Question

A comic book is to be illustrated that tells the story of Rohan. In the morning, when he goes to school, Rohan looks like the image given below, well dressed with combed hair and ironed clothes. But by the time he returns home, like any playful young boy, he has a dishevelled look with dirt and grime all over. In summer he loves to shoot mangoes out of the tree with his catapult and during monsoon he loves to play football despite the puddles.
Create separate illustrations of the character in the following two situations:
1. Rohan shooting the mango out of the tree. (10 marks)
2. Rohan kicking the football oblivious of the muddy ground after rains. (10 marks)
Additional Instructions:
Make a line drawing using only pencils. Do not use any kind of colour.
Do not illustrate the surroundings, but only the boy and what he is physically interacting with. Do not draw the tree or the entire playground but only the catapult and immediate floor he is standing on if the composition requires it.
Evaluation criteria:

Ability to keep the character consistent
Expression and body gesture of the character
Line quality and finish of the drawing

Hint:

Before starting the final drawings, make a few quick thumbnail sketches to explore different poses and compositions for each scenario. Focus on creating a strong "line of action" — an imaginary line that runs through the character's body — to make the poses more dynamic and expressive.

Answer 1

Step 1: Set a proportion reference.
Sketch a tiny thumbnail of Rohan's head, torso, and limb proportions from the given image so both drawings stay consistent with the source character.

Step 2: Block the gesture.
For each scene, draw a single loose action line first, the aim-and-pull curve for the catapult pose and the plant-and-swing curve for the kick, before adding any body mass.

Step 3: Build form over the gesture.
Add torso, limb, and head volumes along that action line, then layer in the messy hair, loose shirt, and dirt marks, plus only the props the boy is touching (catapult, ground patch, mud splash near the ball).

Step 4: Finish the linework.
Vary line weight (heavier at overlaps and contact points, lighter elsewhere) and keep the whole sheet pencil only, no colour, no background elements.

Answer 2

A different way to plan these two drawings is to treat them as two connected frames of a tiny story about the same boy, and to test each pose with a quick silhouette check before adding any detail.

Think of the two scenes as a contrast pair on purpose: the catapult scene as a quiet, focused moment (still body, narrowed eyes, one small precise action) and the football scene as a loud, chaotic moment (full-body motion, splashing mud, an open joyful expression). Planning them as opposites from the start makes each pose read more clearly on its own.
Before adding any line detail, block each pose as a solid dark silhouette shape in a rough thumbnail. If the catapult-aiming shape and the football-kicking shape are each recognisable purely from their outline, the pose is strong enough to carry the final line drawing; if the silhouette looks like a person just standing, the pose needs to be pushed further (a lower crouch for aiming, a higher kicking leg for the football action).
Only after the silhouette reads clearly should the face, hair, and clothing be added, checking each time against the reference image so the character never drifts from Rohan's established look.
As a last check before finishing, run through a short list: does the character still look like Rohan, does the pose clearly show what he is doing, and is the line clean and confidently drawn without extra background clutter.

Working this way keeps both illustrations tied together as one visual story while making sure each pose is strong enough to be read at a glance.