People Cartooning with Markers Part 1 – Will Terrell

Will Terrell is a Professional Character and Prop Designer for Warner Bros. Animation. Follow along with Will in his 4 part series as he shows you cartooning and using markers.

The most important thing he will be demonstrating throughout this workshop is trying to have fun while keeping a sketchbook, because that’s the idea!

LESSON 2 of 4: PEOPLE SKETCHING

Materials Used:
-Strathmore 400 Series Toned Tan Sketchbook: https://www.strathmoreartist.com/draw-sketch/400-series-toned-sketch.html
-Red colored pencil

In this lesson, Will is going to start drawing his character, Tranquillina.

DOWNLOAD THE OPTIONAL REFERENCE PHOTO HERE: https://www.strathmoreartist.com/artist-studio/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/w2_referance.jpg

Will is going to start with a red colored pencil. He prefers this over graphite as graphite shows through too much when Marker is added.

Each character requires a different approach, but regardless of the character, it’s crucial to break down the overall shape of the figure into something simple. When you think about breaking a character down into large parts and structures, it makes a character easier to approach.

You should practice so much that following the rules starts to become routine and boring. At that point, you’ll start experimenting and playing with new ideas and that’s when it gets good and fun and you start to find your own style.

Learn all the rules first before you can break them. People always ask Will how he got his style. Style is what you get when you decide how you’re going to break the rules you’ve learned. Find the rules that work for you and throw out the ones you don’t need anymore. What you have left is you.

Study your reference:
Look at your subject and see what stands out to you. Character design is about exaggerating what you see, so he’s going to take the parts of Tranquillina that stand out to him and exaggerate them to make her into a character.

Check out Lesson 3 where Will beings to color Tranquillina with markers.

LESSON 3: COLORING WITH MARKERS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMO5N8cy_Jk&t=12s

LESSON 4: MARKER PAPER ILLUSTRATION: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUMZSYa1NWY

If you missed the first lesson, catch up here:
LESSON 1: KEEPING A SKETCHBOOK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEQqAWoTi9E&t=13s

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