reference image drawing templates
 

I know how to draw but I have a tough time drawing the front and side views of a character lined up perfectly. If I could get my image planes lined up perfectly I think I could make some real nice characters for my portfolio. I always draw the front first which is easy the side is what gives me trouble. Does anyone know of a tut that goes step by sstep on how to draw images lined up perfectly. Please help I want to become a great character modeler so bad, and I am tired of working on environments.

Hi banksta, here's one tut on imageplane setup.

Imageplane setup

Hi Banksta,

I'll focus on humans here but it applies to any character design.
You can use the ruler trick from the previous posters tutorial. Ctrl+R in PS. Or pen and paper.


Concept
The key to develop any view you want is to establish an exact height. Top of the hair to the bottom of the feet.
One drawing dictates the meassures for all other views.
For demo, let's use the front view as decider.

Guidelines (helpers) will help you place features and getting proportions correct in any view.


Guidelines
Drag down guidelines to the top of the hair, and to the bottom of the feet. This is the height, the framework for all other views. Now you can add as many guidelines you want typically over the eyes, bottom of nose, cheek, shoulders, elbows, hands, kneecaps etc yeah.

Drafting with pen and a ruler is the same.
I line the paper along any side of a table to help me make the helperlines as straight as possible.


I beef up the lines at the top of the hair and bottom of the feet. I find the vertical centerline that divides the character in half and make a tickmark above and below.

These will help you line the referrence planes up in Maya to the grid. Very nice but not a must.


Developing the Sideview
The tricky part is to imagine the volumes and the silhouette. The good news is it only has to match the helpers, and look good to you.

It's helpful to have one eye on referrences of humans in sideviews, and one eye on your front view to place the design elements (sidepockets, props, look of the boots etc)

When I am unsure of the volumes and natural bends in the body, I use dots / tickmarks to help visualise the outline. Then draw curves one at a time by connecting the dots.

Another good thing is you don't have to draw the arms in sideview but it's helpful to draw an ellipseoid where they connect with the body. This defines the volume of the shoulder to help you with the modeling.

Again I find the vertical center using half the head as divider. Lightly draw a straight line down to the feet guideline.


Backview
It's very rare to develop one but sometimes you want to show a difference or a design element. Same guidelines here. It's just the frontview flipped and modified slightly with everything you know about anatomy. Knee cavity and backside of the elbow place lower in the back etc

An image says more than a thousand words.

Found some examples here by the amazing Aleksi. Scroll down.
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=80353

They don't line up perfectly in the screenshots, but with a head and feet guideline it would be easy to adjust.


Front and back nicely lined up.
Concept by Creativicious
http://www.creativicious.com/

You could use graph paper to make it even easier. Just pencil in the the important matching points across each image (e.g., top of head, center point of the eye, chin, etc.) like in Alpha's photo above (but with a sideview).

thanks for all of your help.