Drawing faceclaims : Process, constraints, reference, diversity

 

Written Roleplay was the start of my drawing craze. As explained in my previous post What made me start drawing and never stop drawing , I was all about illustrating stories I'd write with other players and sharing it with them. That way, I wouldn't start from scratch and I was sure someone would be interested in seeing it. 

What I would start from would be :

1. Storytelling :
   I get my inspiration from the story built from a succession of post from different player representing the action and interactions between their characters. The narrative was collaborative so a "scene" needed at least two different player/characters to interact with each other back and forth. 
2. Context and visual cues :
   In each post written, the player describes what his character does and/or says in order for the other player to know what's going on and to respond accordingly following the narrative. At the start of the topic which would be like a scene, it's common to state the context of the interaction. Date and place along with descriptions of the setting and/or the character's mindset. The amount of information is at the appreciation of each writer but more information there is, the easier it is for the other player (and other reader) to be immersed in the story.
3. Characters :
   Before starting to write and interact with other characters, it's imperative that other players know who their character will have in front of them. When signing up into a forum and joining it's community and lore, you must first write the character sheet of your character quickly telling their background story (childhood & important events in their life), explaining his personality and describing what they look like. This character sheet has to be accepted by the administrator of the forum before you can start to play, to check if everything is in place and corresponds to the lore (and that you didn't create a pokemon in a forum about normal realistic life in the city of Los Angeles). It's the starting point of your character in their adventure.
4. Visual reference :
   Last but not least, there are plenty different ways to Roleplay but the written roleplay I'm talking about is usually played via forums (or social media).  A quick way to have that out of the way is to use an avatar linked to your account that shows up when you post that should be the portrait of your character. That way, if your character encounters another character as you would a stranger in the streets, you only know what you need to know at first glance : what they look like, what they do and say when you meet them. 

 

So, what is a Faceclaim exactly ?

The character sheet is important to establish your character, for you and your character it's the starting point of your adventure. Not every player you will encounter will have the interest or patience to read it entirety, as it is not required in order to play. Basically what the other player needs to know is only of what their own character knows about yours. Unless there is a pre established link between characters (siblings, long lasting friendships, grudges), they should basically know nothing of your character except what they look like when the characters meet.

 As the first thing other players will see of your character is their face (your avatar), it is a very important part of defining their character for many players. It's one of my favorite part when creating a character myself. Sometimes if already have a precise idea of what I want my character to look like and I go about the web, hunting for the perfect face, a bit like casting the best actor for a role I wrote. Sometimes it's the opposite, I'm directly attracted and inspired by a person and will write a character from there.Depending on the forum and universe, people will favor drawings (for example in a world where elves and orcs exist or in any existing drawn universe like mangas or comics) or pictures (for more realistic universes, or those based on existing movie or tv series). When using pictures, it's best to choose a celebrity (actor, singer, model) of whom it will be easy to find pictures and quality visual reference and in order not to have several Ryan Goslings clones interacting (except if their supposed to be twins) the face of a celebrity that's already been chosen and used to represent a certain character will be "locked" and claimed.This is why we use the term "Faceclaim" to talk about a celebrity who physically represents a fictional original character.

Character before faceclaim

When I started illustrating Roleplay scenes, the most important was to draw a situation, an interaction, most often a funny moment. It was not a matter of being faithful to the faceclaim and all the details of what the characters looked like but rather what they did or said. This way, the faceclaims where more of a guide, a cheat sheet to help me draw a character that roughly looked like how he should in terms of height, hair length and colour and most obvious features.

With time, I had many insecurities about drawing from faceclaims. One was that I would never draw as good as a picture of a real person.
However, as I looked at my drawings and illustration, I realised that most of the time, they were actually closer to the actual character than the pictures of faceclaim used in game. They might not have all the realistic details and proportions but they had personality, life. They were drawn directly as the character themselves and not a borrowed illustration repurposed to illustrate something else. I think that was the main reason my drawings were very appreciated by my fellow writers.
For my own characters, I also realised that sometimes, I didn’t imagine them exactly as the faceclaim I had chosen for them, rather the faceclaim was the closest reference in real life that I could find. So when I would draw them, I’d unconsciously stray from the reference and change or add things from my imagination to better fit the character I had created. It would strike me a lot when I tried to go back to the original faceclaim and draw from reference, the character I drew then would end up not looking like the faceclaim but not looking like my character at all.  

Drawing from reference

Even though the visual representation of a character would sometimes stray from the original faceclaim, I always used pictures of the faceclaim as reference.
At first it helped me mainly learn more about the general proportions of a human face and features as well as body proportions. Then I would try and find out the visual cues that would help me differentiate this character from another (big eyebrows, long nose, dreadlocks, shape of the beard…) That way I would simplify things for myself as well as other viewers to quickly identify the characters. In a way it’s acting like a caricature or like when different artists draw the same character. People will know you’re drawing the Joker as long as he’s got the white face and big creepy smile.

From there, when I had the base of the character and felt I could draw it in different situation from imagination (not copying a specific picture) I would try to have fun and draw the character in different situation, trying to always keep them recognisable. Often would ensue pages and pages of the same face drawn over and over again. Not the most creative thing but I have a lot of fun drawing that, it’s my go-to comfort zone kind of page.

 

The importance of faceclaims

 One of the biggest enemy of a casual artist who enjoys drawing characters is “same face syndrome”. Using reference can help you greatly to diversify, as long as you don’t use references who suffer from the very same “same-face syndrome”. Yes, if you look harder at this lineup, you will see differences as well as you will see differences in the drawings accused of having the same face syndrome. How then, to avoid that all your characters look the same and are a headache to differentiate ? It starts with choosing you faceclaim well.

In many Roleplay forums, there are plenty of Mr and Mrs Perfect and that’s completely fine and normal. When offered the choice to play any character who wouldn’t try at least once to create the most perfect human being ever ? Since faceclaims are often chosen from mainstream media, faceclaims in Roleplay forums suffer from the same issues as Hollywood casts. Lack of POC representation, faceclaims in their twenties/thirties playing characters from child to elderly, handsome actors typecast as the love interest, etc. Still, there is a big difference between Hollywood and Roleplaying (no… really ?) as Roleplaying is a game designed to entertain the players whereas media is targeted to an audience.  It’s a very interesting subject to me but I’m keeping that for a later post.

A roleplayer is free to choose any faceclaim they like and are inspired by, since it’s their character and their game. It might affect other players interests and shape the game, but the choice is still the players. From an artist’s point of view however, I think it’s important to choose wisely. As I explained earlier, there’s a step in my process where I simplify the main recognisable features of a faceclaim in order to draw my character freely and yet still keep elements from the reference. It is those main recognisable features that I focus on.

 Nose, eyebrows, lips, eyes, jaw, hair, beard...Then also comes the hair colour, straight, curly, eye colour, skin colour, body type, ethnicity, gender... The combinations are endless BUT they need at least one element to be different in order to easily differentiate a character from another. The study of a faceclaims face is as important when choosing whose face you claim as it is when drawing the face. You need to see before you can draw. 

Conclusion

 Using references is very important to learn to draw but it is also important to choose your references wisely. Diversify your reference to learn to identify and see important features and then learn to draw them. Never stop learning and never stop looking for something different. Maybe one day we’ll be able to differentiate one character from another by the sole dimple on their cheeks but before we get to that, there is plenty of work to do elsewhere.

 For more drawings from me and illustrations of what I write about, follow me on Instagram @ze_pict !  

Follow me on Steemit for more articles about drawing, roleplay, faceclaim, diversity... I like to ramble in written form about many things and I like to share and connect with other people. I'll probably post a simple process post next time, but there is a lot more I want to write about !

 Thank you for reading, don't hesitate to ask questions below or leave a comment saying hi! I’d be so glad to answer and connect a bit more with people here !

All pictures used in this post are mine (except n°6) :  

1. A lineup of comparisons between OC’s I drew and their Faceclaim 

2. Example of a character sheet I wrote for the forum : http://onceuponacurse.forumgratuit.fr/

3. Screenshot of the Tumblr : http://hoifaceclaims.tumblr.com/fcd , a faceclaim directory here to help player find the perfect face and casting for their character.

4. One of my very first roleplay drawing next to the translation of piece of text from the original roleplay exchange. The faceclaim was Evan Peters (as in AHS season 1) but my character Anthony Ownerstin had a very childish behavior so when I drew him he looked much younger. Character I created for the forum : http://coveryoureyes.forumotion.com/

5. Expression sheet (or something that looks like one) of a character I created on a Roleplay forum about Once Upon a Time. Faceclaim : Dominic Cooper (as in Tamara Drew)

6. A image that made me lol. (credit : google)

7. A remake of the previous image with : Matt Boman, Adrian Brody, Ezra Miller, Zachary Quinto and Steve Buscemi