[thomasrohlfs]

Three quick techniques to add movement to your characters.

🔴 Line of action: An imaginary line running from the head all the way down to the feet. The more curve, the more movement! Great for when you’re drawing from reference!

🟢 Rhythm: One of the best-known techniques is to offset the hip and shoulders, but you can find many more interesting angles. Look for them when drawing your character. It will help you create balance and flow!

🔵 Silhouette: Don’t forget about readability. I always try to make sure that there are no distracting gaps or shapes. And you can use the outfit to create interesting contours as well!

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

You might not expect an illustration breakdown of an eye from someone who draws them as simple circles. But ever since last years Inktober, I've been trying to refine the way I draw eyes. I really like the outcome when I follow these steps. They're still abstract enough to match how I draw the rest of the face.

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

A couple of quick portraits. Band-aids are my 2021 fashion statement. Drawn from reference ✏️

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

These sketch notes are all over the place, but I tried to highlight all the relevant concepts behind drawing a character in a more complex pose. Hope it helps!


⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

A quick guide on how I draw sleeves. Especially oversized ones. To figure out the arm's direction, I'll divide the arm into three sections by drawing two curved lines. I use these lines to figure out how to draw the end of the sleeve. Works every time!

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

Killer tip: always try to add some movement to your characters, even when they're not in a very dynamic pose. It doesn't have to be anything huge. It could be something small, like some loose strands of hair. In this case, I simply made the cords of his jacket blow in the imaginary wind 😏

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

Accepting that my first sketch is awful is one of the most useful lessons I've learned. I cannot repeat it enough: a first sketch is always horrible, and that's precisely what it should be!

That first horrible sketch helps you to get rid of an empty canvas. It gives you an idea of what you'll be drawing and some general shapes to work with. That's its purpose!

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

I might have a bit of an awkward process when it comes to drawing faces, but it works for me!

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

I love drawing characters, so it's no surprise that they'll usually take center stage. That is if I bother to give them a stage. Because most of the time, I'll just leave them standing in the big empty.

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

Here's how I go from boring outlines to interesting shapes (hopefully). And the good news is that you can do this with any object!

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

Often I need more than two rounds of sketches to get a character or pose right. So I just keep finetuning, focussing on different areas each round. In this case, I zoomed in on the pose before coming up with the outfit. Understanding the figure really helps when drawing clothes!

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

Breakdown of a character that I drew for the cover of New Scientist. The floor pane is an essential part since it's tough to get the feet right without it.

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

The four steps of my illustration process. There are at least two rounds of sketches, always!

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

Not sure if I managed to capture the forward motion and perspective. There’s also a slight turn of the upper body going on, I think I managed to get that 😅

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

This might be my favorite character to draw! If I ever have the time, I would love to create a small comic telling his origin story.

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!

[thomasrohlfs]

Some quick drawing notes on this sketch of Chizu that I created for Omikuji Rugby!

⚡️ Dynamic Character Illustration Learn professional drawing and coloring techniques for creating dynamic characters full of movement!