Drawing Retro Anime Characters: Construction to Completion (Part 1) with David Liu

Webinar Overview

• 💡 This webinar, Part 1 of a two-part series, features artist David Liu discussing his process for drawing retro anime characters from construction to completion.
• 🎯 David Liu, creator of Space Maria and founder of EMPTY CEL LLC, blends retro aesthetics with modern storytelling in animation, games, and comics.

Foundational Sketching Process

• ✏️ David emphasizes investing time in pencil tie-downs before inking to ensure line confidence in the final artwork.
• 🚀 His process begins with rough pose layouts, focusing on broad shapes and silhouettes, then gradually adding detail and making adjustments.
• 🛠️ He utilizes a modified Clip Studio Paint colored pencil tool and employs "subtractive sketching" with a hotkey for efficient erasing and drawing.
• 🔄 The lasso tool is crucial for making fine adjustments and repositioning elements without needing to redraw details from scratch.

Constructing Characters

• 🧠 For head construction, David starts with broad shapes to define the top of the head, ears, and eye placement, rather than perfect spheres.
• 👤 He approaches facial features by starting with the bridge of the nose and spiraling outwards, using a three-point system for mouths.
• 💪 Body construction also begins with broad shapes, focusing on torso direction and keeping connections loose for flexibility, often starting from extremities for foreshortening.
• ✋ When drawing hands, he views the palm as a malleable slab and typically starts from the middle knuckle, working outwards.

Retro Anime Style & Anatomy

• ✨ Key distinctions of retro anime include specific line weights and unique facial structures, such as implied noses, which differ from modern styles.
• 📚 David stresses the importance of studying anatomy to understand foundational rules, enabling artists to stylize and know when to intentionally break those rules.
• 🔄 Learning animation techniques significantly improved his understanding of character rotations and handling anatomy from various angles.

Artist Growth & Future Session

• ✅ He advises artists to flip their canvas regularly to catch errors and realign their perception of the drawing.
• 🌱 David encourages artists to invest time in their art for personal satisfaction and continuous improvement, rather than rushing for quick social media posts.
• 🗓️ Part 2 of the webinar, scheduled for September 18, will delve into cell shading and lighting techniques to achieve a polished look.