

[aqua03]

Thank you all for the feedback and help. I'll definitely be experimenting a bit more with some other stuff to see what I can do.

[GuriGuri]

I always tell people to draw fast with a looser wrist. I think doing really quick sketches helps with how fluid your final art looks. Try drawing simple things in less than 30 seconds, then more complicated things with as much detail as possible in the same 30 seconds. You'll also learn to work faster doing this I think.

[Likri]

Seeing that you work in a cartoony style, more that realistic, I'd push the variety in shapes and showing character traits through posture and gesture - a sign of a good design if you can recognize a character by a blacked out silhouette alone.