Creating A Villian

By Kelly ´Elfzilla´ Lynch

How To Draw Villians

Hi, Everybody! I'm Kelly 'Elfzilla' Lynch, I've been an artist at Elfwood for about three years now and I would like to contribute into helping other artists who might be having some troubles drawing those dastardly villians.  I have advice in both text and drawing form.

Creating The Character

Criminals are one of the most hardest type of characters to draw, I've noticed. Yet, they are tons of fun. You need to know what kind of personality you want your villian to have. Usually, the more mysterious, the more appealing and interesting they are to the viewers. You need to think over perhaps even things you might not even use in your drawing. Such as, do they have any bad habits like cracking their knuckles or spitting? What's their favourite food? Is there something that makes him/her really angry?

Designing The Look

The face and hands are the most important in developing your character. Eyebrows and mouth are your key expression tools that are vital for how your villian should look like. Eyebrows should be more close togethor, mouth small and sour looking, as though they just finished sucking on a lemon. Eyes depend on the personality. If your character is more charming, give them sleek, feminine eyes, if not, be sure to have them small and shrewd. Or perhaps do they look more soft and inviting? Like someone in disquise and about to trick people.

Here's two designs I did of a female and male villian with little notes beside them to help you out a bit.

You need to be very careful for what colours you want to use for your villian. Let's face it, bad guys don't wear much pastels, but deep, dark and rich colours. I've written out a little colour dictionary for help on hair colours, wardrobe and such and such.

• Red - is daring, warm, loving but also means anger and blood.
• Yellow - is cheerful, happy and eyecatching.
• Blue - if a darker blue, can mean cold and night but sometimes has softer undertones.
• Green - is a colour full of life, but also means envy and money.
• Pink - is feminine and pure, not often used for villians.
• Purple - is connected to royalty and money.
• Orange - is an intelligent colour, but also warm and soft.
• Grey - is a neutral colour.
• Browns - earthy and nature.
• White - purity, innocence and virgin.
• Black - mystery, devious, evil.

Posing your villian

Putting your character into poses is one of the most fun parts! Although, many people make mistakes on how to do so. They just draw their character standing there. How is that interesting? Spice it up a little by having them with their arms crossed or on their hips, maybe sitting down with one leg over the other, making gestures with hands. There's many more ways of a villian expressing themselves, but having them stand there with their arms hanging limply at their sides...is not one of them.

Here's a little sketch I did. Which pose is more interesting? The one on the left or right?

If you said the one on the left, you're correct. I personally, myself like hunching the shoulders and arching the back.  Hunching shoulders is creating more distance between the viewer and themself, making them seem tricky and devious.

Well, that is the conclusion to my tutorial on how to draw Villians. I hope you found it useful and if you're still having troubles and would like to ask a question, please e-mail me and I'll try to help to the best of my ability.

FARP Article Guestbook Date Name Comment   15 Jun 2010 David Jones Loading... thanks i been meaning to make a villan for my superhero to fight he’ll be a ninja in black and blue 10 Sep 2011 Anon. Loading... Great tutorial! 10 Sep 2011 Anon. Loading... This helped me make a villainess! Thank you! 16 Oct 2011 Anon. Loading... great tutorial.especially helpful with pics and questons 16 Oct 2011 Anon. Loading... 23 Feb 2012 Anon. Loading... thanks the super villan is amazing 21 Jan 2013 Anon. Loading... bob 21 Jan 2013 Anon. Loading... whos this -_____- Not signed in, Add an anonymous comment to this guestbook...     Your Name: Your Mail: B I U URL ? Click here to write something! Post Message!    Private message? (Info)

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