Ever wanted to draw Star Wars characters and vehicles just like the professional comic book artists? In this step-by-step series, Star Wars artists and illustrators show you how to draw some of the most beloved characters in the saga.
As a Gungan outcast and Jedi friend, Jar Jar Binks made his debut in The Phantom Menace. Best known for tripping, bumbling, running from danger and eating other people's food, Jar Jar has a personality -- and look -- all his own.
Star Wars illustrator Cynthia Cummens explains with these easy-to-follow steps on how to draw Jar Jar.
Steps 1-5 are to be drawn lightly with a pencil. No pen, no dark lines. Finished lines and details will come at the end.
Step One:
From his curvy, floppy ears to his egg-shaped eyes, Jar Jar is a hodge-podge of overlapping shapes of various sizes! To begin, draw an oval for his head. Dissect it with a vertical, curvy line. Also draw two horizontal lines -- these guidelines, which you eventually will erase, are used to indicate his nostrils and mouth. Towards the top of his head, lightly draw two lines to represent where you will place his eyes. The long, rounded lines on either side of his head are his ears. Draw simple lines for the neck and shoulders.
Step Two:
Draw his eyes as egg shapes. Next draw two kidney-bean shapes for nostrils. Jar Jar has a wide, expressive mouth, so draw the upper and lower lips along those the two horizontal guidelines you drew in Step 1.
Step Three:
In this step, define the shape of his shoulders. Notice I didn't feel I had to follow the exact placement of the guidelines I drew in Step 1. Instead, I wanted them to be a bit more sloped. Also draw those wavy lines along the outer edges of his ears.
Step Four:
I used a red pencil in this step as a visual aid for you to see which lines I'm referring to, but you can keep drawing with your regular pencil. As you can see, I've added the folds of his eyelids, drew in the teeth, and refined his jaw line. NOTE: Whenever you draw teeth -- on Jar Jar, Jedi Knights or in your own original characters -- keep them simple and suggestive and not too detailed.
Step Five:
I used a blue pencil to demonstrate the process in this step. I've drawn his vest, given better shape to his shoulders and tightened up those goofy ears a bit more!
Step Six:
In this step, you can see I haven't yet erased all the stray lines, and felt confident in jumping right in with ink, knowing which lines I want to keep and inking only those. Experiment with line, using different sized pens and varying pressure to create a sense of weight, texture and shadow Try using gum erasers instead of that No. 2 pencil eraser you may still be using.
Step Seven:
As you continue to ink Jar Jar, add a bit more detail to his ears and neck and then erase all the pencil marks.
Step Eight:
If you've drawn on printer paper for practice, try coloring with colored pencil (markers work nicely on printer paper, but also bleed through easily, so be sure to put a protective sheet of paper on your table first). If you used Bristol paper or illustration board, play around with washes of watercolor combined with a bit of colored pencil for detail and highlights. Or scan the inked piece and color it in Photoshop. Make it your own painting, in whatever way you want! And don't forget to send your finished work of art to Bantha Tracks!
