Welcome to the tutorial! Today I'll show you how I draw hybrid characters, a mix of humans and animals! If you're interested in the topic, I invite you to watch the video tutorial or read the article below!
Please note that the video goes into more depth on the topics and provides more examples! <3
I. 80% Human, 20% Animal Hybrids
These types of characters are more inclined towards the human side. They are characters that look entirely human but with animal details. It's common to add ears, tails, and depending on the animal: wings, horns, antennae, etc.
The details are what make the design shine, such as claws, or depending on the animal, we can even add a bit of fur, feathers, or scales on the body or clothing.
If an animal doesn't have visible ears, what I usually do is: leave the human ear or give them an elongated elf-like ear.
We can place the ears on various parts of the head; I usually place them as shown in the following image:
As you can see, I place the tails on the lower back.
II. 50-50 Characters
For these characters, in addition to adding the animal characteristics from the previous section, we're going to make the character's lower body more animalistic.
What we'll do is identify how the animal's legs are from the pelvis to the hind legs, their shape and volume, and then transfer that to the character. You can do this in a more simplified way.
NOTE: The character will be standing; this is very important to maintain humanity
a. Mermaids
The moment of truth has arrived ✨mermaids✨ with mermaids, I do the same thing of replacing the character's lower body. The first thing is to decide the length of the tail. I usually go for the following sizes, but you can choose to make the tail whatever scale you prefer! The one indicated with an arrow is the one I use most often.
Then we'll choose what type of fins we want: wavy, rigid, pointed, what their shape and scale will be. I love fins because we can make many types of combinations and place them however we want. A tip for drawing them is that the beginning of the fin is usually much narrower than its end.
I usually place fins in these areas:
✿ Lower body: On the sides of the tail, at the pelvis-tail joint, and the tip of the tail.
✿Upper body: arms, hands, ears.
I place gills on the sides of the neck or torso. To draw them, keep in mind:
✿They are curved diagonal lines, thin at the ends with more fullness in the middle, to give the illusion of relief.
✿Draw two to three lines for the gills; they go on both sides of the neck or torso and should be symmetrical.
✿You can choose whether or not to draw the nose; that's up to each artist. Even though I draw gills, I like to give characters noses.
There are many ways to draw ears:
1- human ear
2- elf ear
3- Fin with structure
4-double fin
3- fins that emerge from the facial skin (without structure)
Note: the ear fins I drew are illustrative; they can have any shape you want.
But are these the only mermaid designs that can exist? NO
We can create octopuses, squids, even jellyfish and manta rays! It's about identifying how we can unify the human with the animal, how to blend the volumes of both. For humans, it's from the pelvis, and for animals, depending on the creature, it can be from the neck, half the body – it's a matter of trial and error.
There's a mermaid-manta ray example in the video tutorial, check it out! ;)
b. A Bit More Animalistic
Another way to create 50-50 human-animal characters is to make the character's lower body even more animalistic. It works in the same way as explained earlier with mermaids:
✿ Identify the human pelvis.
✿Identify where the human torso might fit well on the animal. In most animals, the neck-shoulder area works quite well. For some animals, you'll simply have to get creative (like octopuses or jellyfish).
✿Join both volumes as if it were a puzzle, and ✨magic✨
III. 80% Animal, 20% Human Hybrids
Here we'll see more animalistic designs but with human attributes. Things they must absolutely have are:
✿ They stand on two legs.
✿ They have their clothes and props: this will give us information about the character (occupation, socio-economic status, tastes) and also add humanity.
✿ They have human expressions: to truly distinguish an animal character from a hybrid is by the face, the emotions it conveys. This will allow you to connect with the character, no matter how animalistic they look.
My tips for achieving the eye effect are:
✿ Draw human eyes, and if necessary, change the scale of the eyes so they can be seen properly.
✿Large eyes with plenty of the white area visible, as animals typically don't show much white compared to humans.
✿ Don't forget the eyebrows.
You can watch a small speed paint of this character in the video tutorial c;
a. Animal but Human Proportions
A very common way to draw these characters is to make the character completely covered in feathers, scales, or fur, depending on the animal, but at the same time, the proportions are human. They might retain the head shape and details like tails and ears, but generally, the body has a very human build in the arms, torso, and legs.
b. Characters with Animal Proportions
First of all, I identify the shape and volume of the limbs. The hind legs usually remain as similar as possible, while I try to make the front legs resemble arms but retain their animalistic feel. From there, I decide if I want to go for more animalistic or semi-human hands.
Regarding the face, we're going to try to identify the volumes to transfer them to the drawing. Identify:
✿ Head shape
✿ Eye position
✿Nose shape
✿Does it have a snout? Does it have cheeks? Does it have whiskers?
And finally, I highlighted one or several attributes that I find striking from the original animal. In this case, I wanted to emphasize the beaver's tail and its soft belly.
In the video tutorial, I do a small analysis of this design, check it out!
IV. Design
So far, we've discussed the physical traits characters can have, but now let's talk about their essence and personality, and how we can tell the character's story through their design.**\
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Pose & Physique**
Both depend on your character's personality and lifestyle.
We can tell if a character is shy, adventurous, bold, insecure, extroverted, etc., solely through their body language, aka their pose.
Their physique will depend on what type of animal they are and their lifestyle. If a character exercises frequently, it would make sense for them to be strong and broad. If your character doesn't engage in much physical activity and has a quiet occupation, it's natural for them not to have much muscle.
The Secret Formula
If you don't know how to start designing your character, I recommend using this formula:
1-What animal(s) it is.
2- Choose a couple of adjectives that describe your character.
1-What occupation they have in the universe they live in.
1- Something they like.
This will give us a good foundation from which to build the character. Of course, you can expand further later; this is just a starting point.
Let's put it into practice:
Emma
Butterfly
Bitter, pessimistic.
Works in customer service
- Her favorite time is when she gets off work
Needs a hug and another job
With her pose and expression, I wanted to convey how Emma feels at this moment in her life: frustrated and angry. With her clothing, I wanted to allude to it being a work uniform. The colors are desaturated and somber because that is her state of mind.
Another example:
Ivan
✿Fawn Pensive, reserved, loyal
✿Entourage of a prince (who is his friend)
✿He likes tranquility and silence.
✿He is quite stoic, but there are people who drive him crazy and he can't control himself (the prince)
Acknowledgments
Thank you for making it to the end! I hope you liked it. Don't forget to leave a heart and a comment; let me know what surprised or pleased you most about the tutorial.
Last reminder to watch the video tutorial, there's more information and tips that I didn't mention in the article!
Hugs and see you in another tutorial! c:
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