I went to the well of the interwebs today in search of tips and tricks on capturing a likeness in comic book art. I stumbled upon several tid-bits from pencilers and editors who produce comics based on licensed properties, like Buffy and Star Wars.
Jo Chen is doing some of my favorite “likeness” type work right now. Her covers have been energetic, stylized, and the characters very recognizable.
Draw Buffy, not Sarah Michelle Gellar
“I think it’s the likenesses that have taken me that much longer to finish an issue. I really sweat over them, but Joss Whedon told me something that really set me on the right path. He said he didn’t want the characters to look like photographs and have that stiffness. He said I don’t want you to draw Sarah Michelle Gellar, I want you to draw Buffy. Which just clicked with me. I still struggle, but not as much.” - Georges Jeanty, artist for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8. (interview)
Energy
“I do my best to try and capture the right feel or essence of the characters. I feel like if get too caught up in worrying about the likeness the drawings become a little stale. The energy in the drawing is really the most important thing to me.” - Brian Ching, penciler for Star Wars: Republic on drawing the likenesses of the characters (interview)
Dangers of using publicity photos
Maloney and Ponder capture character likenesses without any of those horrible “drawn from publicity photo” sequential story-killers the old DC Next Generation series relied so heavily on, and also the one from Malibu. If you ever draw the art for a licensed product, this is how to do it. (link)
Comfortably loose drawing and clear storytelling
It’d be easy to get guys who could do good likenesses, but most of them would do pretty boring comics. I love Cliff [Richards]’s work for being able to do easily recognized likenesses but still having a comfortably loose drawing style and clear storytelling, which I think are among the most important talents in a comics artist. Christian Zanier’s likenesses are more photographic than Cliff’s, which some of the fans really like, and he also has a darker style than Cliff does, which I think is right for Angel. Christian’s probably the best likeness guy we’re using, but he never would’ve got the job JUST based on his ability to draw the faces. It’s the style and the power in his work I care about more than the fact he can draw a perfect image of Buffy. Then there’s Ryan, who some fans positively hate, but who I think perfectly balances many of Christian’s strengths with many of Cliff’s. His likenesses are definitely the weakest of these three, but I think he makes up for it in other ways. - Scott Allie, Editor on the Buffy comics (link)
To summarize, likenesses are important to capture, but energetic drawing that clearly gets the story across is even more important. You have to honor the likeness of the character, just ask any fan. I must have read 10 reviews of comics from fans that all had various complaints about likenesses in an artist’s work, including those praised by their editors. Still, work to draw the character above all else, including the actor’s likeness. You can use some caricaturing techniques to maintain an “illusion” of likeness, too.
These come from Tom Richmond’s MAD blog, one of my top five favorite blogs out there. In this great response to a reader’s email, he discusses two tricks he uses when working on his Mad pieces.
- Use key features - find the attribute that is special to the person, (head shape, chin, nose, etc.) and make sure that “key” shows up in all drawings, no matter what the expression.
- Use keystone drawings - Like an animator’s key frames that capture the extreme, dynamic moment in an action, draw spot-on likenesses and link them with the more extrapolated likenesses you have to draw (because of expressions or actions without reference, the ones you need to make up.) The viewer will have the impression that they are seeing the same character throughout, even if you don’t nail the likeness each and every time.
Artist Tom Ngyuen wrote a great article about capturing likenesses at the “comiccon.com website, but the website’s image links are broken: “I Draw the Line: Face Off.” A few tips from the article:
Nail the T-Shape, the “T” from eyes to nose. It will vary in size and shape, and will help you solidify the eyes and nose which will be the foundation of your likeness. He got this tip from from Tom Richmond.
Some other “Keys” to look at:
- shape of the upper lip (the “M” shape)
- how much gums are showing in a smile
- shape of the chin–is it more rounded or more square? Is it a butt chin?
- laugh lines/dimples
- shape and height of the ears; attached or unattached ear lobes?
- shape of the hairline
And for drawing the beautiful people, who have notoriously difficult likenesses to capture, look for these keys:
- thickness/thinness of eyebrows, and the direction of their curve
- thick or thin eyelids and eyelashes
- how much nostril is showing (flare of the nostril)
- shape of the lips
