Sketching 101: How to draw minimum viable characters for storyboards (MVC’s)

What is a minimum viable character? Basically the simplest character you can make, which is still viable for the purpose of storyboarding.

Okay, but what does viable mean? In my experience, an MVC should be able to do three things: 1) be flexible so you can create variations, 2) act out something, 3) show emotion. They don’t have to be pretty, or even aesthetic to get the job done.

How to draw MVC’s

Basically, pick a simple base shape. Glue a facial expression on top. Give it arms and legs. Done. How do you know which base shape you want to use? Well for tall, thin guys.. use a tall, thin shape. For wider, more hefty guys… use a bulky, heavy shape. For women, use an hourglass shape, or simply two triangles.

Differentiating your characters

It’s easy to create variation when the entire character essentially IS the base shape. Just modify the shape so that it is taller, shorter, bulkier, thinner, and you are modifying the entire character. Here’s a bunch of examples from the whiteboard:

It’s easy to draw variations of characters simply by changing the base shape to more bulky, slim, tall, fat or thin .. and of course, by adding silly hats and hairdo’s! :o)

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I hope you find this little article useful, and I hope you have a great weekend :o)

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