I've noticed that I pretty much always have two types of characters. The nice guy provider type and the bad boy. I pretty much always draw them about the same too. There's actually a good deal of reason behind it. When someone writes a story they have the advantage of designing the characters for a specific purpose. In real life the outside doesn't always match the inside, but it gives us a vague idea normally. We look at someone with tattoos and piercings we think hmm..they probably listen to punk or party alot etc. They may not do these things at all but its what we assume. This basic assumption is crucial in writing a story. We don't have time to "get to know" these people. We need a clear and strong picture of who they are right off the bat.
It's a rough transition to go from anime to american cartooning for me. Anime characters are all kind of the same. The characters don't typically look that different from one another save a few basic characteristics like hairstyle or clothing. The men look pretty feminine which I actually think is easier to draw. I didn't want to do that this time. I wanted my guy characters outside to be a pretty strong reflection of the inside. I wanted to tell something about them through how they look.
I worked on these two pieces pretty recently so I'll use them as an example.
The top one is Alexis and the bottom one is Kelly. Some recent studies have shown that women are more attracted to men that share female characteristics in the face. Here's a couple websites that explain what I'm talking about in greater detail.
http://whyfiles.org/shorties/faces.html
http://www.unm.edu/~hebs/pubs/GangestadThornhill_2003_FacialMasculinityFA.pdf
Basically think of it this way who is more attractive to you Arnold Schwarzenager or Brad Pitt? Most women these days would say Brad Pitt. This doesn't make sense right? Shouldn't we find the manlier guy more attractive? While this can vary a little from person to person and also depend on where a woman is in her cycle. Women overall are more attracted to men that have slightly feminine features. I think maybe we think that pretty boys are going to be more sensitive and thus relate to us on a closer level. Deep down though I think all girls kind of want to be supported and looked after to some extent. So I love to play around with these two different types.
Alexis is definitely the more masculine of the two characters. He's got bigger features on his face for instance nose and ears. His face has stronger and colder expressions. He's definitely the aggressor. Even though we see something kind of soft and kind about him. He's always clean shaven, neat etc. I think he seems like the nice guy who has everything together.
Kelly on the other hand is a little more challenging. He seems a lot younger that Alexis but in reality is only a couple years younger. As we age our noses and ears get bigger and our face thins out. Think of a young teenage boy usually they have what? Clear complexions, no wrinkles, bigger eyes, smaller frame etc. A man who has smaller facial features that dont endure a lot of these changes will look younger longer.So because Kelly has a small nose, and big eyes this kind of gives him a baby face or to be more specific a pretty boy face.
You have to be careful though. I mean women like feminine guys to a certain extent but we want them to stay looking like men! Back to Brad Pitt. He's got soft small features for a man but a pretty well defined jawline that is masculine that balances him out. Johnny Depp has smooth skin and soft features, but his nose isn't too small and his face is pretty broad. I could go on but you get the point. Balance your character out if he's going to be pretty. I usually add just one or two features that I consider masculine. In kelly's case those Collin Farrel eyebrows.
My reason for making Kelly pretty is that I do want him to seem like the younger one. I want Alexis to sort of be the big brother and Kelly to be the irresponsible young gun. He's kind of a badboy and honestly I think we just are more forgiving when he's pretty. It sounds terrible but I think it's true. If he looked really tough and aggressive and did all the things I want him to do in my story the audience would probably think. "Am I supposed to feel sorry for this asshole?" I think it's just easier to sympathize and gain our trust when he's pretty attractive.I guess we sort of look at him and think..well yeah he's young and into bad stuff but he'll grow out of it right? Not that I'm supporting this in real life but again these two are just extremes. Their personalities will support my story.
Their personalities and outward appearances are polar opposites, but in the end they are just two different types of masks hiding the same general insecurities and loneliness that all humans feel. They are both jealous of each other's good qualities.
I think we can all relate to that. Its amazing how we can be so blinded by our differences that we don't see how similar we all are. This kind of part of the theme in my story.
