Whether it is how to draw an anime OC, a sci-fi character, or a fantasy hero, many tips and tricks can prove helpful. In this article, I will model my design process for an OC from idea to finished artwork. So, follow along, see my approach, and compare it to yours.
Let’s get into how to create an OC drawing, from scratch.
How to Create an OC Drawing - Finding the Idea
Usually, the process of coming up with the basic idea is the easiest part of how to draw an OC. If you are registered at CharacterHub and have several OCs already then you have engaged in this process before as you have had no shortage of ideas. The challenge is getting those ideas into a visual form.
Ideas are tricky, though, as often as they are clear to us, they can be difficult to translate to other people. To figure out how to do an OC drawing you need to grasp some character design basics, have plenty of free time, and commit to keep at the process, even if it takes a while.
I’ll be modeling the process of creating an OC and creating an OC drawing. But, with that in mind… what sort of character will I make?
Character Drawing Tips - Ideation
Coming into this process, I already have a character in mind, but I’ve never drawn them. The character comes from a story concept I have been sitting on for a while. The project is a dystopian cyberpunk story involving privatized corporate assassins and saboteurs created by illegal and weird experimentation. One such experiment was a cybernetically enhanced assassin chimp, named Chauncey. This is the same setting where my OC, Arnaud Baudin, can be found.
Some of my influences for the project include Blade Runner, X-Men, and B.P.R.D., which can clue you into my approach and aims with the character design. I want something that feels both technologically advanced, a little dystopian, and part of an eventual team of characters.
The first step was finding some inspiration, which meant looking at a lot of photos of chimps - maybe too many photos of chimps? However, one photo in particular struck me, which I used as a reference for the later illustration.
With the inspiration in mind, it was time for me to start ideation, or forming the concepts. That meant getting a handle on drawing a chimpanzee's unique proportions and body shape. That required me to draw fast and loose, trying to think about the figure in terms of shapes as I worked.
This is a pretty standard part of my normal concept art process. I usually end up doing a lot of rough drawings because I am not sure what design elements will land and if I have any happy accidents. In this case, as you’ll see, I was actually pretty lucky and managed to get something I could work with immediately. This wasn’t my first character design rodeo, after all.
When I had the figure and proportions down (1), I tested myself by trying different poses while maintaining the shapes and proportions I felt were associated with a chimp (2).
The key here, at least for me, is to draw fast and loose because I didn’t to overthink the work. Sometimes drawing is a matter of feeling as opposed to careful study. I had my reference photo to look at, but I really only glanced at it periodically as I felt out the drawing as I went.
It also helped that I have drawn primates before as this isn’t my only ape OC drawing. For example, my OC Anda Bandit is from the money tribe of her setting. I have a few other ape and monkey characters for other projects that I have yet to share on CharacterHub.
The core idea locked itself in fairly quickly, so I could move into tightening the sketch. Yet, my work was far from over. For some of us, the design process may not go so smoothly. I was lucky this time thanks to having experience and a strong idea to begin with.
OC Drawing - Refining the Concept
With the core shape and proportions down, and a good base to work from, I detail and refine the design. My intent was not to take the sketch to ink and color, as I want a more dynamic pose for the refined OC drawing. Because I also knew that I would not be taking this image to any clean-up stages, I only needed to sketch the parts of the designs that matter most or were most up in the air.
Case in point; notice that the left arm and the left leg are not added to the sketch. However, the gauntlet, collar, and cybernetic implant were included as those were my focus. I also focused more on the shape language of the character, such as squaring off his features to make him appear stronger and stockier. For example, notice that his chin is a little more squared off, and his torso makes a squat T-shape.
I was very pleased with the proportions, so I already started detailing the costume elements I was thinking about, such as the leotard and the mechanical elements of the gauntlet. The gauntlet was designed the way it was because I wanted to make the character a physical bruiser, reflecting the sometimes powerfully violent nature of chimps. Imagine a sinister corporation sending a chimp to beat a person to death with a spiked glove. It’s terrifying.
The thing is, I also come up with ideas as I go. In this case, I had two of them, but only one stuck around. To supplement the leotard, I decided to give him a jacket. I also had wondered about giving him a wholly cybernetic arm. So I doodled those but changed my mind about the arm.
With the coat added to the design, I fleshed out the sketch a bit more to serve as a reference for the real OC drawing. I did not detail him beyond the left arm, as I knew the legs would be identical in the overall design. I also spent a lot of time considering the mouth shape, as I wanted something that looked grim, without going for the fully threatening smile of a chimp.
Character Drawing Tips: The Core Principles
There are two things I want to mention before I move on, here. Part of how to draw a character involves understanding the basics of character design. While I have plenty of experience in this sort of thing, I always think about the process a lot as I work. In particular, I wanted to focus on shapes and posing. I find them to be the things I struggle with most, so I put more emphasis on them.
With shape, my goal is to use particular shape language to convey information about the character at a glance. I had mentioned earlier, for example, squaring his shapes to make him look sturdier. That is something I definitely want to carry through in the design.
One way to emphasize that shape language is in that pose. So, I decided to lean heavily into the image that I found so inspiring earlier. Notice the hunched posture and squared-off shape in the image.
With this inspiration in mind, it was time to adapt my character to the pose. I made sure I had my design reference sketch on the canvas as I worked, applying the design to a pose I drew, based on the reference photo.
You’ll also notice that elements of the design changed as well. I changed the foot armor and also added a patch to the shoulder. The patch relates to an organization within the story. I also bulked up the knuckles of the gauntlets and added additional details, as well.
I ended up pretty happy with the sketch, so I jumped into inking the art. For the record, I ink with the Adobe Photoshop pencil tool on documents that are around 300 dpi. If you find that interesting, let CharacterHub know you are interested in more tips and tricks like this.
How to Draw an OC - Wrapping Up
Usually, the coloring stage of how to draw an OC is a time-consuming process, especially when working from scratch. You need to account for elements of color theory to come up with palettes that work well for a character. In my case, I was fairly lucky in that I had a clear idea of the setting and the character’s role within the setting, already locking in some elements, such as the color scheme of the leotard. From there, I just had to decide on the colors for the elements that were not the leotard or the fur and skin.
Not every character design process goes so smoothly, and lots of iteration of color palettes is a normal part of character art design. Part of achieving good character design comes from practicing and trying things until they work. Sometimes you can get lucky and things will slide into place, but expect to work more than you’d expect.
Character Drawings Tips: Plan for the Future
As I finished saving the high-resolution copy of this drawing of Chauncey, I already found myself asking questions about what to do later on. What might I want to work with in the future of the design? What might I want to improve?
For what it is worth, the current design is solid but I see things I may wish to improve or change. For example, I may ditch the footwear or radically simplify it in a future version. The gauntlets could probably use another design pass as well; but, for now, the character is ready to be shared.
What To Do With a New OC?
As we’ve run through how to create a character drawing, there are plenty of points where your experiences may differ from mine, and that’s what is wonderful about creating original characters as no two creators come at a concept in the same way.
With the character art done, I can now reveal Chauncey to the world thanks to his CharacterHub character profile. Character profiles are excellent for creating a centralized location of story notes and design documents. They are also a great way to draw a character in your style. You can use gallery features and social posts to create a record of your creative process and gain valuable feedback.
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About the author
David Davis
David Davis is a cartoonist with around twenty years of experience in comics, including independent work and established IPs such as SpongeBob Squarepants. He also works as a college composition instructor and records weekly podcasts. Find out more about him at his website!
