I know when I'm drawing my character Ramona, I feel like I don't properly recognize her face until I add in her wonky lip. It just brings her whole design together for me.
Do you guys have anything similar with your characters?
Jun '17
Jun '17
Low genetic diversity is a minor point in my comic so literally the only difference between my characters is their hair.
This guy and his hair honestly. It's his defining feature and always makes me uncomfortable when the canvas is flipped. In fact my friend who loves this character the most refers to him by his name spelled backwards whenever his hair is on the wrong side.
That said, I like to vary my body types and facial features as much as possible and try not to rely on hair being the only different feature. There are tons of animes and mangas that have girls that all look completely identical except for maybe breast size, eye shape and hair cut and it drives me a little bonkers so I always try to change the bodies as much as possible. Some girls have long slender legs, some have thicker shorter legs. Some have wide hips, some have wide shoulders or have more angler waists. I do the same with the guys, varying their faces and body types. I try to keep them as recognizable as possible without relying on hair styles when at all possible because I'd like the characters to be able to change their hair, like any normal person would, without readers getting confused as to who is who.
Left: Logan
Important features in his face are the 2 eyelashes under his eyes and his beauty mark on his cheek.
He has a short face and wide open eyes. Also the way his hair parts, no matter if he wears his hair up or down, it always has the same asymmetrical hair locks in the front.
Right: Isaac
His most important feature are his huge rectangular eyebrows.
His face is long and his expressions are usually quite subtle, which makes him look a bit uninterested or bitchy. I also draw his fringe exactly the same every time I draw him.
He has a scar on his face that I often forget to draw 
That's a tough one. I feel like if I were to change any of my characters features they wouldn't look like themselves... well, other than hair and clothing. So I guess?:
Julian (On the left):
- Their tired, particularly shaped eyes.
- The scowl. Julian is a grouchy old koot in a young person's body, and must have a permanent look of contempt.
- The mole on their left cheek.
- Their scars.
- Their more "feminine" features. (lips, nose, heart-shaped face, blahblahblah)
- Extreme pale skin. (Not seen here)
- Unkempt, dirty hair.
- Unapproachable body language.
Apollo (On the right):
- His freckles.
- His angular nose, mouth, and triangle-shaped face.
- Purple looking eyes. (not seen here, and not actually purple)
- His ruddy complexion.
- Gauges and piercings.
- Tired eyes
- Friendly body language.
Interesting question! (With a lot of really cool answers from the folks here :-D)
Unfortunately my characters are very simple and similar looking, but I'd have to say after like 3 years of this grind, there's some certain features that make my main duo feel like themselves when I draw them.
Hideki has a sharper jawline, slightly slimmer face/cheeks and a straighter nose. His eyebrows are also neat and slim.
Kazuhiro has a more round face and the bridge of his nose doesn't go all the way up, it's sort of curved. I always try to make his eyes a little rounder, and his eyebrows are very thick.
I try not to over-design my characters, though many would argue I've gone too far down the other way and made a pretty nondescript cast.
Augustus here is always seen with the line makeup on his face though. It's common tradition for people from his country to have makeup or tattoos around their eyes, though when asked about it he can't really think of the symbolic reason.
My characters are all meant to look pretty incognito in a crowd, since they spend their long long lives trying not to draw too much attention. Apart from Augustus - who lives in a flying house and doesn't massively care what people think of him.
Cethlenn has this tooth gap that I think really makes her. And her freckles, and curly hair.
as for balor... shes got very big almond eyes that I think make her. or her pointy ears. (and, obviously, the one eye that i occassionally keep forgetting about)
For Ragna, I'd say it's her scar across her face. I always tend to draw her with a frown, and it looks a bit weird when she has a relaxed face for some reason XD
As for Gav, I sometimes forget to draw his body & facial hair and I'll be like "who is this baby?!?", so I'd say that XD
My Lippie needs his tail flame! ...which I almost always forget to draw. He's also known for his smirk, and to me, for his fangs!
https://tapas.io/episode/6346732 I love drawing his hair Luke's hair is fluffy when not using wax or hair product like hair gel
