OC Drawing Exercises to Try

Many artists create their own characters either for fun or as tools to tell a story. However, original characters can also be used as a way to exercise one’s drawing and writing skills. Whether it be design challenges, attempting a type of character outside their comfort zone, or making projects more pleasant to work on that would otherwise be a slog.

These little challenges and exercises are meant to help flesh out characters and improve artistic skills. Trying new things or attempting exercises in your medium of choice has plenty of benefits for everyone in general, especially for the creative fields where you are constantly trying to improve. But when drawing boxes at a variety of angles isn't doing it for you, then these OC-themed exercises should hopefully help make your journey easier to embark.

Alternate Outfits

Most characters have a main outfit that they wear in all their appearances. This is a staple of cartoons since people wanted to tell stories in the form of drawings. But sometimes, their outfit is not appropriate for the weather or the situation, and they need a different set of clothes to match. After all, wearing short sleeves and shorts in the Winter would look strange, unless the character themselves is one of those people who prefer to wear light clothing in cold weather as a quirk.

Giving them an extra outfit or two for different scenarios can be a fun way to make new character designs without making new characters entirely. Plus, if you wish to make a visual-based story with them, the extra detail will add to the story and give some more insights about the character. Even intentionally giving them inappropriate clothing for the scenario they’re in can flesh out the character and give them a touch of personality that makes them feel alive.

Expression Sheets

Expression sheets are a common thing for character designs that show how they emote. It makes for a good reference sheet when you want to draw your character expressing an emotion, or it could make for good practice in drawing expressions in general.

There are many templates and charts you can draw inspiration from when making an expression sheet. However, a good start are these expressions:

• Neutral/default

• Happy

• Sad

• Angry

These four expressions are common and make for a good start. While people don’t just feel happy, sad, or angry, any other expressions you wish to add can be added on once you get the basics down. Perhaps they get envious, maybe they feel obsessive or excited. They could also get depressed. The possibilities are endless once you get your start!

Model Sheets

Another form of design reference that doubles as a good exercise is creating model sheets. Model sheets, known as “ref sheets” in some circles, are images that showcase a character design in at least two different angles. The standard are the front and the side, but you will often also see a ¾ view and the back. They are useful for any medium where someone may need to know what the character looks like in several angles.

The creation of a model sheet opens up plenty more projects you can do with your OC. You can make a CGI model, animate a walk cycle, or just use it as a way to make future illustrations about them easier to draw. Model sheets are also perfect should you ever wish to commission an artist. Or you can just draw a model sheet to practice drawing a character in different angles while keeping their features aligned; a collection of skills easily transferable to other areas of art.

Short Comics

Making short sequential images about your OC doing something or interacting with their world is a more involved project that requires both writing and drawing. A comic can be as short as four images, but you can also make them longer.

There are many possibilities you can do with comics. Perhaps you can have them shapeshift, shoplift a candy bar, or you can have them slip on a banana peel. Animation is a different version of this, although what is considered “simple” or “short” will be different for animation as it is a different medium requiring a different set of skills.

Mimicking a Pose Reference

Finally, you can find a photo of someone or a picture of a pose and draw closely to the reference. This could be a great way to practice skills such as perspective and foreshortening. It could help make illustrations more dynamic, and you will have a better idea of how the human body moves. Plus, sometimes, you just need a reference if you’re short on ideas.

Conclusion

These are only some of the drawing exercises you can do with your OC. There are a variety of other things you can do, but getting a strong foundation on your characters’ designs and actually drawing them is a great place to start. Plus, you will thank yourself for making the outfits, expressions, and model sheets. They give you a great frame of reference for future illustrations about them!