Unlocking Creativity: Exploring Croquis for Character Design

Example of Croquis Templates by Ralph Contreras

Streamlining Character Creation: Embracing Croquis Templates

Character Design is one of my favorite things to do. In fact, I’ve probably created over 100 characters in the past few years. For my comic book, design challenges, and just for fun. but sometimes I feel like I’m spending way too much time just drawing the form. So I decided to give Croquis a try to let the creative juices flow. A Croquis is a figure template you can trace over and add a character’s costumes to.

Character created by Ralph Contreras using a Croquis Template

A few years ago I created a female Croquis for my other blog Comic Book Graphic Design. I took that template and extended it to have 3 figures. Here’s one of the characters I created using the Croquis. A Roller Derby type character with spikes. It was fun just to add the elements of the costume to the character and not have to worry about drawing the form. I traced the figure and added goggles, spikes, and a big “A” on her belt. She has a very 90’s X-Men feel, well at least to me, lol.

I’m happy with the way this character came out. I’ll have to write a short comic story with her in it or put her as a background character in one of my comic book projects. I’ve included a youtube video of me drawing over the Croquis and creating this character.

Happy Halloween 2011 – Attack of the Cybermen

Halloween-2011-Cybermen

YOU WILL BE DELETED

This year we were invited to a few Halloween parties. So I decided to make my own costume from scratch. I had been toying with the idea of being a character from Doctor Who for a few months. Originally I thought of a Dalek, but I knew I really wanted to be a Cybermen.

Looking online for ideas, I was inspired by all the great costumes people had already made. I knew I could do it. Here’s my end result. Some cardboard, duck tap, spray paint, and a lot of imagination. This is my Cyberman Costume. I even won a costume contest! – HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.