Has anyone ever forgotten how to draw thier characters?

Lunar · Post by **Lunar** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:12 am

I know that anyone who draws a comic will eventually get so accustomed to how their characters look that drawing them becomes second nature, however, has anyone besides me ever had their mind go completely blank when sketching out their latest comic to the point where you have to walk away for a bit or do rough doodles on a separate piece until you remember the proper process for drawing a certain character?

The Mortician · Post by **The Mortician** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:20 am

I forgot how to draw Adam, the only character so far. I haven't drawn him much over the last chapter, since he's been sick in the cart, and the chapter was written to focus on some other growing problem.

KWill · Post by **KWill** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:54 am

Not really, but I usually refer to my previous drawings to avoid inconsistencies anyway.

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 4:10 am

If I haven't used a character for a while, I'll need to go back and double check bits and pieces. Examples here are Fos, the crotchety spirit (who unfortunately looks too much like Old Bill) and even Mavis the busdriver (who hasn't been in the strip in over a year, as an alert reader pointed out - I really don't get why she's a favourite...).

Besides that, occasionally (or, to be truthful, regularly) I'll have to go back and check up whenever I draw the Three Girls together to remember who has what eyebrows or who wears what colour shirts, etc.

Most of the others are second nature now though. I reckon I could probably draw Casper and Cody almost straight to the page with pen and skip the whole greylead quick sketch step.

Except I know I'm too tight to take the risk on wasting the sheet of paper!

Komiyan · Post by **Komiyan** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 4:51 am

I never forget how to draw them as they usually are, but if I change something small- one of my characters is currently wearing a crown, that sorta thing- I forget all the goddamn time. I've had to rescan like 3 pages because of that sodding crown.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 4:52 am

Only when there's a lot of characters in the comic and when they're supporting characters. I often have to trach back to see what some minor LWK characters looked like if I haven't used them for a few issues.

Largopredator · Post by **Largopredator** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 5:13 am

Most of my main characters have become a sort of automatism, but if I haven't drawn the for a while I sometimes have a hard time to get them to look right. And if it's supporting characters, I have to look back to see how I drew them before.

Mvmarcz · Post by **Mvmarcz** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:24 am

i only forget when it's a character I've perhaps done art of but hasn't appeared yet, like the character that's about to appear, I drew some nice sketches of him but when I drew the page I didn't have those with me and I forgot what he was supposed to look like...

Tentoumushi · Post by **Tentoumushi** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:57 am

I tend to forget little things like, for example, the main character of my comic has a distinct dot pattern on her arms, legs, back, and chest. sometimes I'll forget to draw those. the more detailed the character, the more you have to remember.

GeorgeComics · Post by **GeorgeComics** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 8:54 am

I'm about the same as everyone else...I sometimes get foggy on the supporting cast if I haven't used someone in a while, but the main characters are pretty much unforgettable.

Garneta · Post by **Garneta** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 1:08 pm

I always forget to draw Shelley's glasses, but that's about it.

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:13 pm

Having this problem as we speak.

Lei · Post by **Lei** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:28 pm

I have problems with continuity now and then. I'll remember the character's features, but might forget a scratch they had on their cheek in the last page, or give them an extra inch of hair. TP is a pain in the ass, mostly because I have to draw the characters to resemble the people they're based off of, and therefor spend an obnoxious amount of time trolling facebook for reference pics.

But if I had to sit down right now and draw Mieke and Johann from Equinox, I think I could do it perfectly. Some day, I'm actually gonna go back to doing that comic, I swear to God!

CJBurgandy · Post by **CJBurgandy** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 1:44 am

my only problem is remembering which side is which. Like Miko's clothes, I have trouble remembering which parts are green and which parts are tan. And I forget which eye Butch's eyepatch goes over all the time. I have to keep references near by.

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:18 am

Ha! I have this problem with the kids' polo shirts! I'll often draw the boys more often as the story tends to revolve more around them and the spirits, but then on the occasions when I'm working with the Three Girls when they're out of their school uniforms, I can never remember which way the polo shirts go. I always end up looking down at the polo shirt I'm wearing at the time to see which way my collar and buttons fold over each other, then reverse it for the Girls.

Hopefully I won't learn that I've been wearing polo shirts with buttons on the girls' side of the collar all these years instead!

(Okay... just realised that this would not make sense if other countries have the buttons on the same side for both genders... although, now I'm thinking of it... the school polo shirts the kids at work wear are probably all the same, cos that would make sense. Must have been something Mum told me back in the eighties when this sort of stuff still happened...)

Anyway... for continuity's sake, I'm going to have to keep doing it, eh?

Td501 · Post by **Td501** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:57 pm

Have to refer to reference drawings, pictures, models, etc. for everyone and everything always. Have a large cast, and the story's switching perspective all the time, so I haven't really focused on anyone long enough to draw them reliably from memory. Occasionally I'll feel bold enough to draw a few frames without checking with a reference, but usually I'll later discover I've omitted or altered a feature or two. Gotta keep those reference pics open!

TheWhiteWilSmith · Post by **TheWhiteWilSmith** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:30 pm

I've noticed that after some time away from certain characters (currently my title characters are trapped in the future and the current storyline if focused on a side character from 2 storylines ago) their general style gets modified slightly. I suppose just from the evolution of the style from drawing 3 times a week, that's bound to happen.

Fabio Ciccone · Post by **Fabio Ciccone** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:42 am

Yeah, it happens sometimes qith the main characters, but ALL the time with the supporting cast... I've lost the count of how many times I had to look to my previous strips to draw my latest villain...

TheWhiteWilSmith · Post by **TheWhiteWilSmith** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:42 am

True that. During the last story arc, I had a lot of consistency trouble with drawing David Caruso.

Legion of Boom · Post by **Legion of Boom** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:07 am

yeahduff wrote:Having this problem as we speak.

Me as well. Trying to get new Tubes strips off the ground in a few months after taking an 8 year hiatus. There will be some permanent differences just because it has been so long. But I feel my artwork is always evolving, so I am fine with my artwork not looking the same as in 2000.