When your character design is too hard to draw

[NickRowler]

So I've run into sort of a pickle. I designed a character's hair a certain way but I feel like I am having trouble making him look consistent. I am already a good number of pages into the series and I don't think I can completely change his hair right now. Maybe after the first part of the story, I will give him a hair cut.

I did make a character sheet...

But then I realize that I sort of tweaked all my characters for the comic.

Have you ever ran into an issue like this?
What are someways which helped you stay consistent to the character design?

[TimCaloweh]

My advice is to keep a 360 overview of your character as both reference and a cheat sheet.

When in doubt just copy and paste the structure into your art and mold it for the situation. If not, then just practice till you got it down. It gets easier.

[BraniAndNess]

It seems pretty consistent to me! Curly hair is not an exact science. (shrug)

My main character has a hair bun and the more the story advances, the bigger her bun gets ^^'''' I regularly have to check myself and compare to the character sheet!

[zigmenthotep]

When I'm designing characters I like to periodically ask myself "Do I want to draw this several hundred times?" and adjust the design accordingly.
As for your guy, personally I think it's consistent enough, your keeping a good general shape on it.

[Tycade]

Okay, just because I want to show you what I'll have to eventually work on (will post the pic in the morning when my desktop is on, this post really interesting to me lol) because I have a character where half of him is made of crystal, and screwwwww consistency on the crystals forming on his arm lol. As for what you are working with with the hair, I honestly think you are doing a great job! It's looking consistent in each pic and it seems to have a flow with how the character is moving in these actions. Good job!

[OliviaMerteli]

From the exemple you showed, I'm not shocked by inconsistency. After all, it's hair, it's always moving

[Rhombik]

"Do I want to draw this several hundred times?"

And you said YES YES YES to the slugs.

I agree with 360 worksheet and either practice a lot before doing the comics or prepare for some inconsistency to begin with. I went with the latter. Some of mine have different head shapes at the start. From what I gather, people will accept a little inconsistency as long as it improves.

[zigmenthotep]

And yet even after drawing the same basic character design 500+ times they're still not completely consistent, because that really doesn't matter.

[joannekwan]

I think you're doing a great job keeping the hair consistent, Nick!

Try keeping this thing consistent tho orz

I'm not even gonna try with the veins on his neck.

[Rhombik]

I'm horrendously inconsistent. I have to check my character sheets about fifty percent of the time to see if their arms are the right length.

[zigmenthotep]

You know, I just so happen to have a little trick for dealing with that specific problem.

[Vanzish]

That broom swiping doodle is amazing, made my day

[TheThoughtfulBoxful]

Have you ever ran into an issue like this?

Well, one of my characters starts out looking like this...

...but by the next time we see her, she looks like this!
(this is going to be a very experimental chapter, eheh )

Her first design wasn't THAT hard to draw, but I decided to adjust a few things (hair, outfit, etc) to make it a little more interesting.

What are someways which helped you stay consistent to the character design?

Keep. Drawing. The Character.

Reference sheets are good, just remember not to get too caught up in them! Once perfectionism settles in, it'll be easy to get into the "I'm not ready, I need more reference sheets" loop.

What you have right now with the character lineup is a great reference! Character consistency doesn't mean carbon copy; it's about recognition. Is your character regonizable? If yes, then he is CONSISTENT.

I think you're doing a great job with your character. Don't sweat it!!

[Tycade]

So what I wanted to talk about in my last post was that for things like hair veins and such, don't worry about keeping it incredibly consistent. I have a character that has crystals growing from his body, and I'll be damned if I keep the number of crystals on his arms consistent panel to panel, chances are, I'm going to simplify them for most panels unless he's the main focus of the page. So for something like hair(especially curly hair which has a total mind of it's own) don't worry about being consistent ALL the time. As long as you get it to look right, chances are it's proooobably right lol.

[Rhombik]

You know, I just so happen to have a little trick for dealing with that specific problem.

LOL

One of the recent webcomic alliance podcasts talks about accepting a certain level of inconsistency in your comics for a bit. You can find it here.

[PaulDevers]

Yup, I know what you mean. I've spent time drawing this whole first chapter, and just saying to myself, "Man, I can't wait to get rid of this outfit, gee."

[xanpresscomics]

I think your character design looks fine. You definitely know it's the same character. Keep up the great work.

[catluckey]

Hey, I've practiced drawing them, did character (sketch) sheets, 360 head stuff, cut & pasted ...hehehehe and they still are inconsistent (in my eye). But I'll keep 'em cuz I love 'em!

Yours is consistent...the hair only slightly moves...it's curly. One thing for sure, you've kept your style consistent!

[dawgofdawgness]

I actually think the consistency is perfect for this character
if the hair looks virtually the same in every page I guess it could look a little "artificial"
besides, curly hair tends to look different each time you see it.

As you draw the character more, your hand will do the work for you, it becomes like a reflex to draw every stroke a certain way. It becomes more stylized too, so don't worry too much about the design at the beginning.