The colorful characters that fill the pages of graphic novels and children's books sprang from the pencils of an artist. That artist understood several key factors that go into the development of characters, including having a great knowledge of the character herself and excellent drawing skills. Both of these qualities are ones that you also can develop to draw characters more effectively.
Other Artists
It's common practice in many art school programs for student artists to study and re-create the work of other artists. This technique not only hones their art skills, but also assists them in developing their own artistic vision. By drawing the characters created by artists like James Gurney ("Dinotopia") or James O'Barr ("The Crow"), these aspiring artists gain a better understanding of how the look of a character serves to advance a story. Additionally, many of these artists, including Gurney, have written books about technique. Reading these books will help foster an understanding of how these drawing skills develop as well.
Study the Source Material
Most of the time, an illustrator on a project has access to the written material on which the character was based. Within each book to be illustrated lies a description of the major characters. For example, the illustrator tasked with drawing J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter would learn from the text that Harry had dark, unruly hair, big glasses and a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead; these features made it into illustrations of the character on book jackets. When trying to draw the character, the artist should read through the source material several times and take notes about what the character looks like and how he dresses. The artist will then add these elements to the drawing as she creates the character.
Practice
Some of learning draw characters has much to do with the amount of practice an artist engages in when not creating a specific character. An artist who aspires to draw characters should draw every day from life and in particular gain experience drawing all sorts of people. The artist should fill his sketchbook with their faces, posture and the way their clothes look. Not only will this keep his skills fresh, it will also become a sourcebook for later character drawings.
Experiment
In addition to filling her sketchbook with drawings from life, the artist should be working in her off time drawing characters. Getting books like "Sketchbook for the Artist" or "The Fantasy Art Bible" and doing some of the exercises will teach her the components that go into drawing characters. For example, one exercise might ask her to draw a lizard's head on a human body, while another might ask her to create an anthropomorphic being or humanoid robot. Exercises like these ask the artist to stretch her imagination a bit to draw these unrealistic characters realistically.
