When you draw a character, what do you think it is that gives them personality? All cartoon characters have something particular that grabs your attention. For many, it\'s the weapon. But there are other instances.

DragonBall Z:The characters\' techniques grab the viewers attention and put them in suspense.

Tenchi Universe:It\'s all about the girls, right? It could be something else. For me, it\'s the personalities of each character.

Gundam:It\'s not all about Mecha. The plotline of the war is important too.

Megaman X:You may not have noticed it, but the X characters\' armor is very unique. You could be attracted to that and not even know it.

In short, many people have hidden traits that grab one\'s attention. For me, when I create characters, I focus on wardrobes and facial expressions.

For veteran artists, what is it that you put into your characters to grab attention?

For up-and-coming artists, try to make mental notes of possible areas you want to focus on.

Eyes, the eyes can instantly tell you if said char is a psycho, sad, angsty lil bugger, and so forth.
Also helps to have a quirk.
Mioku : I AM RA!! BOW TO YOUR NEW GOD!! >o<
Like so.. Ra inbodied as a Chao.

I agree with the eyes i say that one movie where bruce willis is like a super hero but doesnt know it and samuel jackson tell him.... he says that in comic book eyes can tell you if a person is good or evil..... evil\'s eyes are usually longer too they said.....

I would scan the too characters i always draw but i can never figure out how to put it on the site..... i draw this pumpkin guy
... _ ....
\\_| |_/
(_oo_)
o- /_ _\\-o
/ \\

Also a draw a cherry with a face using the berry part for eyes and draw lines for arms and legs with gloves and shoes....
o
/ \\
*-00-*
_/\\_

Thats both of them in computer form thats best i can do..... i draw better on paper as do most other people...

When ever i post it it all goes to the left so your ganna haft to imagin to use that is connected in the middle


[Edited on 20-12-2003 by GuTTeR MouTh]

The appearence all together.For example,when I looked at Tyson from Beyblade,I could easily tell that he was about a teenager,a city kind of kid,and for some reason,knew that he was going to be a major pain in the rear for the other characters.

The face in general, the body structure, the age, their hairstyle, their clothing, their quirks, their likes and dislikes.. There\'s tons of things that make a character..them.

You know how to express yourself do you.

Well, when you draw a character, most people would look whether the character is fat or thin. Mostly the appearence that matters. They expect good guys to be thin and bad guys to be fat.

Then how does that explain Mario?

Well if I had a scanner I\'d show you the character I drew. I made his eyes on the edge to look sharp to make him look extra evil... :devil:

I\'ve drawn a lot of stuff that looks like anime and I can\'t to show you! ^^

It\'s the whole body exspretion. :):(:D:cool::mad::eek: like these faces. Sort of:rolleyes:

alot of time its the color of their clothes.... look at hollow tourments\'s avitar you can look at that guy and think \" Hey that must be a really nice guy right there!\"

A lot can be told from how a person regularly smiles or grins. For instance, a small grin usually indicates a charming or psuedo-perfect personality. An extremely/abstractly large grin can indicate that the person is gullible, dull-witted, or any number of undignified traits. These characters are not always evil, they are just not paticularly intelligent. A long thin grin is often evil. A large grin with gums shown often indicates one whom is psycotic or maniacal. Yes, ther is a difference between evil and psycotic. A sharp, toothy grin often indicates that one is mischevious. A very small smile often indicates that one is timid or shy.

Yeah! Look at Cosmo from Fairly Odd Parents! He does a lot of big grins and he\'s an idiot!

Look at these. It shjows different expressions. Look how the eyes make such a difference.

-_- ^.^ .\\/. *.*

While much can be told throught the expression on one\'s eyes, much can also be told from the natural qualities. I really wish I was better at drawing different eye shapes, but alas, I know only one...:(

Anyways, a girls eyes usually should look different than a boy\'s. Eyelashes are usually more noticable on girls who put more time into their appearance. Eyes with naturally lower eyelids can suggest the person is suave or, with proper details, that one is evil. Slanted eyes are usualy an indication of evil. Shifty eyes usually means the person is untrustworthy. Small pupils indicate that one may be severe or unforgiving. Large pupils indicate sincerity or serinity. Slanted, shifty eyes always indicate evil or untrustworthy qualities.

Well, there\'s also no \'definite\' with characters.. There could be a shy, cute little girl with big shiny eyes, yet kills people in her sleep.

Or take Soujiro from Rurouni Kenshin. He\'s kinda like Quatre from Gundam Wing, a younger guy with big eyes.. And he smiles alot, looks like a nice person. But he kills people. So, there\'s really no definite..and I think the more you break the boundaries, the more personified the characters get.

hollows got a point...... if youve ever seen geobreeders the ladies looks nice but they kill every thing

Yup. Ruroni Kenshin redefines interesting anime characters. Yes, sometimes, to avoid being stereotypical, one must bend the rules a bit.:D

There\'s a couple of other eye types...
A character with eyes that never open always has something profound to say. This is usually true concerning characters with glasses, however:
1.Characters with mondos in there glasses are brainy or geeky.
2.Characters with very shiny glasses may be sly and intelligent, while also being dirty old men.

Eyes are important, but the way they stand and their normal expression is important to their personality as well. If someone slouches a lot, they normally are lazy or have no enthusiasm.

oh and i almost forgot the most important part about drawing good and bad people is that good people are pretty ....you cannot ever have an ugly main character.... if your a bad guy often you are difigured like have a metal arm, pointy teeth, or even a funny shaped head.....

Fairly Odd Parents, Vicky is a nice young girls wityh big pupils and smiling sweetly, until she\'s left alone with Timmy. Then she\'s a monster. You can\'t spell \'Vicky\' without \'icky\'

Well, bad guys usually aren\'t too nice lookers. But there are some nice looking evil women, and certianly popular evil men.

I like evil henchmen. henchmen are what make an evil villain.:D

Yes,but evil henchman are stupid.

Evil Henchmen are often unintelligent and bulky. But there are other types.

Backstabbing Henchmen:
1.Betray leader for enemy side.
2.Betray leader for rule.
3.Betray leader for an uncommon reason (psycotic, for instance)

Intelligent Henchman
1.Simply work with technical weaponry.
2.Plan schemes and are underappreciated.

There is also another class I like to call the Developed Henchman. These are the henchman who have just as many character values as a main character, as well as having an interesting background, often displayed through flashbacks.

Ruroni Kenshin has many Developed Henchman.

Team Rocket shows thier true selves by appearance. They look stupid and retarded, and they are.

Mario looks like a silly little plumber that shoots fireballs for fun, but he is actually a hero in some fantasy world. XD

Jessie isn\'t stupid..she just has bumbling James with her, now -he\'s- stupid. And Meowth\'s a Pokemon translator for goodness sakes, he must not be too stupid..just has alot of bad luck. o.o

As for henchmen, I personally like the ones that give ideas (such as Bowser\'s) and their leader takes the idea and says \'I\'m glad I thought of that\'. I dunno why, but that always makes me laugh.

[font=comic sans ms]Whenever I draw my shite cartoons (which is often X3), I usually focus on two things:

• Expression
  
• Position

The expression shows how someone/something is feeling. The position, however, physically shows how the character is feeling. Like if you had someone knocked out and smiling like this: ^__^

Well, damn, that just doesn\'t make too much sense to me. Or if someone\'s in pain and smiling, that doesn\'t make sense...unless they\'re masochist, then it all falls into place. ^^;[/font]

Actually, it could be like thay\'re smiling trying to act tough like \"Even though I have a rib sticking out of my foot, I\'m still not crying! Look! I\'m smiling!\" sor tof thing.