graphic design, freelancing, illustration, advertising, web design

If you are a budding artists, character designer or illustrator there are bound to be times when you need human figure reference. I was recently looking for some books to help with figure drawing and showed different poses but in the process of searching came across a website that could really help.

Characterdesigns.com is a website which provides resources and information for artists, illustrators and designers, one of these resources being figure reference photos of people in different poses. There are several sets of photo poses which you can chose from a drop down menu. The figures include action, facial expression, nudes and figures in costume. Although some are a little rigid/posed they are a good starting point for getting proportions etc right.

Also on the site are photos of events such as fashion shows and anime expos, all again which can act as good reference for drawing the human figure. There is also a section where artists and illustrators can display there work and a forum too. As this site grows I think it could become an excellent resource for artists and designers alike.

As some of you may know I am a big fan of character design and try to keep an eye on what is going on online. I discovered Cedric Hohnstadt’s website and blog a little while ago and thought it was worth a mention. What I like about Cedric’s site is the way he has been sharing his experience of some online character design training he has been taking with Schoolism. Schoolism features online training in digital design and character design. The character design training is done interactively where the student follows a supplied brief each week uploads their drawings which the tutor will then draw over digitally in video form to show how they think the drawing could be improved. You can see an artcast by Stephen Silver about the course on his website. The course looks very tempting but is fairly expensive at $998 dollars for nine lessons, but that includes personal critiques.

Anyway back to Cedric and his website and blog, take a look at some of the lessons he has taken part in. I especially like the portrait studies exercise which shows how starting with different face shapes - a circle, square and triangle can really change the look of a character. Take a look and see if you can get any inspiration for your character designs.

I have like the character designs of Jon Burgerman since I first saw them in Computer Arts magazine. His character designs are very child like using thick black line and bright colours.

Over on Youtube I found an interesting clip where Jon Burgerman created a black and white mural in Derby UK using the people as inspiration. He then got the community involved doing the colouring in. Take a look.