MECHA PILOT

IN JAPAN, GIANT ROBOTS ARE FEATURED IN VIDEO GAMES, AS FIGURINES, AND OF COURSE, ACROSS MANGA SERIES. THESE STALWARTS OF JAPANESE SCI-FI REQUIRE SKILLED PILOTS, WHO ARE FREQUENTLY THE MAIN CHARACTERS OF THE GENRE.

Fit: Think about the flight suits worn by modern-day pilots of supersonic jets, as well as athletes’ skin suits. A mecha pilot’s suit must allow for freedom of movement to access the controls and to make a quick escape, so their clothing can be loose or skin tight.

Protection: Mecha pilots’ clothing should protect their bodies from extremes, so you can incorporate life-support systems, blood-pressure regulators, or light armor into your drawings.

Connections: Add technology to your drawing. How does the pilot control the mecha? Is there a brain or neural link in the suit or headset, or are there controls in the pilot’s seat?

CHARACTER SHOWCASE: LUMINA

Lumina’s planet is under siege from alien forces. Although young, she is one of the few who can naturally communicate with the soul stones used in the control system of her planet’s defensive robots, so she was trained as a pilot from an early age.

STEP-BY-STEP: MECHA PILOT

DRAW THE PILOT IN THE COCKPIT USING HER SEAT AND DIGITAL/HOLOGRAPHIC CONTROL SYSTEM. ADD DEPTH AND DRAMA BY INCLUDING ANOTHER ROBOT IN THE DISTANCE.

I drew the figure with mechanical and colored pencils; then I scanned and colored it digitally.

Sketch lightly with a bright colored pencil.

Using a black pencil with thin lead, go over your sketch with thin, precise lines. Then scan and filter out the colors by reducing the saturation levels and increasing the contrast.

Fill in the midtone colors as your base color layer underneath the lines.

Add shadows on another layer and use the “shade”/“linear burn” setting so the colors are saturated to suit the strange lighting in the cockpit. Add glowing effects to the character’s eyes and pink stones to show they’re active; then create floating displays at her fingertips and in front of her eyes.

CYBORG WARRIOR

EVER SINCE ROBOTS WERE FIRST IMAGINED, CYBORGS HAVE PLAYED A ROLE AS WELL. HYBRIDS OF HUMANS AND ROBOTS, THEY CAN BE MOSTLY ORGANIC WITH ONLY SOME ROBOTIC LIMBS AND ENHANCEMENTS. OTHERS ARE ALMOST ENTIRELY ARTIFICIAL AND FEATURE JUST A HUMAN BRAIN INSIDE A METAL SHELL.

Materials: Metals or high-tech plastics lend a futuristic feel. Wires and sockets offer nice touches as well.

Robot or not?: Some cyborgs look almost entirely human, with skin or clothing covering up their mechanical parts, while others feature exposed technology. It’s up to you how much you want to give away!

Joints: Similar to designing armor, you need to allow for movement in all the jointed areas, so incorporate ball joints, hinges, and rotating discs into any exposed sections.

Concealed weapons: A robotic arm or leg might have space to hide a gun or blade. Design it so that a panel could lift away or fold out to reveal the weapon.

CHARACTER SHOWCASE: KIRA

Cyborg Kira was engineered as the perfect soldier, with super strength and targeting built into her eyes. However, her facility was attacked while she was being upgraded and she escaped—with some metal limbs still exposed!

STEP-BY-STEP: CYBORG WARRIOR

IMAGINE A FEMALE CYBORG ON THE RUN, SNEAKING THROUGH A WASTELAND OF RUINED BUILDINGS. POSE HER CROUCHING BEHIND A WALL, AND INCLUDE DETAILS LIKE CRACKED PLASTER AND BULLET HOLES.

I sketched with pencil, inked with fineliner pens, and colored in with markers.

Sketch your figure in pencil. Carefully ink over the pencil lines with a thicker pen for the character and a thinner pen for the background.

The final piece will feature less-defined lighting, so add colors to the main character with general lighting from above and to the right.

Add shading to the wall and bricks. It’s a solid shape, so remember to keep one side of the wall lit and the other side more in shadow. Then add warm, dark grays to the sky and ground, matching levels of contrast with the character.

INTERSTELLAR IDOL

FROM SMOOTH CROONERS AND SPARKLING DIVAS TO EDGY PUNK ROCKERS, POP STARS MAKE CROWD-PLEASING POP-CULTURE ICONS. WHEN CHOOSING THE LEAD CHARACTER FOR YOUR SCI-FI STORY, WHO COULD BE MORE CHARISMATIC THAN A POP STAR WHO’S FAMOUS THROUGHOUT THE GALAXY?

Shapes: Pop stars love to shock fans with attention-grabbing outfits that feature bold lines and silhouettes. Exaggerate their shapes with ridiculously high heels, form-fitting suits, and large collars.

Technology: Pop stars might enhance their acts by projecting holograms, using gravity-defying props, or incorporating their microphones and earpieces into elaborate hair pieces.

Materials: Draw high-tech, man-made fabrics with a futuristic feel. Think transparent panels, glowing threads, and concealed structures featuring boning or fastenings.

CHARACTER SHOWCASE: THE ANGEL OF MUSIC

Known throughout the Milky Way as “the Angel of Music,” Israfel “Izzy” Edwards styles herself accordingly, using winged headphones and anti-gravity spheres to perform incredible aerial dance routines.

STEP-BY-STEP: INTERSTELLAR IDOL

COMPOSE THIS PICTURE TO SHOW OFF THE DETAILS OF YOUR CHARACTER’S FLOWING RIBBONS AND ANTI-GRAVITY SPHERES THAT KEEP HER AFLOAT.

I drew with mechanical pencils; then I scanned and colored in the image digitally.

Sketch the figure using colored pencils.

Draw over your line art with black lead; then scan and filter out the colors by reducing the saturation levels and increasing the contrast. Tint the lines with dark purple.

Flat fill the lines with pale base colors on a layer beneath the line art.

Insert a layer between the lines and the base colors, and add soft shadows using a mixture of violets and cyans for a pearlescent effect. Light the character mostly from above, but remember that colorful stage lighting can come from many directions, so be generous with your highlights.

BOUNTY HUNTER

FOR A FUTURISTIC SCI-FI CHARACTER WHO’S GOOD AT USING A BLASTER AND TRACKING DOWN TARGETS, MAKING A LIVING AS A BOUNTY HUNTER ISN’T A BAD CHOICE!

Clothing: Bounty hunters are usually lone wolves and wear their own unique outfits—sometimes mismatched and cobbled together, and often a little damaged, from past adventures.

Well-armed: This is a dangerous career that may require venturing into unfamiliar places and fighting numerous enemies, so bounty hunters need lots of weapons and ammo on hand.

Practical elements: Add a hood or cape that’s useful for sneaking around, lots of storage bags or pockets for picking up loot, light armor over the joints and torso, and devices to track down targets.

CHARACTER SHOWCASE: FARRON

Farron is like a cat on his ninth life: He somehow always survives the most impossible shoot-outs and manages to charm his way into the scariest gambling dens for leads on his targets. He loves getting paid, but he’s a rogue with a heart who won’t let a job compromise his morals.

STEP-BY-STEP: BOUNTY HUNTER

FARRON THE BOUNTY HUNTER JUST FOUND A LEAD! DRAW HIM JUMPING INTO HIS SPACESHIP VIA THE LOADING RAMP.

I drew this image with mechanical pencils, inked it with fineliner pens, and colored it in with markers.

Sketch the figure in a medium close-up view framed by parts of the spaceship.

Ink over the pencil lines with marker-proof fineliner pens using thicker widths for the character and thinner nibs for the spaceship. Once fully dry, carefully erase the pencil lines.

Working quickly to blend, shade in the skin, keeping the paper wet and swapping out pens to achieve smooth gradients and soft highlights. Then focus on the darker parts of the outfit.

Now add the lighter areas of the image and parts of the spaceship. Go over your lines again with a black fineliner pen to keep the contrast and definition clear; then add bright highlights with a white gel pen and white colored pencil.

MECHANIC

SPACESHIPS AND ROBOTS NEED SOMEONE WHO CAN FIX THEM. ENTER THE MECHANIC! ALWAYS WILLING TO GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY, MECHANICS CARRY ALL KINDS OF COMPLEX TOOLS TO CREATE AND REPAIR A WIDE VARIETY OF MACHINES.

Protection: Mechanics typically wear aprons or overalls and may find elbow and knee pads useful for crawling under vehicles. Goggles and face masks are essential when using dangerous equipment.

Tools: For a futuristic feel, combine real-life tools with robotic arms, integrated electronic systems, ultra-thin or holographic screens, and cybernetic implants.

CHARACTER SHOWCASE: MIRABELLE

Mirabelle is petite, but her projects are big! Her desert planet is on an important trade route, so she gets plenty of work, particularly from bounty hunters like Farron (shown here).

SPACE MARINE

THESE SPACE SOLDIERS ARE THE TOUGHEST OF ALL. HIGHLY TRAINED TO USE MULTIPLE WEAPONS AND CAPABLE OF EXECUTING MANY MILITARY STRATEGIES BOTH ON- AND OFF-PLANET, SPACE MARINES ARE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING THE ENEMY MIGHT THROW THEIR WAY.

Weaponry: Start with a basic modern-day gun; then exaggerate its shapes for a sci-fi feel. You can go blocky and industrial or smooth and organic. When drawing a gun, think about its range and ammunition, and how you would hold it.

Armor: Space marines need to be well-armored but mobile. Their roles and weapon types can determine how heavy you should go: Pistol users must be light on their feet, while grenade launchers require major protection. If working in space, they need suits with life support and strong helmets.

Insignia: Soldiers use symbols to show their affiliation and rank.

CHARACTER SHOWCASE: HEKTOR

A veteran of several planetary battles, Hektor has completed all kinds of missions in the most challenging of environments. He loves to get up-close and personal with his enemies, making his weapon of choice a compact shotgun.

ESP/TELEKINESIS USER

SOMEONE WITH ESP, OR EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION, CAN HAVE PARANORMAL CAPABILITIES AND MIGHT BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE TELEPATHICALLY, MOVE OBJECTS WITH THE MIND, OR HAVE VISIONS OF THE FUTURE.

Auras: Their powers may also bring them an aura or a glow.

Poses: These characters may be able to levitate, so make sure their hair and clothing float correctly. To use their powers, they might gesture toward an object or person—practice drawing those hands!

CHARACTER SHOWCASE: DIO

Dio recently escaped from a laboratory, where she was experimented on to enhance her telekinetic powers. She is timid and frail, but when pushed too far, she lashes out with deadly psychic force.

STEP-BY-STEP: ESP/TELEKINESIS USER

TO DEMONSTRATE THIS CHARACTER’S ABILITIES, SKETCH HER FLOATING IN MID-AIR. IN THE BACKGROUND, DRAW A HAUNTING CLOSE-UP OF HER EYES.

I sketched and outlined this image with mechanical pencils; then I scanned and painted it digitally.

Sketch the figure with a light pink pencil that you can easily remove digitally.

With thin mechanical pencil lead, neatly outline the sketch. Then scan and desaturate the image to remove the pink lines, leaving only the black outlines.

For a soft, airbrushed look, control your shading by using one layer per color; then lock or preserve the transparency so that you don’t add more than necessary, starting with the skin.

Continue adding and locking layers on top for your character’s hair, bodysuit, and hospital gown. Then shade the background close-up of her face using uplighting for an eerie glow.

GALACTIC DIPLOMAT

POLITICS ARE A POPULAR STORYLINE IN ANY FUTURISTIC STORY. IN A SCI-FI WORLD, ALL KINDS OF HUMANS AND ALIENS CAN MEET TO REPRESENT THEIR VARIOUS HOME WORLDS.

Job description: Diplomacy is conducted between representatives, so consider their titles. Your characters could be elected politicians like presidents or born into leadership like royalty, or they may have worked their way to the top of the military.

Alien races: If you’re drawing a galaxy-wide event, make sure to showcase aliens with interesting body structures and outfits.

Formal clothing: Leaders making public appearances will often wear polished-looking suits, dress uniforms, or garments traditional to their countries. Consider how those shapes might translate into space-age materials, futuristic fastenings, and sharp tailoring.

CHARACTER SHOWCASE: EMPRESS ORALIS

Newly crowned Empress Oralis is young, but she’s been preparing for this role from birth. One of her first duties as ruler of her planet is making her introductory galactic broadcast—so she’s dressed to impress!

STEP-BY-STEP: GALACTIC DIPLOMAT

DRAW EMPRESS ORALIS AS SHE BROADCASTS LIVE TO THE REST OF THE GALAXY FROM HER HOLOGRAPHIC STUDIO! SHE STANDS IN FRONT OF A LECTERN, WHERE SHE CAN KEEP HER NOTES HIDDEN.

I sketched and then colored in the figure using colored pencils.

Sketch your character, exaggerating her proportions to hint at her alien origins.

On a separate sheet of paper, trace over the sketch with a light box, using colored pencils for the outlines.

Begin shading using the darkest colored pencils, leaving lots of white on the paper. Sharpen your pencils often to keep the lines neat and bold.

Layer lighter tones on top of the shadows. Use a mixture of warm and cool colors for a rich result.