Not exactly, but kind of; it’s a mix of reference pictures — which consist of anything from pictures I’ve taken to pictures from WWII to pictures from advertisements or articles that are completely out of context, etc. — and things I see in real life and what poses I see in my head that I want them to take.
And the faces of each of the characters, well, they come from “casting,” which is also a bit of a mix; I know what personalities and backstories I want for my characters, so then it’s a bit of figuring out what they’d look like (young, strong, serious, angry, naive, etc. etc. etc.) then either just coming up with something that works or very often finding faces from real life and photos and kind of mixing and matching. J.T. in this case looks a bit of a mix between a particular drummer and a particular filmmaker, with glasses and a couple of features that just seem to work. And I’ve found when attempting to draw the same character but not having an exact model to pose and use, that somewhere between using reference and just drawing from memory a face seems to click and take shape, so that it’s no longer like the reference but it’s own thing.
I'm an artist writing and drawing a graphic novel that takes place during the Second World War. On this blog I will display the sketches I do in researching and preparing for the book.
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WWII GIs 
Do you have a model for these sketches? Very good!
Thank you!
Not exactly, but kind of; it’s a mix of reference pictures — which consist of anything from pictures I’ve taken to pictures from WWII to pictures from advertisements or articles that are completely out of context, etc. — and things I see in real life and what poses I see in my head that I want them to take.
And the faces of each of the characters, well, they come from “casting,” which is also a bit of a mix; I know what personalities and backstories I want for my characters, so then it’s a bit of figuring out what they’d look like (young, strong, serious, angry, naive, etc. etc. etc.) then either just coming up with something that works or very often finding faces from real life and photos and kind of mixing and matching. J.T. in this case looks a bit of a mix between a particular drummer and a particular filmmaker, with glasses and a couple of features that just seem to work. And I’ve found when attempting to draw the same character but not having an exact model to pose and use, that somewhere between using reference and just drawing from memory a face seems to click and take shape, so that it’s no longer like the reference but it’s own thing.
It takes a true artist to do that.