Master the Center Line - Drawing Orcs (Why Your Characters Look Flat)
1,349Check out my Free Illustration Mini Workshop where I share my journey from Amateur to Pro: https://www.thedrawingcodex.com/illustrationworkshop
You will get some simple advice on how to get more detail and polish in your work. How to think about composition. And my thoughts on how to prepare for professional work.
When you understand dimensionality and form, rendering becomes logical instead of guesswork—it all starts with understanding the Center Line.
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One of the biggest challenges when learning to draw is making characters feel truly dimensional instead of flat. Even with good construction, drawings often lack that solid, three-dimensional quality.
This is a real-time, 52-minute drawing demo where we go through:
• The concept of the center line and how it relates to dimensionality
• Why I like using orcs and fantasy creatures to practice this
• How the center line tracks through different facial features
• Building features symmetrically from the center out
• Some exercises you can try to practice this yourself
I show you how understanding one principle—that the center line is the profile—can transform your character construction. I use orcs to demonstrate because their exaggerated features make it impossible to fake dimensionality.
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00:00 Intro
01:15 Welcome
01:58 The Plan...
02:43 Lets Understand The Centre Line
07:21 Centre Line = The Profile
15:56 Why Drawing OUT from the Centre is key to Easy Solidarity
26:08 Construction makes Rendering Easier
29:38 Let's Put it Together - Drawing Orks
39:38 Dealing With Exaggerated Features
49:58 Final Thoughts
52:05 Check This Out!
Tools for Today:
Drawing on a Huion Kamvas Pro 19 (4K) tablet in Photoshop with basic round brush. You can follow along with any drawing tool—the concepts apply to both digital and traditional.
Happy Drawing!
Tim Mcburnie:
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