Female Character Design: A Guide to Designing Female Characters

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Your female characters are often an important element in your overall work, whether you're putting together an ad campaign or designing an anime or comic book design. Knowing how to properly design those characters can make a big difference in the quality of your work. As you're creating female characters, follow these steps to create stunning characters. 

How to Design Female Characters

Start by determining who your female character is and what elements you want her physical appearance to showcase. Your genre can have a big impact on what your female characters look like: for example, if you're drawing something for a romance, your characters may look very different than if you're drawing an edgy science fiction comic or other piece of work. 

The Female Face

Knowing how to draw a female face can help establish your character's femininity on paper (or on screen). Common elements of the female face that you should take into consideration may include:

• Small eyes
• Big lips
• Large, round eyes, set low in the face
• Thin, high eyebrows
• A small nose
• A thin neck

Female faces usually have an oval shape, though a rounder shape may be used to portray the character's weight or make her appear younger. You do not necessarily have to use all feminine traits in your character. Experiment with using some traditionally masculine elements, including a larger nose, thicker neck, or fuller eyebrows, to add unique personality to your female character.

The Female Body

Like the female face, the female body has several recognizable elements. When you draw the female form, you will usually have narrower shoulders and a curved waist. Where male characters are usually drawn with straighter lines, the female body usually has more curves. 

Female Body Types

As you sketch the foundation for a female body type, consider the difference between female body shapes. When drawing a female character it is important that your audience knows they are female, that doesn’t mean that they have to be super sexy or cute, but you may want to consider:

• Fat content/overall body weight. A thin character will have more visible bone structure, and the shape of the bones may be more prominent. A heavier female character, on the other hand, may have more curves.
• Weight composition. Is your character pear-shaped? Round? Where does fat accumulate on the woman's body? If it accumulates near the waist, for example, the waistline may seem to disappear, but you will still note considerable curves on the female form.
• Bust size. Keep in mind that the breasts are attached to the rest of the body. It's important to make them a cohesive part of the whole and keep them in balance with the rest of the female form. Remember that breast tissue attaches beneath the armpit. 

Clothing

Clothing can say a great deal about your character. Often, clothing will reflect part of who the character is. A head covering, for example, might reflect the character's religious background or nature. If you're putting together an anime character, you may want to consider clothing that shows off the woman's armor or specific capabilities. A billowing cloak can show a sense of style, but keep in mind that it will need to be tucked out of the way or dealt with in order to fight--and you'll need to account for it as your character moves. 

Don't forget the shoes! In female characters, the shoes can add height, transform the definition in the muscles, or give further insight into the character as a whole. 

Conclusion

As you work on how to design female characters, make sure you have the right software to support your designs and goals. Check out CorelDRAW today to learn more about how this software can help you create female characters from the convenience of your device.