Before you ever start making a character you should have a plot in mind. Your characters will interact with one another as they follow the plot, changing the story but never getting off of the plot itself. If you don't know what you want your characters to do then you'll get stuck half way in a writer's block for comics. It's good to have a short summery of what's going on, for example: “The demon world has become linked to the human world and the demons are getting free which has one demon prince in a mood for all his subjects are running away to terrorize the human world. Blah blah blah, so on and so forth”.

Once you have your idea it's time to start creating characters for your story. Of course you probably have your main character in mind, but before you start drawing the comic, think (and draw) out your character more indeptly and also side characters that he/she will meet along the way. It's best to think of how you want thier personality to be and choose facial features reflecting that personality such as eyes, eye-brows, and mouths.



Got it decided? good. Now it's time to put it all together and come up with a face. It's easier to start off simple, try out different designs until you find one that you think represents your character. Everyone has different ways of drawing but one thing is always the same, the head always starts out as a circle. The head and face just go on over that circle.



Keep in mind personality as you draw.



After you find a face you like, it's time to draw the body to the character. You need an outline of the body before you can add clothes and other details. The best thing to remember, other than the personality of your character, is that everybody's body is shapes. Everything is shapes, whether is be human, animal, or some anthro.



Also keep in mind that though the body is shapes, it also is different depending on the person and the sex of that person. Females tend to have smaller waists, bigger hips, smaller shoulders, and of course the “jugs”. Males have a pretty much straight body frame with thicker legs and wider shoulders. Of course there is always the ‘androgonous’ male that has many female drawn characteristics lacking in only the “melon” department.

Once you have the outline, it's time to draw in the details. Remember the personality of your character while adding clothes. You don't want bright and flashy clothes on someone that will have a badass personality and vice versa. Clothes and the color of the clothes often describe the character as much as facial and body features do.
Simple at best, simple is best. Remember not to over-load your character with a bunch of useless designs for his clothes because they will get hard to draw over and over again. You only need a few good designs to get the point across.

Now, remember my plot with the demonic prince? Let's see how he turned out.



Simple in black and white but it gets the point across. His emotionless face sets the tone that he isn't one to joke around, the sword can tell us that he is probably good with it or maybe he is ready to fight. Wings, ears, and eye-brows show he isn't human. Something seems to be off,though, doesn't it? Why would a demonic prince where a crucifix? There certainly seems to be more than meets the eye with this fellow, no?

But back to topic. We now have a character. But a single character can not carry the story on his own. Well, normally they can't. So now you can go back and design side characters. Remember that there is no such thing as a mistake when it comes to creating someone. If thier face doesn't quite fit the personality doesn't mean you can just throw it away. You never know, that face could be a perfect side character or a main character for your next comic!