Uploaded January 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Learn how to about drawing and illustrating heads for children's book characters.
Drawing heads for character illustrations doesn't have to be difficult. A head is just a blob at the top of a body. The important bits are what you draw on top of the features that define the mood and emotion... the hats and clothes, glasses and beards that define the character.
Creating characters is not about accurate life drawing as a serious Artist - (capital A!).
Many characters only ever need one or two head-shapes for a whole book or series. Practice those heads and you can soon be drawing them easily. Even more complicated characters only ever need a small library of head positions, so concentrate on learning those.
In this video I discuss heads on characters drawn by great children's book illustrators and then show how you basic head construction and how you can learn draw your own heads quite quickly. There are amazon links to the books mentioned below. (I get an affiliate fee to help pay for more videos, but you pay no more.)
Subscribe to this channel on YouTube for lots more drawing videos ➡️ bit.ly/Sub2Shoo
Website shoorayner.com
music by youtube.com/cleffernotes
Everyone asks about the tools I use. Here's a video to show you what and how I use them. youtu.be/QJwjV1FKdyg
Rotring Tikky Graphic Pen
amzn.to/2hLNgQo in the UK
amzn.to/2zRyH4y in the USA
amzn.to/2E3qL08 in Canada
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:23 Alice Teniel amzn.to/3HkSYAS
00:00:35 Alice Arthur Rackham. amzn.to/3Hnocr7
00:01:22 The Queens Knickers. amzn.to/3vKQRnq
00:01:44 The Day the Crayons Quit. amzn.to/4b3vi1R
00:02:09 Supertato. amzn.to/3U4BgJE
00:02:24 Going Swimming. amzn.to/3TZI0sl
00:02:36 Where the wild things are. amzn.to/3Hm72Kx
00:04:01 One snowy Day. amzn.to/4b1SM7c
00:04:18 Little Mole amzn.to/47FrdOc
00:04:41 Greek Myths. amzn.to/3tXiola
00:05:10 Tiddler. amzn.to/3O5KUIg
00:05:37 Arthur amzn.to/3O8wS8B
00:05:51 Rupert Bear. amzn.to/48BKLEE
00:06:30 Where the wild things are Drawing
00:07:06 Turn faces into different characters
00:08:18 Differentiating characteristics
00:10:10 Different eye types
00:11:12 Different head shapes
00:12:47 Monster Boy
00:13:30 Conclusions
Learn how to about drawing and illustrating heads for children's book characters.
Drawing heads for character illustrations doesn't have to be difficult. A head is just a blob at the top of a body. The important bits are what you draw on top of the features that define the mood and emotion... the hats and clothes, glasses and beards that define the character.
Creating characters is not about accurate life drawing as a serious Artist - (capital A!).
Many characters only ever need one or two head-shapes for a whole book or series. Practice those heads and you can soon be drawing them easily. Even more complicated characters only ever need a small library of head positions, so concentrate on learning those.
In this video I discuss heads on characters drawn by great children's book illustrators and then show how you basic head construction and how you can learn draw your own heads quite quickly. There are amazon links to the books mentioned below. (I get an affiliate fee to help pay for more videos, but you pay no more.)
Subscribe to this channel on YouTube for lots more drawing videos ➡️ bit.ly/Sub2Shoo
Website shoorayner.com
music by youtube.com/cleffernotes
Everyone asks about the tools I use. Here's a video to show you what and how I use them. youtu.be/QJwjV1FKdyg
Rotring Tikky Graphic Pen
amzn.to/2hLNgQo in the UK
amzn.to/2zRyH4y in the USA
amzn.to/2E3qL08 in Canada
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:23 Alice Teniel amzn.to/3HkSYAS
00:00:35 Alice Arthur Rackham. amzn.to/3Hnocr7
00:01:22 The Queens Knickers. amzn.to/3vKQRnq
00:01:44 The Day the Crayons Quit. amzn.to/4b3vi1R
00:02:09 Supertato. amzn.to/3U4BgJE
00:02:24 Going Swimming. amzn.to/3TZI0sl
00:02:36 Where the wild things are. amzn.to/3Hm72Kx
00:04:01 One snowy Day. amzn.to/4b1SM7c
00:04:18 Little Mole amzn.to/47FrdOc
00:04:41 Greek Myths. amzn.to/3tXiola
00:05:10 Tiddler. amzn.to/3O5KUIg
00:05:37 Arthur amzn.to/3O8wS8B
00:05:51 Rupert Bear. amzn.to/48BKLEE
00:06:30 Where the wild things are Drawing
00:07:06 Turn faces into different characters
00:08:18 Differentiating characteristics
00:10:10 Different eye types
00:11:12 Different head shapes
00:12:47 Monster Boy
00:13:30 Conclusions
