Draw with Jazza - Creating Characters

by Josiah Brooks

Imagine, Design and Draw Your Own Characters! Draw With Jazza YouTube star Josiah Brooks breaks down an easy-to-follow method that will help you to invent and draw original characters time and time again. Whether sci-fi or steampunk, comic book heroines or tattooed action heroes, animal familiars or alien races, you will discover the limitless possibilities of creating your very own characters for comic books, cartoons, video games and more! No matter what your skill level, you can draw from concept to finished art with confidence. Jazza shows you how as he walks you through The Design Process! Discover. Learn techniques just like the pros use for developing characters--their backstory, personality and physicality; decide your drawing style; and explore and organize your inspiration. Design. Use brainstorm sketching to refine your character's persona. Use simplified lines and shapes to draw men and women, practice poses and play with body shapes, sizes, ages and outfits. Develop. Refine your best ideas by choosing features, color schemes, settings and context to reflect your end goal. Deliver. Finish your concept art with character turnarounds, expression sheets, pose variations and more to create a complete picture of your characters and their world. Author BiographyJosiah Jazza Brooks is an artist and animator best known for the educational and entertainment content on his YouTube channel Draw with Jazza. In 2012, Josiah created his channel to share his self-taught techniques for character design, illustration and animation, and the channel grew rapidly in popularity. As his community grew, he began producing stand-alone educational content and artist resources for his website, www. jazzastudios. com. - Draw With Jazza - Creating Characters By Josiah Brooks (Paperback)

Genres: Art, Drawing, Nonfiction, Creative

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 11, 2016

Reviews

[Lisa Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome!

Extremely good guide to developing unique characters. I think the focus is mainly on the process of the character development with a side of drawing. It's not a college course after all. Still, there's a lot that can be learned from these pages. Can't wait to implement the teaching.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is written in a light tone matching the youtube videos that precede it. It encourages the reader to try out different design styles and character types and adopt a professional, structured manner of working on character designs.
Personally, I still felt it was too simplistic. I skimmed through it in half an hour, and I learned very little from it, although I may occasionally refer back to it when I practice drawing.
I was also uncomfortable with the uncritical discussion of the typical stereotypes à la 'a short, heavy man is good for character type X or Y', 'a typical heroine looks like this'. Yes, this image language exists, but I find those comics and graphic novels most interesting that do not subscribe to it or that at least subvert it in some way.

Overall, this book is aimed at teenagers with an interest in drawing super hero comics, rather than at more mature readers that appreciate graphic novels as art form.

[Maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm so tired of books geared to younger artists that continue to enforce the extreme body representation in comics. I understand the "look" of the heros. I love the art of comics. But... Can we just show how to draw different body types in books like this without the negative commentary? I would love to give these younger artists an opportunity to stray from the visual archetypes, and include a larger character, without assuming that character is automatically gross/slovenly/evil.

According to this author, my active, strong, curvy body type is "extreme" and useful for "grotesque villains" or "comical characters."

For this reason alone, I would give negative stars if I could. You can get better artistic info elsewhere.

[Nicki Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered Jazza's YouTube channel recently and immediately became a fan, so naturally I wanted to grab a copy of his book. The thing I like most about this text is the way it blends some technical advice/know-how with a more general consideration of how to create a character. It's funny, well laid out, and informative, and I would definitely recommend it to someone interested in comic-style illustration/comic book creation. 4.5 stars.

[Jonathan Rhea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book,

This book has lots of useful information and inspirations for getting your ideas out of your head and onto the paper!

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the how to draw guidebooks I have read, this has to be the best one I ever read! Yes I love to draw, but I like to draw characters that I hope to write a story or comic book someday. Jazza definitely offers helpful, insightful tips of drawing different styles and developing ideas for your character. I would love to buy this book!

[jim townsend · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I pictured..

A lot of text..thought it would be more in depth. Basics are good, but it falls short of what I expected.

[Engie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This came in handy when I wanted to clean up a character. There's some good tips and techniques. Definitely not going to be a one time read/use.

[Lexi Faith Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book and it helped me hone my drawing ability

[FabioM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Questo libro è davvero ben fatto, purtroppo per ora solo in lingua INGLESE.
Spiega a fondo i dettagli tecnici e creativi che stanno dietro alla creazione di personaggi per il disegno.
Il libro è ben organizzato e cura veramente ogni dettaglio.
Allo stesso tempo è divertente e colorato... accattivamente e stimolante.
Così come nei suoi tutorial su Youtube, Jazza, è competente e professionale, senza prendersi troppo sul serio, e con una grande capacità di trasmettere passione ed entusiasmo.

[Manuel A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book and easy to study.