onezumi.com : Stupid and Insane Defenders Against Chaos

Materials and Setup:

I just use printer paper for this. You don't need fancy paper for CG art. I only use fancy paper when I am hand drawing something from start to final line, or printing my final print.

I do a rough sketch with either a Non-Photo Blue pencil, OR some kind of blue pencil (perhaps Col-Erase). Then I tighten up my lines with an HB pencil. (Also known as a #2 pencil.) I keep a Kneaded Eraser on hand to catch any mistakes.

For the purposes of this basic tutorial, I wanted to keep it simple, so I'm drawing Onezumi, my cartoon alter ego. However, these principles apply to any character, even a very complex one.

Procedure:

Step 1: I block in how many heads tall she is. Onezumi is usually 3 heads tall. I tried to illustrate this, but since the blue pencil is very light at this stage I had some difficulty getting it to show up in the photo. I made an approximation of this in the picture on the right. Right now she is just a snowman with a line through her. Not very exciting yet.

Step 2: I work fast and block in the basic shape of her shirt. It's a weird triangle thats attached to her head. It is good that I figured out how many heads tall she is before because now I can judge how long to make the shirt. The shirt is usually just about a half head long, maybe a little over that.

I lightly draw her torso through the shirt so I know where to draw her waist and skirt. It is important that her waist looks like it is connected to her body! Draw through the skirt to the floor to her feet. Again, I have to stress that it is important that she looks connected. Use each shape as a guide on how to position the next.

At this stage it is still very rough. Don't be afraid to erase, change, or otherwise have fun with it. If it gets too messy, you can just trace it onto a clean piece of paper later, or digitally alter it.

Step 3: I make sure my blue pencil is sharp and I really darken where I want my lines to be.

Step 4: This is the same as inking a drawing, only this time you are using HB pencil. (HB is also known as a #2 pencil.) Make sure your lines are as clean as possible to make your job easier later on.

From here you can scan it in and digitally ink it, or ink it by hand. If you ink it by hand, it is best to trace it onto a clean piece of paper first. (Use a lightbox or lighted surface of some kind.)

Some More Explanation:

The reason for the blue pencil is because it does not interfere with your pencil line quality, so when you scan it in (in grayscale) it is easy to see the good pencil lines and disregard the sketchy blue lines. You can scan your work in grayscale such that the non-photo blue will not show up, and all you will see is your HB pencil. Get it? NON-Photo blue...it won't show up when photocopied. (Which is why I had such a hard time getting good pictures for this tutorial.)

Non-Photo blue is really good for people like me who like to start drawing before we know what we want to draw. I make a lot of erasures because of this and the blue pencil is easy to ignore when I digitally ink over the sketch. This is just the basic foundation of a finished piece. The next tutorial will demonstrate how to take a more complex sketch using these principles and turn it into something fierce!

Next Tutorial: Scanning a Sketch

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Making the Basic Sketch with Non-Photo Blue