OK, first things first, the easy part. Some reference photos of my head. Simply put, all you really need is a front and side shot of your material for modeling (unless you have complex hair, then get a back one as well). Try to get the same angle and lining up for the two shots to make the reference easier between front and side view. It might also be wise to take shots of the back, top and other side if you want to use it for texture purposes also. The image to your right shows what I used as my reference. I added some lines here to show you the lining up.

Note that the bigger pic you have, the better detail you will have as reference, but also as a texture later on in the process.

That done we have the head element and reference ready and we can not worry about that until the modelling stage.

OK, to the rest of my character. The character I have previously drawn is a character I have developed for a world I am creating. He is a mix of matrix / steampunk / battlechasers and whatever else came to mind at the time. Reference material is a great resource for developing characters, from both an initial and detailed perspective.

Find out what works for you, and what feel you want for your character. I personally find movies, comics, cartoons and computer games my main resource (all very mainstream I know), but you can find good material to work with from basically anything. All you have to do is look hard enough, or not hard enough, as seeing things and tricks of the eye get you some crazy ideas too!

For the purposes of this exercise I am going to do a front and side of my character so as to get the concept sketch idea to use for my 3D modelling. I have already created a character concept previously, so there's no point doing him again. The methods to make a drawing, be it posed or orthographic is the same however, so for this section it makes no difference.

Here is my original effort at my character, as you can see it's still pretty rough, but I could go from that to 3D modelling after I made the front and side images of him. You could try and go straight to 3D, but it is recomended to use 2D reference in order to keep true to the original concept.

The next tutorial is taking this original concept sketch shown here through to finished art for presentation purposes of which would make good folio material in regards to a prospective employer. They tend to love knowing you can create things from concept to finish, and everything inbetween.

So, pencil and paper in hand you're now ready to bring your ideas to life. I recommend an A3 page, half that to make your final image, the other half to concept details, poses and what have you. I also recomend a HB to 2B pencil...but that comes down to personal choice. I'm just used to the traditional things you use in school (oh so long ago)...I believe there are better things out (like those blue pencils people use) for concepting but I have never really tried them.

But before you put pencil to paper start thinking about your character, start getting a feel for what, who and how he/she/it is. This is integral to making your character a believable character in the world it exists in.

In my case I'm part way there, it's me, so I have my alter ego to feed into it, but also the fact that the mechanical arm is powered by mana that has a cool flouro glow to it. If you knew me, you'd know the characters persona is pretty dark, yet honourable. He does his best for the good of man, yet doesn't necessarily go by the rules to do so.

Um, is this me or the character I'm talking about?...Erm...anyway, as I was saying.

He has a magnificent amount of raw magical power, the mana arm adds to that significantly making him quite the powerful adversary. Only problem is he needs to feed that mana otherwise he loses power and energy to himself (his own health deteriorates rapidly if he runs out of mana). Good thing he keeps it all topped up, and that mana is a relatively small consumer of energy (unless used directly).

As you can see, this guy has a fair bit of background, he has a lot more but you get the idea. The more background your character has, the more believable he is. The more believable he/she/it is as a character the better he/she/it will look, and easier he/she/it is to add those little touches that make a character shine. People like to believe, it will always look odd when your character makes no sense, unless it's MEANT to make no sense. Which is also fine :)

Not that I'm the confusing type or anything.

OK, so we have a background. Visualise in your head some ideas as to the basics of what your character is to look like. Clothes, main elements (say a huge mechanical arm, in my case), and more importantly build. Is he tall, short, stocky, athletic...the list is endless. Realistically proportioned, cartoon, exagerated...you name it. The combinations are limitless. Here is where reference comes in handy if you need a hand. Look into it, it's not wrong to look at and emulate other peoples work (when learning anyway ;) , you might as well learn from other artists experiences and then build on them, otherwise we'd always be starting from scratch and we'd never evolve as a species.

So do it for humanity!! Always make sure you credit the original artist though if it is copy or inspired by of course.

I also find fan art is a great way to start learning, try to duplicate by visually drawing from other sources (reality or otherwise) then start developing your own characters based on the style and reality your previous examples have been in that you like or are good at. And most of all PRACTICE! Eventually you will have your own style that is a mix of all your favourite artists, with a mix of your own personal touches that make you the true artist in your own right. Then you'll have all these other n00b's emulating YOUR work...and the cycle continues until the end of time...or something.

Once you get the idea in your head start throwing some lead (ink, chalk, scratching, stick paintings) on your paper (screen, board, desk, cave wall) and start shaping out the very basics of your characters as mass only. No detail whatsoever is to be used here. This is all about finding out what your character looks like as an entity.You can either go straight for the reference poses, or do a concept drawing to get a feel for your character, it's up to you. I am doing the reference, as the concept has already been drawn.

A very good understanding of anatomy is very, VERY handy. I recommend looking and drawing some realistic things, people, photos of people, animals if you are going the more beastly path. The experience will make your character more believable where it needs to be, and more professional for doing so. Even when doing cartoon characters, anatomy of REAL things can help you out. Well proportioned characters, even exagerated proportions, are all based on reality. You get the reality wrong, then the things you create relating to that reality will not sit well with the audience. People don't seem comfortable to move too far away from what they already know.

I created the front view first, as I find that the most easy perspective to draw characters from. I have intentionally drawn two arms on each side to display how the arms will move, it is more of a guide than anything else and may or may not be useful to you. Once my very rough mass has been drawn out I draw in some rules for comparison purposes and make the mass of a side view. The final result is as follows. I generally don't draw the arm on the side view as it obstructs the body too much. Usually I don't draw it at all, in this case I'll be drawing it elsewhere on my sheet, as it will be a complicated arm.

I realise the quality is a little dodgy to say the least, but that's due to the light lead and the high contrast. I'll try to make it 'purty' later on, but I'm sure you get the picture.

There is a method defined as 'silhouetting' that many use to see if their character is unique and easily reconizeable. An easily recogniseable character is good for publicity and style, look at Mario and Luigi. Sonic the Hedgehog, Jak and Daxter and many other well named household brands. You will find each of them can be easily recogniseable by their silhouette, let alone their end result. It's not a MUST have, but it's a good point to consider, depending on the purposes of your character. In my case it's not all that important, although you can tell by the stance I had made he means business.

While creating my character on the first round I was thinking about details that could make up my character as I went along...this can happen before, during and after the development of your character. In this case I will put in the elements so to explain the silhouette idea further.

As the arm / torso is more like an engine as well, I decided it would be really cool to have sort of exhaust pipes thing coming out the back...similar to a hotted up car. Adding this adds an instantly recogniseable element to the mass of my character.

5 points to the recognition corner - 0 points to 'just another character'. Here is a silhouette of my concept character for example, showing off the pipes etc. (coming soon)

The next 'layer' of coating is the basic details of my character. This will include the main details such as general clothing, more refined body mass and some of the main key elements that I want to bring into attention. I do this now so the finer details are sure to be integrated into these elements, rather than having the main elements have to work with the smaller details instead. In this instance, the arm and the coat are the main things I focus on here...and some of the head detail (basic shape).

The head of course is void for this exercise as I will be using my own, however I will draw it in nevertheless.

After that, we start really getting into it. This is where we start finalising the details of the character, as a rough. Get the finer details in, think of what needs to be in there as a minimum, and then start to consider what else the character would need to 'exist in the reality' or to become more of the character he represents. In this case it's a matter of how cool I want him to look. Most of his background comes with how he acts, but he needs the 'cool boots' and the 'cool hair' and the 'cool everything else'. as much as I am using my own head in the end result, I figure I might as well go all out and get a custom character in there.

Depending on where you decide to put in your detail, either from the start or in the 3D package as you go along is up to you. I do a bit of both, any major to medium level detail I add here, as I know I will want them in. All the really nitty gritty details I save for the 3D as I go along as your character starts to really come to life.

In this case I make him out as to what I think would look good befitting the character. Mixing in my ideas through to what I have seen in the areas of 'reference' in my head the original concept I have shown you is what I came up with. In this tutorial this is the final 2D work ready for reference in my 3D program.

If you have created a concept character image rather than direct to reference you can decide to make the 2D front and side (maybe back and other side if needed) in order to 3D render him (a lot) easier, however, in the next tutorial I will be making a high (ish) quality 2D artwork, so we will be taking my first concept artwork and cleaning it up and colouring it in for a much slicker presentation. Otherwise just skip to Here in order to continue the creation of your character into the 3D realm. The following image is a sneak peek of the end 2D result.

The following tutorial is easier if you have a graphic tablet handy, Graphire tend to have good ones. I have a very old one and I'll be using a mix of that and traditional mouse (Old skool!) techniques to colour the image in.

So, if you want to be the hottest kid on the block with fantastic finished 2D art skills that will make any audience drop in awe at your awesome skills go Here, if you feel like skipping the arts of the forgotten world of 2D then go Here.

It's your choice. I won't pressure you. No pressure whatsoever.

No really, choose one...I DARE you.