Hey guys! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Today I'm discussing 'Same Face Syndrome' and whether or not it's a big deal! I'm also giving some tips on how to overcome it if you want to ^-^ I'm doing a series of speedpaints based on reference photos of unique people trying to capture their essence in my own style! *[References I used in this video are listed in the description]* .｡.:*☆
When I just came up with my two characters, they had the same face for like, years and they was REALLY problematic because one is supposed to be white and the other is supposed to be Asian!!! I feel your struggle girl
I have completely different face syndrome I'm trying to draw a comic rn and all three of my main characters look like they were drawn by a different person 😭
Many of the animes and mangas seem to have this problem, some to the point where the artist only uses two faces (one male and one female) then just changes the hair and the coloring to differentiate. A few, though, go above and beyond to make every single character face unique. I notice these tend toward a slightly more realistic style overall though.
@ガクヤシロ - basically same face with 6 different things that can "vary" the face. Luckily, these trends don't last forever and we should see some different art styles in 5 years time.
Ancient Egyptians had the worst case of same face syndrom in their art culture (at least for depiction of humans), but just because they had overly strict beauty standarts. So my personal philosophy for getting rid of culturally imposed same face syndrom is just being accepting of diversity, and openmindedness towards different looks, not just your ideal body/face. Just don't be scared of drawing a chubby character, or a crooked nose, a big forehead, knobby knees, or thin lips.
My problem is that I draw too many young and beautiful people- I rarely draw old or middle aged people, and they rarely have “flaws” like acne or “unsightly” scars.
Same here. But the video definitely helped me get an idea of what I should do to try and push myself out there. Even though I have no desire to be a professional, I would like to push myself more.
Go study the work of Osamu Tezuka -- I recommend Phoenix, even though it's unfinished. He draws a lot of butt-ugly background characters and even some ugly major characters (one in particular has a big, bumpy nose, generally explained as having nose cancer or some tumor or the like). Because there are so many unappealing characters around, his simpler and prettier characters stand out more. I can also recommend checking out Scott McCloud's work -- Understanding Comics and Making Comics -- because in one spot he does discuss how there are many different kinds of beauty, but most artists tend to tap into a very narrow band of beautiful, instead of learning how to use that variety for greater effect. Good luck with your art!
Also: My problem with flaws is that my art style doesn't mesh well with wrinkles, so if I try to draw any character with wrinkles, they really stand out, and yet it's hard for me to indicate older characters without them. Ah well. More things to learn!
i used to do that as a kid a lot. i recently found i much more enjoy drawing just regular everyday people than perfect characters. all my comic characters have wildly differing body types, race, height, etc. some have freckles, or acne, or scars, facial hair. i find when you let go of trying to draw conventionally attractive characters all the time, you start to see the beauty in things you once may have considered ugly.
Potato Rice Omg yes. Well I do do different hair if I'm designing an OC but if it's like a random character then their hair is just the same lol. (Also all my characters bangs look the same >:c)
When I was a caricature artist at a theme park, Same Face Syndrome would happen to a lot of us. What helped me a lot was drawing faces at different angles instead of just straight on. That got me really looking at the subject again rather than following a formula.
I think that if you have a simplistic enough art style, you really should differentiate the shapes in different characters. I think that if you have same face syndrome in digital art, it can be useful to draw the face on a different layer so you can copy and modify it for different emotions.
In my personal experience I began drawing monster faces, in that way you create diversity in the different shapes without the pain of imperfections. Later I started drawing imperfections, scars, not so good looking faces, etc. It may be a long path, but trust me, diversity and uniqueness will be flow so easy after practicing.
I suffered with having same face syndrome when I had a lot of ocs. Back when I only had one oc they never looked the same. So I was stuck in this hole for quite a long time. I finally feel like I getting out of it, but there still but times where I'll notice it again.
NEVER listen to idiots who think that you have to give all your female characters tiny delicate fairy features and that 'unfeminine' girls shouldn't be drawn. Ridiculous and limiting and unrealistic. It's bad when companies like Disney do it, it's a huge shame when it reflects in hobby artists' work too. GIRLS DO NOT HAVE TO BE 'PRETTY' ALL THE TIME!
I loved how the faces looked like the real thing but with your own style. One thing I noticed is that your eyes are all very similar, very round. Not complaining, just something I noticed! Love your drawings 😄
I've recently been trying to break out of same face syndrome with my own characters. It's been hard but honestly just using references and not being afraid to add 'unappealing' features has really helped out.
Yes I think that's the key! Drawing those 'unappealing' features helps make your characters unique and differentiated from one another! I think a lot of us get into the habit of drawing 'ideal' features and it's just something you learn to break out of I guess! :)
Well that's up to them I guess! If it's a hobby then it's up to that person how seriously they want to take it and whether or not they want to improve :)
Thank you so much for this video. I've been avoiding fixing my same face syndrome, because all I ever want to draw is pretty young adult women. But this video has encouraged me to try drawing different faces.
You inspire me so much! I’ve been having some mental health issues for the past 6 months and haven’t had any inspiration or motivation to create art. But watching your videos today made me get that inspiration and desire I’ve been missing for such a long time!
Oh I'm so glad this video inspired you to create art again! I'm so sorry you've been struggling with your mental health, I really hope you fully get your motivation back soon and feel much better ❤
through life drawing I found that something that really really helps in making a drawing look like the person you're drawing is capturing the small, seemingly insignificant details, such as wrinkles on the forehead or cheeks, a small mole, the lip or eye shape. So I think these translate to drawing characters as well, certain details can help a character be easily recognizable as themselves, and it helps in simplifying them as well as that detail becomes their thing. same faces usually don't have much detail variation, so i think it's something to keep in mind! sort of unrelated but something this video just helped me realize: I see a lot of artists who do those "cartoonification" drawings of people, not like caricatures, but just regular cartoon/anime style, but i find a lot of times the drawing doesn't exactly look like the person to me and i could never figure out what it was. it was the eyes. a lot of people draw the same big doe eyes on every person, especially girls, and that kinda takes away from how different the face shape or any other details are, to me.
Types of lips, face shapes, eyebrows, eyes, and noses templates. Even if you just change two of these on your "same face", you would be surprised how drastically different your characters can look.
5 років тому+19
YES a Jenna video! I love the art and the topic of discussion on it! 😊 Akira has many edges 😂 I have both issues in my work from time to time so I know that feeling
I'm so incredibly proud of you! You are so kind and so professional! The stronger jaw line looks really good on girls- I feel that it's really important to see an artist grow the way you have! All of the studdies are so so good!!! Maskes me inspired to do studies
Thank you so much, that really means a lot to me!! ❤ and yessss I love drawing stronger jawlines, I think I just need to push further now and draw even more features that are really unique!
I think it's worth pointing out that there's a difference between drawing the same face over and over and having Same Face Syndrome. If you're drawing the same face because YOU WANT TO draw the same face over and over, you're fine. Especially if you're perfectly capable of drawing other ones well. If you're drawing the same face over and over because YOU CAN'T draw other faces, THEN you have a problem. Maybe even if you're drawing just for fun, because this could be happening due to your inability to draw variety, or because you can't even see yourself drawing something different. It could also be out of fear of drawing something different, and that's no fun! And it could even be an unconscious prejudice or something rare like that that you're not even aware of.
I feel like in things like animation, same face syndrome is more common because it's more efficient; you need to be able to draw the same face from many perspectives and that takes some time to learn with each new face you draw. I think what's really important is that you can easily tell all the characters in one piece apart, however you decide to accomplish that. Contrast between character appearances is fun to look at!
3:24 I felt this statement. At one point they look really young, another they're suddenly 5 years older. The eyes change or they're taller. I can nail the hair one time but when I do it again, it's completely different.
I haven't struggled with same face syndrome for a while now, and I think it's mostly because I spent a lot of time drawing fanart for movies that are live action. So with a real human face on screen that I have to translate into my art style, that is also a unique individual in appearance, it forced me to get away from the same face. It *really* helps when you love something and it makes you want to work hard at it. Live action things also help when you're trying to develop your own style because you won't end up accidentally 'copying' or emulating the other art.
Yess that's a great tip! Drawing from life (whether it be reference photos or people in live action) is one of the best ways to diversify the faces you draw! :D
I just want to say how proud I am of you as an artist. I've been watching your videos for a while and I've seen such consistent growth out of you. Keep doing what you're doing! I can see you becoming a super successful artist!
I do have SFS! But for the time being, it’s not a big deal: I’m still learning the basics on how to draw faces and I’m slowly refining my style and skills. Once I’m comfortable enough with the general shapes I’ll try and move on from the same generic face :)
I know this stream was from awhile ago, but holy cow I forgot how good these portraits were! Thank you for making a video on this subject! I always learn a lot! ❤️
For my personal art journey , same face syndrome was a pretty strong indicator of a much bigger problem with my art in general. I was making up my designs on the go , inventing it while drawing instead of making a plan and doing some research of what i want to draw and what my goal with that particular piece was. Since i learned more about the fundamentals of design , it became much more clear to me that good art and design is not just good drawing , its a strong and defined vision of what you want to bring to the canvas. If you have that, you scan your piece very differently for things that work and things that dont work with your inital idea. Same face syndrome in my case was the result of "same approach and same old visual libary in my head". Today im making mindmaps , thinking of broader backstories , thinking of the world these characters live in , gathering reference (and so on) before i actually start to design and draw.
Love this. At the end of the day, it's up to the artist, but it'd be great to see more art that doesn't depict girl/woman characters with the typical baby-looking facial features
Does anybody else notice that it seems like pretty much every artist makes their characters pretty and attractive, and also usually skinny? If you draw somebody ugly, people probably think you're a bad artist and you can't draw. But I don't know....
I know what you mean, I do think it's a general trend in a lot of art, I guess I would say it's maybe because it's what we see a lot in media and that subconsciously influences our art? I'm not sure, but I've decided I personally want to draw some unique or not conventionally attractive looking characters in future just to change things up!
I'm not an artist and i couldn't relate to what you were discussing, but i must say i enjoyed watching you draw and listening to you talk because you have a very relaxing voice and i actually learned a lot from what you were talking about
It really does suck! And thank you so much, I will be posting a lot more now that I'm on summer break (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ p.s. I love your profile picture hahaha
These faces are absolutely fantastic. You capture each person so well and yet still with a unique style. The coloring too is gorgeous. I like that you make the point if someone isn't interested in a career in art and they don't want to change their style it really doesn't matter. If someone just enjoys drawing the same girl in different outfits and that's what they like. No problem. But if you are going to be a professional artist most jobs will require you to draw a variety of people. Of course there are some exceptions to this. In fashion design faces don't really matter, and some children's book artists tend to draw their faces very similarly, as do some greeting card artists. But in general it's good to be able to draw a variety of things, be it different faces, buildings, landscapes, ect....
For same face symptom, although I do agree with subjectivity. Some good questions to ask for any type of artist (even like a dancer or writer) it depends on what’s the point of your art? And why would you want versatility to be a goal/of value?
Finally, a helpful video that explains more than just "oh do this and do that" like, you broke things down and gave examples, talked about how sometimes same face syndrome doesn't matter, whereas some other people are like "just do this and you'll be good and won't worry anymore". Some people just want an explanation sometimes and eh, idk, I find this video personally really helpful, Thank you!
It's weird because when I see drawings done of rather odd looking faces or body types, or attempt them myself, I find them unappealing, but the longer I look at them and think of them as an actual character in a comic, the more I begin to warm up to those features, and it inspires me to make different looking characters in my own works. It's a weird phenomenon. Thanks for this video, very insightful!
I'm glad you decided to make a video on this!! I think doing the 100 heads challenge would be good for you to explore different facial features and such. I tried doing it and I think I got to about 30 heads and then I forgot about it jdjskkas
i just wanted to say ive been subscribed for probably a few years now and i binge watch ur vids every couple of months and to see the progression from then to now is amazing!! keep it up!
such a useful thinking, helped a lot! Same face syndrome had me kinda annoyed with my drawings lately but I eventually found out that stepping out my confort zone was so much fun!! :) It made my art style evolve to notice it! Thanks a lot for putting a word on it!
Even if you had references, you still managed to convey your style. I really like what you did. That’s inspiring me to use my graphic tablet more often!
Great video! I remember being something like 13 years old and I was often drawing female faces for fun. I started drawing all sorts of different faces but my friend would always have something to say about them regarding their features; eyes too wide apart, chin too short, jaw too wide, nostrils too big. And then I started trying to correct those "mistakes" and I developed the same-face syndrome.
I never really found myself with same face syndrome, but I did have trouble sometimes drawing the same character over and over again. I also had a difficulty with drawing different male body types. With female bodies I love drawing different kinds of shapes and sizes. When it come to male they all have your "average" body type. What I did to get rid of these problems(some in which I kind of still have) was to draw one character over and over again on one entire page. That definitely helped with drawing that character over again with out them looking different. With the male body I decided to do the same thing I did with the female body. Draw a shape and draw the body surrounding it. This helped a hecka lot! I still am learning and especially practicing anatomy! This video was very insperational and very great study!
I would LOVE a video on digital art tips. Like why you color things a solid color before actually coloring, how you use your layers effectively, why you choose not to sketch in black ect!!
I so agree with the drawing strong features point she makes because I have a particularly sharp shaped face with strong features but don't wish to be 'feminised' with a softer jawline because tbh I like the strong look so It kinda annoys me when people sit there winning about looking feminine because it doesn't exist! there is no - one specific type of face for any gender!
I happen to like having similar features in all faces! Took me a while to be able to make a more uniform look lol Just think where Botero would be if not for the same faces? I love your art ♥ Drawing from a photo helps as you show here, to make a different face. Wen it comes from the imagination, we tend to do our "default" face I guess. Great video!
For the longest time I've had this problem and I've only recently been able to break free from it. when learning the basics of how to draw, I went with the starting stylized route which meant I just draw until I found a style and way of drawing that looked nice and worried less about anatomy and variation in my art until much later. I think that this is how a lot of people are learning to draw these days so it's really hard to draw variations of one thing if you can't draw the first thing consistently. This is just my take on it. What I've been doing recently is breaking down a character into parts and features. Like just drawing the eyes, face, face shape, hair or body so that I could see how it was unique when compared to designs of other characters.
I sometimes have same face syndrome and the opposite. I figured that it's a good practise to put different ethnics into play to distinguish characters in the same story. What also could be a nice challenge is to take two original characters and let them react to the same situation next to each other when it comes to facial expression and to flesh out characters, e.g. character A is bailing like a baby while B trying their hardest to swallow the tears.
I enjoyed this video a lot! Thanks Jenna. I am a comic designer since 1984 still struggling against the "same face syndrome". I assume that it is a natural tendency of repeating the same pattern. It is important never give up in the search of variations in faces and bodies.
I am always afraid of having same face syndrome and the same body positions but I just looked at my art and realized that this fear has pushed me to expand artistically
I think within your art, it's not ALL the features that match up, but you have a very certain way that you draw eyes that's consistent thru all these characters (with the exception of the man in the top/middle.) I personally don't mind too much if people want to have the same face for every character, but it can be an issue for comics because you NEED to be able to tell characters apart easily for the sake of reading the story. Good video, and thank you for it!
If you're struggling drawing the same character consistently, you should make a character chart! Draw them with different expressions, and angles. That way you have something to reference back to.
When I was first learning to draw, I think I definitely had more of a same face syndrome thing going on because I started every face with the same few steps I took out of an anime drawing book I had. I've since evolved to a slightly more realistic style that allows for slightly more variety in things like noses, but I'm still working on varying eye shapes and face shapes. Eyes I can generally shift angles on, but varying shapes can be tough from time to time. Face shapes are a bit more difficult. I can usually do thin vs round faces, but jawlines tend to look funky to me if I do too much fiddling around with them. Also, I do tend to draw the same body types a lot of times... I should probably practice different body types more. My biggest current problem (actually a consistent problem at all points) is that I can't consistently draw the same face with different expressions or from different angles. A lot of my faces tend to be 3/4 view with a dull expression. This too will require more practice.
I recognize that I have same face syndrome and I’m definitely trying to change. My face shapes are very round and my eyes all have dramatic eyeliner and eyelashes. But I acknowledge that by keeping the same face, I am limiting my growth and I’m definitely planning on going in a new art direction.
i ve been there too! for quite some time my characters have started to look a little different from each and i m so happy about it. thank you for your video and for the new reference photos ;) ❤️❤️
I think most people go tough that- I'm going tough that right now but trying to hide it ( I'm fetlock_flowers on Instagram) even though my ocs look different from other people's same face syndrome because their noses are huge and my style is very "unique" but I see it and as an artist at my level it feels strange to be gong tough this phase again- but I'm going to do studies and stuff so I'll be fine
I guess i technically have same face syndrome but i draw dogs, cats and such but i always draw the same dog in stead of different breeds. Im going to start trying to draw pugs and chihuahuas and saint bernards! I think my art will start to improve more!
I have same face syndrome and I want to become a professional one day, but I think I haven’t created enough variations in my style yet, so I’m definitely trying to work on that!
The fear of same face syndrome is why I ALWAYS use reference pictures. But as you said, since I'm drawing for fun, not planning to ever make a career out of it, the only thing that matters is that I have fun and enjoy what I do. I think I'll keep that in mind whenever I get stressed that my art isn't "good enough" for my standards.
I feel like often my style is defined from my mistakes, those little mistakes i make tend to give a drawing character sometimes, and i'll use them as features rather than screw-ups. You don't always want to take yourself too seriously
Another point helps alot in this syndrome and everywhere really, is references, USE them, they are free and everywhere. Use them to draw exactly or mix and match between references.
A pet peeve of mine has been artists drawing the same face over and over again. Especially very well established and popular artists. It's so frustrating to see someone with so much talent make that mistake over and over and over.
To me, it's definitely situational and should be left up to the artist. Of course some may not be aware of the concept so it's good to have discussions like this to debate and educate ^_- Experimenting and learning from experience (whether yours or someone else's) is the only way to grow ♥ Nice video!
Hm... Now that I think about it, I'm kind of in the middle...? In a way, when I draw people, they look different but they all "fit" with each other. I'm also learning on how to make one character look the same in any angle! But guys, I don't know if this is good advice, but when you're doing a face: DOODLE. Doodling a face, matter of fact a thousand or more faces, will make different faces. Try different shapes for the faces! Example: If you normally use circles as faces, can you make the face into an oval? What kind of oval? The vertical or horizontal one? Maybe a combination of them? Plus, try to not erase the face and keep drawing more faces that are different than the first face you've drawn, it will bring out some mistakes, but that's okay! Sometimes being imperfect is the perfect thing to a person.
i was so surprised when you mentioned not being able to be consistent with a character’s face because i thought i was the only one who had that problem lmao thanks for the tips and amazing video btw!! ❤️
I’m bingeing same face syndrome videos at the moment because 3 of my main characters in my current project have the same face because they’re like triplets who share a body so I’m having fun finding ways to differentiate them and learn about same face syndrome :)
Agreed. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if you have Same Face Syndrome, nobody will come to smite you with a large hammer for it. But if you take your art seriously and want to improve, then like perspective and anatomy, it's just one of those things to work on. On the other hand, professional artists definitely need to hold themselves to a high standard. It's actually silly how often I see professional artists get away with both same face *and* same body syndrome. It's almost always a problem unique to drawing female characters, too. People want female characters to be pretty and are usually stuck with one idea of what "pretty" looks like, even while male characters get varied body and face shapes.
I find it harder to make my OCs look like the same people in each picture I do of them 😁 I find it good to figure out the personality of the character before the looks of the character.
i feel like same face and body syndrome is even greater in the social media art community. i think a lot of big artists are just afraid they will lose their followers if they varied up their art style, and its easier and quicker to draw the same thing over and over again and please their audience... what im trying to say is same face syndrome is mainly a product of the pressure of social media. artists dont have the time to properly develop their style in fear of losing their income.
Oh wow :o yeahh it seems to be a bit of a touchy subject tbh. When I was first accused ages ago of having same face syndrome I was really upset and offended, and above all, in denial. I think some people just can't take criticism well, I've definitely gotten better with it but it used to be hard for me to read comments like that. It really sucks that the fan base were like that towards you!
Jenna Drawing as a growing artist, i love criticism as it helps me grow. I’ve stopped giving constructive criticism to artists now that i know most of them can’t handle it :/
I used to have this problem too, but a teacher helped my out a lot to improve, heres what helpede me: So, I'm studyn arts and there is this event where techers hire other teachers for a week so we can learn a few new things. The class I got was about how to draw people/characters without a reference. The teacher studied a few semesters of medicine and then dropped for arts & design. She said something like "I'm sorry if somone of you gets offended by this class, but I studied medicine and there they thought me humans are different, races make them different, even from the inside". She made us draw people from different races and i learned that the skull changes depending on the race. She explained every important feature of every race that makes it different from another. And when we finished the portrait she made us exaggerate or simplify this features to see how it changed but it still felt like that specific race. She made us draw people from different ages too. At the end we made a drawing with all he had learnt, using different face feature to create our own character and i really was satsified with my work! I know it was the exact same thing you are doing in your video but i just wanted to share my expirience uwu
I think same face / body syndrome coincides with beauty standards. It's like believing all main characters have to look like supermodels or Hollywood actors. It probably stems from a lack of diversity in media.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey guys! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Today I'm discussing 'Same Face Syndrome' and whether or not it's a big deal! I'm also giving some tips on how to overcome it if you want to ^-^ I'm doing a series of speedpaints based on reference photos of unique people trying to capture their essence in my own style! *[References I used in this video are listed in the description]* .｡.:*☆
Notice me please UwU
This helped me understand how i could make my characters unique and different 😄
Thanks💜🌼
And amazing video like always 🌼
For years I had same face syndrome with self portraits, now I'm older they're starting to look different. 😁
Hello, I'm sorry if you mentioned that, but I wanted to ask what drawing program you used. (or if someone else knows)
I feel so cool now cause one of your characters has my name
I have “different art style every time I draw a character” syndrome ;-;
So me 😂 each character is distinguishable
Grace Deng omg I gotta go get diagnosed! XD
Literally me ;-;
I wish i had that syndrome ;w;
Same, but its so much more visible in my art wenn i draw from references because i eventually try to imitate the references style n stuff xD
Me: draws two different characters that end up looking like identical twins
Also me: draws my oc twice and oc looks like two different characters
'-'
Raspberry Malina lol same
Same here, I thought that was only me! lmao
I feel you
When I just came up with my two characters, they had the same face for like, years and they was REALLY problematic because one is supposed to be white and the other is supposed to be Asian!!! I feel your struggle girl
Lmao tru
I LITTERLY CANT DRAW THE SAME THING OR FACE
Well then I suggest you have fun with it for now and draw what ever you can and worry about this stuff later haha
SAME!!!! LOL😂😂
I literally change my style on every drawing 😂
That's the same problem for me ;-;
I have completely different face syndrome
I'm trying to draw a comic rn and all three of my main characters look like they were drawn by a different person 😭
Same Face Syndrome:
Basically anime.
Many of the animes and mangas seem to have this problem, some to the point where the artist only uses two faces (one male and one female) then just changes the hair and the coloring to differentiate. A few, though, go above and beyond to make every single character face unique. I notice these tend toward a slightly more realistic style overall though.
Bravo Kırinç!
@ガクヤシロ - basically same face with 6 different things that can "vary" the face. Luckily, these trends don't last forever and we should see some different art styles in 5 years time.
@@Rin-iz3jz I was thinking the same thing 😂
@@Rin-iz3jz or BNHA
Ancient Egyptians had the worst case of same face syndrom in their art culture (at least for depiction of humans), but just because they had overly strict beauty standarts.
So my personal philosophy for getting rid of culturally imposed same face syndrom is just being accepting of diversity, and openmindedness towards different looks, not just your ideal body/face.
Just don't be scared of drawing a chubby character, or a crooked nose, a big forehead, knobby knees, or thin lips.
Yesss!!
Yess that’s spot on! And that’s a really interesting point about Ancient Egyptians!
My problem is that I draw too many young and beautiful people- I rarely draw old or middle aged people, and they rarely have “flaws” like acne or “unsightly” scars.
Same here. But the video definitely helped me get an idea of what I should do to try and push myself out there. Even though I have no desire to be a professional, I would like to push myself more.
Go study the work of Osamu Tezuka -- I recommend Phoenix, even though it's unfinished. He draws a lot of butt-ugly background characters and even some ugly major characters (one in particular has a big, bumpy nose, generally explained as having nose cancer or some tumor or the like). Because there are so many unappealing characters around, his simpler and prettier characters stand out more.
I can also recommend checking out Scott McCloud's work -- Understanding Comics and Making Comics -- because in one spot he does discuss how there are many different kinds of beauty, but most artists tend to tap into a very narrow band of beautiful, instead of learning how to use that variety for greater effect.
Good luck with your art!
Also: My problem with flaws is that my art style doesn't mesh well with wrinkles, so if I try to draw any character with wrinkles, they really stand out, and yet it's hard for me to indicate older characters without them. Ah well. More things to learn!
Norge872 same I always draw beautiful pre teen girls lol
I guess cause that’s my age group idk
i used to do that as a kid a lot. i recently found i much more enjoy drawing just regular everyday people than perfect characters. all my comic characters have wildly differing body types, race, height, etc. some have freckles, or acne, or scars, facial hair. i find when you let go of trying to draw conventionally attractive characters all the time, you start to see the beauty in things you once may have considered ugly.
Same hair syndrome
Anyone? XD
omg I definitely relate to this one too hahaha
Potato Rice Omg yes. Well I do do different hair if I'm designing an OC but if it's like a random character then their hair is just the same lol. (Also all my characters bangs look the same >:c)
Hell yeah!! How about same body syndrome? I think I have all three of them help me.
Uni c: same
Potatocore Master nope I’m good
And I have the "can't even draw a face properly" Syndrome
It's a real struggle
When I was a caricature artist at a theme park, Same Face Syndrome would happen to a lot of us. What helped me a lot was drawing faces at different angles instead of just straight on. That got me really looking at the subject again rather than following a formula.
Nice 👍
I think that if you have a simplistic enough art style, you really should differentiate the shapes in different characters. I think that if you have same face syndrome in digital art, it can be useful to draw the face on a different layer so you can copy and modify it for different emotions.
That’s a really good tip! :)
@@JennaDrawing omg you actually replied :O
I'm to late :p
@@emilysolis4811 i completely forgot about this comment jesus christ
2 years ago dang
I am the DEFINITION of same face syndrome
Oof same lol
LMAO SAME
Me too :')
Really dumb, how'd you expect a face to look different when you draw it with the same traits...
Same lol
Rosi de palma! The first model you used! So glad to see you use her as a reference- she is beutiful and you captured her face very beautifully!
Yesss she is so beautiful and I loved her unique features, as soon as I saw that photo I HAD to draw her!
So that's her name.. She looked like Lady Gaga x Celine Dion and I'm diggin it..
I love Rosi de Palma too, and there are plenty of pictures of Rosi on Pinterest, perfect to draw faces you are not used to draw ^^
I hadn’t seen her before, she’s so gorgeous
In my personal experience I began drawing monster faces, in that way you create diversity in the different shapes without the pain of imperfections. Later I started drawing imperfections, scars, not so good looking faces, etc.
It may be a long path, but trust me, diversity and uniqueness will be flow so easy after practicing.
I suffered with having same face syndrome when I had a lot of ocs. Back when I only had one oc they never looked the same. So I was stuck in this hole for quite a long time. I finally feel like I getting out of it, but there still but times where I'll notice it again.
I have the opposite problem😂 If I ever draw a character, I can never draw them again
Or always copying that directly on another paper so you get a feeling for it
Same! I really want to make a comic but it's hard to repeat characters x(
NEVER listen to idiots who think that you have to give all your female characters tiny delicate fairy features and that 'unfeminine' girls shouldn't be drawn. Ridiculous and limiting and unrealistic. It's bad when companies like Disney do it, it's a huge shame when it reflects in hobby artists' work too. GIRLS DO NOT HAVE TO BE 'PRETTY' ALL THE TIME!
I loved how the faces looked like the real thing but with your own style. One thing I noticed is that your eyes are all very similar, very round. Not complaining, just something I noticed! Love your drawings 😄
Me: oooooooo i have same face syndrome
Me: *draws all the same faces just with different hair*
I've recently been trying to break out of same face syndrome with my own characters. It's been hard but honestly just using references and not being afraid to add 'unappealing' features has really helped out.
Yes I think that's the key! Drawing those 'unappealing' features helps make your characters unique and differentiated from one another! I think a lot of us get into the habit of drawing 'ideal' features and it's just something you learn to break out of I guess! :)
Ahhhh! Please do the hundred face challenge! I would love to see how you tackle it. Also-I love all the faces you drew/painted! 😊❤️
I get that some people draw for fun but I think that just because their having fun and enjoy it as a hobby why not improve?
Well that's up to them I guess! If it's a hobby then it's up to that person how seriously they want to take it and whether or not they want to improve :)
Thank you so much for this video. I've been avoiding fixing my same face syndrome, because all I ever want to draw is pretty young adult women. But this video has encouraged me to try drawing different faces.
Yes! Same, and I agree. Thanks Jenna!
Nothing wrong with drawing lots of what you like, though!
I love how you are finally uploading!
3:46 Omg, I relate to that on such a spiritual level.
You inspire me so much! I’ve been having some mental health issues for the past 6 months and haven’t had any inspiration or motivation to create art. But watching your videos today made me get that inspiration and desire I’ve been missing for such a long time!
Oh I'm so glad this video inspired you to create art again! I'm so sorry you've been struggling with your mental health, I really hope you fully get your motivation back soon and feel much better ❤
I love drawing faces... 🤓
Nice work ❤️
Lol me too, and thank you!! 💖
through life drawing I found that something that really really helps in making a drawing look like the person you're drawing is capturing the small, seemingly insignificant details, such as wrinkles on the forehead or cheeks, a small mole, the lip or eye shape. So I think these translate to drawing characters as well, certain details can help a character be easily recognizable as themselves, and it helps in simplifying them as well as that detail becomes their thing. same faces usually don't have much detail variation, so i think it's something to keep in mind!
sort of unrelated but something this video just helped me realize:
I see a lot of artists who do those "cartoonification" drawings of people, not like caricatures, but just regular cartoon/anime style, but i find a lot of times the drawing doesn't exactly look like the person to me and i could never figure out what it was. it was the eyes. a lot of people draw the same big doe eyes on every person, especially girls, and that kinda takes away from how different the face shape or any other details are, to me.
Pls do a video about the 100 faces challenge, that would be so interesting to see ☺️
Types of lips, face shapes, eyebrows, eyes, and noses templates. Even if you just change two of these on your "same face", you would be surprised how drastically different your characters can look.
YES a Jenna video! I love the art and the topic of discussion on it! 😊
Akira has many edges 😂
I have both issues in my work from time to time so I know that feeling
I'm so incredibly proud of you! You are so kind and so professional! The stronger jaw line looks really good on girls- I feel that it's really important to see an artist grow the way you have! All of the studdies are so so good!!! Maskes me inspired to do studies
Thank you so much, that really means a lot to me!! ❤ and yessss I love drawing stronger jawlines, I think I just need to push further now and draw even more features that are really unique!
I think it's worth pointing out that there's a difference between drawing the same face over and over and having Same Face Syndrome.
If you're drawing the same face because YOU WANT TO draw the same face over and over, you're fine. Especially if you're perfectly capable of drawing other ones well.
If you're drawing the same face over and over because YOU CAN'T draw other faces, THEN you have a problem. Maybe even if you're drawing just for fun, because this could be happening due to your inability to draw variety, or because you can't even see yourself drawing something different. It could also be out of fear of drawing something different, and that's no fun! And it could even be an unconscious prejudice or something rare like that that you're not even aware of.
I feel like in things like animation, same face syndrome is more common because it's more efficient; you need to be able to draw the same face from many perspectives and that takes some time to learn with each new face you draw. I think what's really important is that you can easily tell all the characters in one piece apart, however you decide to accomplish that. Contrast between character appearances is fun to look at!
Those faces were all so beautifully drawn! 😍😍 I'm feeling so inspired 💖💖
3:24 I felt this statement. At one point they look really young, another they're suddenly 5 years older. The eyes change or they're taller. I can nail the hair one time but when I do it again, it's completely different.
I haven't struggled with same face syndrome for a while now, and I think it's mostly because I spent a lot of time drawing fanart for movies that are live action. So with a real human face on screen that I have to translate into my art style, that is also a unique individual in appearance, it forced me to get away from the same face. It *really* helps when you love something and it makes you want to work hard at it. Live action things also help when you're trying to develop your own style because you won't end up accidentally 'copying' or emulating the other art.
Yess that's a great tip! Drawing from life (whether it be reference photos or people in live action) is one of the best ways to diversify the faces you draw! :D
Me: watches you drawing and talking about faces
The youtube add: *gives add on how to get a perfect face*
I just want to say how proud I am of you as an artist. I've been watching your videos for a while and I've seen such consistent growth out of you. Keep doing what you're doing! I can see you becoming a super successful artist!
Thank you so much!! 💖 I sure hope I will be someday :’)
@@JennaDrawing You've definitely got my support!
Hopefully I can get my act together soon haha. My quality of art is super inconsistent
I do have SFS! But for the time being, it’s not a big deal: I’m still learning the basics on how to draw faces and I’m slowly refining my style and skills. Once I’m comfortable enough with the general shapes I’ll try and move on from the same generic face :)
I know this stream was from awhile ago, but holy cow I forgot how good these portraits were! Thank you for making a video on this subject! I always learn a lot! ❤️
For my personal art journey , same face syndrome was a pretty strong indicator of a much bigger problem with my art in general. I was making up my designs on the go , inventing it while drawing instead of making a plan and doing some research of what i want to draw and what my goal with that particular piece was. Since i learned more about the fundamentals of design , it became much more clear to me that good art and design is not just good drawing , its a strong and defined vision of what you want to bring to the canvas. If you have that, you scan your piece very differently for things that work and things that dont work with your inital idea. Same face syndrome in my case was the result of "same approach and same old visual libary in my head". Today im making mindmaps , thinking of broader backstories , thinking of the world these characters live in , gathering reference (and so on) before i actually start to design and draw.
Love this. At the end of the day, it's up to the artist, but it'd be great to see more art that doesn't depict girl/woman characters with the typical baby-looking facial features
I love the fact that at the begging of the video you were draging the spanish actress Rossy de Palma!
Does anybody else notice that it seems like pretty much every artist makes their characters pretty and attractive, and also usually skinny? If you draw somebody ugly, people probably think you're a bad artist and you can't draw. But I don't know....
I know what you mean, I do think it's a general trend in a lot of art, I guess I would say it's maybe because it's what we see a lot in media and that subconsciously influences our art? I'm not sure, but I've decided I personally want to draw some unique or not conventionally attractive looking characters in future just to change things up!
@@JennaDrawing That's good! And maybe that will also influence other people, as well! Thanks for liking my comment!
You should have one mill subs
Thanks
Oh- whoa - your character sketches in this video are wonderful. Good job!!
Such gorgeous caricatures. Totally jealous of your commitment to the skills necessary for this level of mastery.
I'm not an artist and i couldn't relate to what you were discussing, but i must say i enjoyed watching you draw and listening to you talk because you have a very relaxing voice and i actually learned a lot from what you were talking about
I like the rounder and larger than picture eyes you do, brings out the cuteness of your style
i missed u sm! ya. same face syndrome friggin sucks. but u talking abt it makes it sound better. post more again! ♡
It really does suck! And thank you so much, I will be posting a lot more now that I'm on summer break (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ p.s. I love your profile picture hahaha
These faces are absolutely fantastic. You capture each person so well and yet still with a unique style. The coloring too is gorgeous. I like that you make the point if someone isn't interested in a career in art and they don't want to change their style it really doesn't matter. If someone just enjoys drawing the same girl in different outfits and that's what they like. No problem. But if you are going to be a professional artist most jobs will require you to draw a variety of people. Of course there are some exceptions to this. In fashion design faces don't really matter, and some children's book artists tend to draw their faces very similarly, as do some greeting card artists. But in general it's good to be able to draw a variety of things, be it different faces, buildings, landscapes, ect....
For same face symptom, although I do agree with subjectivity. Some good questions to ask for any type of artist (even like a dancer or writer) it depends on what’s the point of your art? And why would you want versatility to be a goal/of value?
Finally, a helpful video that explains more than just "oh do this and do that"
like, you broke things down and gave examples, talked about how sometimes same face syndrome doesn't matter,
whereas some other people are like "just do this and you'll be good and won't worry anymore".
Some people just want an explanation sometimes and eh, idk, I find this video personally really helpful, Thank you!
It's weird because when I see drawings done of rather odd looking faces or body types, or attempt them myself, I find them unappealing, but the longer I look at them and think of them as an actual character in a comic, the more I begin to warm up to those features, and it inspires me to make different looking characters in my own works. It's a weird phenomenon. Thanks for this video, very insightful!
I'm glad you decided to make a video on this!! I think doing the 100 heads challenge would be good for you to explore different facial features and such. I tried doing it and I think I got to about 30 heads and then I forgot about it jdjskkas
i just wanted to say ive been subscribed for probably a few years now and i binge watch ur vids every couple of months and to see the progression from then to now is amazing!! keep it up!
Jordyn Gresham Thank you so much!!! That means a lot :D
such a useful thinking, helped a lot! Same face syndrome had me kinda annoyed with my drawings lately but I eventually found out that stepping out my confort zone was so much fun!! :) It made my art style evolve to notice it! Thanks a lot for putting a word on it!
Even if you had references, you still managed to convey your style. I really like what you did. That’s inspiring me to use my graphic tablet more often!
Love how you used a Rossy De Palma photography as reference! Love her features
Great video! I remember being something like 13 years old and I was often drawing female faces for fun. I started drawing all sorts of different faces but my friend would always have something to say about them regarding their features; eyes too wide apart, chin too short, jaw too wide, nostrils too big. And then I started trying to correct those "mistakes" and I developed the same-face syndrome.
I never really found myself with same face syndrome, but I did have trouble sometimes drawing the same character over and over again. I also had a difficulty with drawing different male body types. With female bodies I love drawing different kinds of shapes and sizes. When it come to male they all have your "average" body type. What I did to get rid of these problems(some in which I kind of still have) was to draw one character over and over again on one entire page. That definitely helped with drawing that character over again with out them looking different. With the male body I decided to do the same thing I did with the female body. Draw a shape and draw the body surrounding it. This helped a hecka lot! I still am learning and especially practicing anatomy! This video was very insperational and very great study!
I would LOVE a video on digital art tips. Like why you color things a solid color before actually coloring, how you use your layers effectively, why you choose not to sketch in black ect!!
I'll definitely make a video about that soon! :D
What a delightful experience this video has been.
Thank you for your lovely comment! :)
I so agree with the drawing strong features point she makes because I have a particularly sharp shaped face with strong features but don't wish to be 'feminised' with a softer jawline because tbh I like the strong look so It kinda annoys me when people sit there winning about looking feminine because it doesn't exist! there is no - one specific type of face for any gender!
I happen to like having similar features in all faces! Took me a while to be able to make a more uniform look lol Just think where Botero would be if not for the same faces? I love your art ♥ Drawing from a photo helps as you show here, to make a different face. Wen it comes from the imagination, we tend to do our "default" face I guess. Great video!
5:46 I really like that without all the shading it's really beautiful that could be a style of it's own
For the longest time I've had this problem and I've only recently been able to break free from it. when learning the basics of how to draw, I went with the starting stylized route which meant I just draw until I found a style and way of drawing that looked nice and worried less about anatomy and variation in my art until much later. I think that this is how a lot of people are learning to draw these days so it's really hard to draw variations of one thing if you can't draw the first thing consistently. This is just my take on it. What I've been doing recently is breaking down a character into parts and features. Like just drawing the eyes, face, face shape, hair or body so that I could see how it was unique when compared to designs of other characters.
Yesss I think you're spot on!!! Fundamentals are SOOO important! :D
It was so great to see Akira and Ember love the two! Loved the video as well!!!! 💖💖💖💖💖💖
Thank you so much!!! It makes me so happy when people like my OCs! 😊❤
I sometimes have same face syndrome and the opposite. I figured that it's a good practise to put different ethnics into play to distinguish characters in the same story.
What also could be a nice challenge is to take two original characters and let them react to the same situation next to each other when it comes to facial expression and to flesh out characters, e.g. character A is bailing like a baby while B trying their hardest to swallow the tears.
I like the way you go about coloring in these faces it is very interesting to watch. Love the attention to detail as well!
I enjoyed this video a lot! Thanks Jenna. I am a comic designer since 1984 still struggling against the "same face syndrome". I assume that it is a natural tendency of repeating the same pattern. It is important never give up in the search of variations in faces and bodies.
I am always afraid of having same face syndrome and the same body positions but I just looked at my art and realized that this fear has pushed me to expand artistically
I am so glad you did this stream, it was amazing watching all this different types of faces being drawn by a good artist like you ☺️
Dude, she made so many amazing portraits in a single video. That's what I call hard work :)
I think within your art, it's not ALL the features that match up, but you have a very certain way that you draw eyes that's consistent thru all these characters (with the exception of the man in the top/middle.) I personally don't mind too much if people want to have the same face for every character, but it can be an issue for comics because you NEED to be able to tell characters apart easily for the sake of reading the story. Good video, and thank you for it!
If you're struggling drawing the same character consistently, you should make a character chart! Draw them with different expressions, and angles. That way you have something to reference back to.
When I was first learning to draw, I think I definitely had more of a same face syndrome thing going on because I started every face with the same few steps I took out of an anime drawing book I had. I've since evolved to a slightly more realistic style that allows for slightly more variety in things like noses, but I'm still working on varying eye shapes and face shapes. Eyes I can generally shift angles on, but varying shapes can be tough from time to time. Face shapes are a bit more difficult. I can usually do thin vs round faces, but jawlines tend to look funky to me if I do too much fiddling around with them. Also, I do tend to draw the same body types a lot of times... I should probably practice different body types more.
My biggest current problem (actually a consistent problem at all points) is that I can't consistently draw the same face with different expressions or from different angles. A lot of my faces tend to be 3/4 view with a dull expression. This too will require more practice.
I recognize that I have same face syndrome and I’m definitely trying to change. My face shapes are very round and my eyes all have dramatic eyeliner and eyelashes. But I acknowledge that by keeping the same face, I am limiting my growth and I’m definitely planning on going in a new art direction.
i ve been there too! for quite some time my characters have started to look a little different from each and i m so happy about it. thank you for your video and for the new reference photos ;) ❤️❤️
I'm in the phase of having same face syndrome but also lacking consistency when trying to draw the same character repetitively yonks
I think most people go tough that- I'm going tough that right now but trying to hide it ( I'm fetlock_flowers on Instagram) even though my ocs look different from other people's same face syndrome because their noses are huge and my style is very "unique" but I see it and as an artist at my level it feels strange to be gong tough this phase again- but I'm going to do studies and stuff so I'll be fine
I guess i technically have same face syndrome but i draw dogs, cats and such but i always draw the same dog in stead of different breeds. Im going to start trying to draw pugs and chihuahuas and saint bernards! I think my art will start to improve more!
I have same face syndrome and I want to become a professional one day, but I think I haven’t created enough variations in my style yet, so I’m definitely trying to work on that!
The fear of same face syndrome is why I ALWAYS use reference pictures. But as you said, since I'm drawing for fun, not planning to ever make a career out of it, the only thing that matters is that I have fun and enjoy what I do. I think I'll keep that in mind whenever I get stressed that my art isn't "good enough" for my standards.
such a chill vibe and amazing drawings. love it
I feel like often my style is defined from my mistakes, those little mistakes i make tend to give a drawing character sometimes, and i'll use them as features rather than screw-ups. You don't always want to take yourself too seriously
Another point helps alot in this syndrome and everywhere really, is references, USE them, they are free and everywhere.
Use them to draw exactly or mix and match between references.
Wow! I LOVE your art style!
A pet peeve of mine has been artists drawing the same face over and over again. Especially very well established and popular artists. It's so frustrating to see someone with so much talent make that mistake over and over and over.
To me, it's definitely situational and should be left up to the artist. Of course some may not be aware of the concept so it's good to have discussions like this to debate and educate ^_- Experimenting and learning from experience (whether yours or someone else's) is the only way to grow ♥ Nice video!
Hm... Now that I think about it, I'm kind of in the middle...?
In a way, when I draw people, they look different but they all "fit" with each other. I'm also learning on how to make one character look the same in any angle!
But guys, I don't know if this is good advice, but when you're doing a face: DOODLE.
Doodling a face, matter of fact a thousand or more faces, will make different faces. Try different shapes for the faces! Example:
If you normally use circles as faces, can you make the face into an oval? What kind of oval? The vertical or horizontal one? Maybe a combination of them?
Plus, try to not erase the face and keep drawing more faces that are different than the first face you've drawn, it will bring out some mistakes, but that's okay!
Sometimes being imperfect is the perfect thing to a person.
i was so surprised when you mentioned not being able to be consistent with a character’s face because i thought i was the only one who had that problem lmao
thanks for the tips and amazing video btw!! ❤️
I’m bingeing same face syndrome videos at the moment because 3 of my main characters in my current project have the same face because they’re like triplets who share a body so I’m having fun finding ways to differentiate them and learn about same face syndrome :)
Agreed. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if you have Same Face Syndrome, nobody will come to smite you with a large hammer for it. But if you take your art seriously and want to improve, then like perspective and anatomy, it's just one of those things to work on. On the other hand, professional artists definitely need to hold themselves to a high standard. It's actually silly how often I see professional artists get away with both same face *and* same body syndrome. It's almost always a problem unique to drawing female characters, too. People want female characters to be pretty and are usually stuck with one idea of what "pretty" looks like, even while male characters get varied body and face shapes.
I find it harder to make my OCs look like the same people in each picture I do of them 😁 I find it good to figure out the personality of the character before the looks of the character.
i feel like same face and body syndrome is even greater in the social media art community. i think a lot of big artists are just afraid they will lose their followers if they varied up their art style, and its easier and quicker to draw the same thing over and over again and please their audience... what im trying to say is same face syndrome is mainly a product of the pressure of social media. artists dont have the time to properly develop their style in fear of losing their income.
I once said politely that an artist had same face syndrome and their fan base teared me to shreds when I wasn’t even being that critical ;-;
Oh wow :o yeahh it seems to be a bit of a touchy subject tbh. When I was first accused ages ago of having same face syndrome I was really upset and offended, and above all, in denial. I think some people just can't take criticism well, I've definitely gotten better with it but it used to be hard for me to read comments like that. It really sucks that the fan base were like that towards you!
Jenna Drawing as a growing artist, i love criticism as it helps me grow. I’ve stopped giving constructive criticism to artists now that i know most of them can’t handle it :/
I used to have this problem too, but a teacher helped my out a lot to improve, heres what helpede me:
So, I'm studyn arts and there is this event where techers hire other teachers for a week so we can learn a few new things.
The class I got was about how to draw people/characters without a reference. The teacher studied a few semesters of medicine and then dropped for arts & design. She said something like "I'm sorry if somone of you gets offended by this class, but I studied medicine and there they thought me humans are different, races make them different, even from the inside". She made us draw people from different races and i learned that the skull changes depending on the race.
She explained every important feature of every race that makes it different from another. And when we finished the portrait she made us exaggerate or simplify this features to see how it changed but it still felt like that specific race. She made us draw people from different ages too.
At the end we made a drawing with all he had learnt, using different face feature to create our own character and i really was satsified with my work!
I know it was the exact same thing you are doing in your video but i just wanted to share my expirience uwu
I got exact oposite. I cannot draw two same faces. :/ Idk why. They just look different every time. A lot different.
I think same face / body syndrome coincides with beauty standards. It's like believing all main characters have to look like supermodels or Hollywood actors. It probably stems from a lack of diversity in media.
Honestly I think you might be right! That would make a lot of sense.