How to Draw Game Characters for Beginners
What Does It Mean to Draw Video Games
If you're reading this article, you likely belong to the camp that believes video games are art (and they are!). To prove our point, we'll show you how video game art has striking parallels with the world of traditional and classical art.
Although game graphics and art have existed in their current form for only a few decades, they've reached an impressive level—so much so that in the coming years, they may not improve substantially. While new systems are on the horizon, what will their graphical and artistic capabilities be, especially at the end of their lifecycle?
If classical art evolved over centuries from cave paintings to the fantastic works of Monet and Van Gogh, hardware has allowed game developers to shift drawing and game design into hyperdrive.
Although video game graphics may soon plateau in terms of graphical capabilities, there has never been a better time to learn how to draw video game characters.
Design Questions That Will Bring Your Creations to Life
In some cases, creating a character can be quite simple. You might create an ordinary space marine whose sole motivation is to eliminate an alien threat. But what if your character belongs to a role-playing game and needs a backstory?
Those familiar with Dungeons & Dragons know the process of creating a character backstory. Knowing how to draw video game characters also means knowing how to ask your heroes questions:
- Where were they born?
- What did their parents do?
- Are they impulsive, calm, or quick to anger?
While these questions aren't mandatory, they can make your video game character drawings more nuanced and compelling.
How to Create a Character Question?
Creating a character question is as simple as asking "What's your name?" It can range from simple to more complex questions that reveal your character's biography and personality.
What questions should you ask when creating a character?
Some great character creation questions include:
- Where are you from?
- Do you have any siblings?
- Would you take a bullet for your friends?
- What's your favorite food?
- What's the scariest thing that has happened to you?
- How did your childhood experiences shape your character?
What Is a Character Question?
Character questions are personal questions you formulate about your character and personality.
If it helps, imagine a character like Cloud from Final Fantasy answering questions about their life. From those, you can build an understanding of their character and biography. A set of character questions allows you to describe their life.
What Should I Know About My Character?
To create compelling characters, you need to know them. Knowing your character's backstory, motives, desires, and needs allows you to bring an expert level to their development.
It's better to ask your character questions and create a comprehensive, multi-faceted, and nuanced hero than to have a one-dimensional character. Nobody likes those.
How to Draw Video Game Characters
Before we dive into how to draw video game characters, let's look at character design that has influenced video games.
What is the easiest cartoon character to draw?
Some of the easiest characters to draw are beloved cartoon heroes like Bugs Bunny, Peter Griffin, and the notorious troublemaker Bart Simpson.
A Note on Concept Art
Drawings for video games have never flourished as much as they have thanks to the talent of skilled concept artists. Concept art is a division of a video game's art department. The concept artist or artists take the game or work's concept and bring ideas to life.
Some of the most famous concept art pieces are the works of Yoji Shinkawa, an extremely talented artist who created the stunning and dark concept art for Metal Gear Solid.
All our favorite video games have iconic character drawings and concept art. Concept artists also have to ask themselves questions about game characters when redrawing others' work. Concept art is one of the highest arts in video games, alongside the game's own graphical capabilities.
Games for Character Creation
If you want to try your hand at creating video game characters, there are several fantastic games where you create your own hero. Alongside these are regular games that feature a character creation element. In both cases, you'll get to know how to draw video game characters better.
Which Game Has the Best Character Creator?
There are also games with fantastic character creators. Games with the best character creators include:
- Fallout 4
- Mass Effect
- Dragon's Dogma
- XCOM 2
- WWE Series - Create-A-Wrestler; and
- The Sims franchise
How to Create Your Own Character?
You can pick up a sketchbook and pencil or jump into your favorite game to create a rich video game persona. Fortunately, both options offer plenty of choices for the creator.
You can confidently start creating and drawing video game characters with all these thoughts in mind. To better flesh out your characters, you can "ask" design questions to get to know them, consult drawing books on Amazon, and learn how to draw characters better.
With a new generation of systems on the horizon, there's no better time to grab your pens, pencils, or drawing tablet and bring your valuable ideas to canvas.
By drawing video game characters, you not only expand your horizons but also contribute to a rich and long tradition of creating art.