The Lion King: Character Design Similarities (fanart tutorial)
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I have once made a post that described which characters have similar design elements in the movies, but I figured that simple drawings would work better than a wordy post. I might have missed something or drawn something not as correctly as you’d see in a screencap (although, I used references). Maybe I’ll make another post using screencaps.
(Backgrounds are quick sketches I made based on the backgrounds from the movies).
Some more comments under the cut:
1) To be honest, I’m not entirely sure where some of Kiara’s features come from. I assumed that her cheeks are the same shape as Sarabi’s, but Sarabi has a broader face, while Kiara’s overall facial structure is more similar to Sarafina’s (except for the skull). What can be clearly seen is that Kiara’s whole eye area is the same as Simba’s, but Kiara’s eyes are bigger, and her eyelashes are a little thicker. She also has darker eyelids.
2) The second movie has an additional blue layer, so that might have thrown off some of the color comparisons. I had to adjust Kovu, Vitani and Nuka’s colors to get colors that I think would make the most sense (so that they could look the way they do in different lightings in the movie).
3) I’ve drawn Nuka and Vitani with what I believe are their ‘original’ eyebrow positions here, but I’m not sure what Kiara and Kovu’s ‘original’ eyebrow positions are.
4) Nuka has a few very specific design elements that don’t appear on any other TLK character, among them a very narrow chest. It’s not only narrower than a typical male design, but also than all of the female ones. That’s the reason why, even if Nuka had a ‘proper’ mane, it still wouldn’t look as ‘poofy’ as on the other TLK lions:
5) I’m not sure what these “lines” on Scar and Nuka’s paws/legs are. Maybe they’re visible because the characters are thin, or maybe they’re there because Scar and Nuka use their paws as hands more frequently, so these lines make their movements look more believable.
6) This is just a headcanon/theory – I think Kovu and Vitani’s features that they obviously didn’t get from Zira are likely from their (probably shared) father. Like shorter muzzles and green and blue eye color, respectively – their hypothetical father would have to have a shorter muzzle and blue or grey eyes.
Conclusion: by my “calculations” (which are not really precise assessments :), Kiara resembles Simba the most, Vitani looks a lot like Zira, and Nuka looks the most like Scar (but also has a lot of features inherited from Zira). Where Kovu got most of his looks is a mystery, but he does not exactly look like Scar, regardless of what the movie insists :) However, the exact design of his features makes him seem similar to Scar, which is more or less an illusion (I feel like this perfectly fits with Kovu’s story arc in the movie).
So a little while back this nice nonny sent in an Ask basically inquiring about how a new/emerging fanartist can overcome the tendency to compare their own works’ to others’ and break out into the fanart scene. In my reply I talked about how we generally only see the final products for fanart--we don’t see the years of doodles and practice and sketches that built up to the final product, we don’t usually even see much in the way of drafts. So I figured, with my current project, I’d post all my linework drafts for any newbie artists out there, so you can see some of the stages that digital art often undergoes! Or my art, anyway. ^^;;
Basically, I draw almost every single day, I’ve been creating digital art regularly for going on three years now, and I STILL have drafts upon drafts of my linework until I create something I’m satisfied with! (And honestly this project is pretty tame--sometimes I end up with something like 18 drafts for a single figure!)
Bottom line? Practice makes perfect, it’s 1000% acceptable to have some crummy first drafts of a drawing (like look at those first two drafts, nothing but blocking there!), and the more you draw and post, the more confident you’ll feel (AND the more confident your art will look!).
I recorded myself drawing my Cersei Lannister fanart. I also did a narration, so you can listen to my awkward af voice. Hope you find it entertaining and informative, and don’t forget that you can also buy this print on my Etsy shop!
English isn’t my main language so I’m sorry if I can’t explain this very clearly
Ok let’s begin. I used this screencap.
Open the screencap on Photoshop and also make a new document with the size 1920 x 1200px or whichever size you prefer.
First I select the screencap and move it over to the blank new canvas.
Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (Feather 0px) to outline the image, click around the edges of your character until it's completely selected. There's really no secret to this. Remember to use the anti-alias on the tool options bar, and using the "add to selection" and "subtract from selection" options makes your life easier since you can select different spots at a time. Don't forget the hair strands and little details. You can zoom in to take care of the smaller details. This is my result
When everything is selected, draw up a mask (by clicking on "add vector mask", on the bottom of your layer toolbox). Layer masks allows you to make changes in your selection, and that is very helpful.
Click on the layer mask thumbnail, and using a small brush smooth the edges of the picture, specially the hair part (remember that the color black conceals, and white revels). I'll call this layer Image 1.
Now work on the background, you can add textures, brushes, solid colors. For this one I picked a gradient. Beneath your "Arya layer 1" layer, create a new gradient layer and pick the colors you want for the background (I used #444769 and #FFFFFF). Put Style in Radial, work the angle in a way that looks appealing to you.
Now work on the coloring. I like to add adjustment layers on top of all layers so everything (the "Arya layer 1" and gradient layers) get adjusted at the same time. I've added a curves layer and color balance (now this is more of a trial and error, so just mess around with those to see what works for you).
Now add a text in the background (layer beneath "Arya layer 1"), I used the font Photograph Signature.
To me it feels like something is still missing, so I picked some grunge geometric brushes from HERE to add in the background, and it's done.
