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.
Star Wars illustrator Amy Pronovost explains with these easy-to-follow steps on how to draw Jar Jar in his biohazard suit from The Clone Wars episodes "Blue Shadow Virus" and "Mystery of a Thousand Moons."
Step One:
In the middle of your paper draw an oval for Jar Jar's head and a wavy line coming off the back of it. The wavy line simulates Jar Jar's flexible spine and will be used as an anchor point for the whole drawing. How cool is that? Make sure you leave enough room on the bottom of the page so you can draw some long Jar Jar legs.
Step Two:
Using the spine line as a guide, start to flesh out Jar Jar's shape. Use a smooth, long blobby shape for his body and curvy lines for his legs. You don't have to be too detailed here because most of the detail will be on Jar Jar's suit. The reason we draw the whole body rather than jumping right into the suit details is so we have a base to put his clothes on.
Step Three:
Oh no! Jar Jar is armless, we should fix that! Use circles, ovals and sausage shapes to draw Jar Jar's arms and hands. Jar Jar's left arm will be resting against his helmet, so don't draw it too close to his face. The helmet makes Jar Jar's eyes squish down, so draw his eyes squished against his head. That can't be too comfortable, so sketch a grimace on Jar Jar's face and round out his nose using the oval as a rough guide.
Step Four:
Now that we have Jar Jar's body shape roughed out we can start on his outfit. First thing is to grab some handy reference to work from and use it as a guide. Draw an oval around Jar Jar's face for the glass dome part of the helmet and then draw a curved line from the top of the helmet to form the back of the helmet. Under the helmet, draw the neck part of the helmet lightly.
Step Five:
Now we're ready for hands. Jar Jar's usually slender fingers are encased in some heavy gloves, so for a cartoony look make them a little fatter. Flesh out the arms a little. Note the little ripples on Jar Jar's elbow -- this suggests the folds in the suit. Little details like this can make a good drawing great. The shoulder covers of Jar Jar's suit are kind of tricky, draw the shoulder pieces as though they are draping over Jar Jar's shoulders. You can start erasing some of your earlier working lines if you find they're getting in the way. As our favorite Gungan needs to breathe, draw the breathing hoses coming from the front of his helmet.
Step Six:
Now is the time to flesh out the rest of Jar Jar's suit. Using the rough body shape as a guide, draw a line slightly around it. Add little creases to the back of Jar Jar's knees. Sadly, Jar Jar's suit doesn't fit too well, so the bottom of the suit is about at his knees. poor Jar Jar!
Step Seven:
Using your reference as a guide, add little details to the suit. The suit is grey and yellow, so draw the stripes down Jar Jar's side and leg and his left arm. We can only see the bottom of Jar Jar's right arm, so follow the shape of the arm as it bends up, drawing a kind of V shape that ends just before his wrist. Give Jar Jar some knee pads and add the ripples at Jar Jar's feet. Give Jar Jar some eyeballs and draw his ears squished into the helmet.
Step Eight:
Finish adding little details including the insignia on his chest and the arrows on his neck piece and right shoulder. The insignia is tricky to draw, so you may want to practice on another sheet of paper first, or draw very lightly so you can erase it if you make a mistake. I had to erase it three times! Clean up your sketch lines using an eraser.
Step Nine:
Using a fine liner pen, thin marker or darker pencil, draw over the cleaned up lines. If you're comfortable with it, you can add some shading on this step. I chose to do a simple outline in ink using two sizes of fine liner pens. If you're using pens and make a mistake, it's okay! A little white paint can be used to fix any stray lines.
Step Ten:
Color your masterpiece using markers, watercolors or pencil crayons or, if you prefer, scan your drawing and use the computer to color it!
See all our drawing tutorials in the Star Wars Drawing Archive
