How to Make Characters Look 3D
- 1). Draw a square at least 2 inches wide and high. This square will represent a character's face.
- 2). Lightly draw a second square of the same size with its top left point slightly above and to the right of the first square's top left point.
- 3). Erase the portions of the second square that lie inside the first square, then draw a line connecting the top-left points of both squares.
- 4). Draw lines connecting the top-right and bottom-right points of the two squares. You can now clearly see a 3-D cube.
- 5). Draw the eye outlines: Draw two circles in the fully visible square (the character's face), one near the upper-left portion of the square, and one near the right. Use your intuition to size and shape, and position the eye circles to your liking. You can create a plausible eye by making the diameter of each circle slightly less than one-fourth the width of the face square. In this and other steps related to the character's facial features (eyes, nose, mouth), do not worry about making perfect features. Instead, concentrate on constructing any image that can be seen as a face.
- 6). Draw eye pupils as two completely shaded circles that are centered inside the eye outlines you just drew.
- 7). Draw a nose as a backward "L" positioned at the center of the face square. Draw the mouth as a horizontal line midway between the nose's bottom and the bottom edge of the face square. You can now see a box character that has a sense of 3-D depth.
- 8). Darkly shade, by applying considerable pencil pressure, the right-most side of the box. Apply only a little pressure to shade the box's top side (the character's head). This step simulates the effects of a light source that's above and to the right of the character.
- 9). Enhance the sense of three-dimensionality from lighting by adding a shadow: Draw a horizontal line that extends the bottom edge of the face toward the right. Size this line to be noticeably longer than the face's bottom edge.
- 10
Draw another horizontal line that extends directly right from the lower of the box's two right-most points. Make this line the same size as the one you just drew. - 11
Draw a line connecting the right points of the two new lines you just drew. This completes the outline of the shadow. Fill in the outline with the darkest shade possible to complete the shadow and the 3-D box character.
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