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I have issues with that. Seriously. It's freaking hard for me to draw anyone under, say, 11 x_____x And then women over 30. Auuuuuuuuugh. Anyone have any advice/ways they draw people of various ages?

Also, I guess I'll ask while I'm at it...How old do you think these people are? (parentheses are just for my own reference)

female 1 (storm)
male 1 (sin archer)
male 2 (sin merc)
male 3 (guard)
male 4 (kienra)
male 5 (lunis)

With children under 11, one thing to keep in mind is proportions as we learned them are generally thrown out the window. Heads are bigger, eyes are even bigger than that, arms and legs are shorter/stubbier. And roundness. The basic proportions we learned for head size compared to the rest of the body is totally moot, too - the younger the child, the more extreme it gets, too.

As for older, that's hard to say. :'D Sharper edges, more lines on the face? Also showing their tiredness in posture can help for really old people.

The thing about sharper edges for older people only works up until, say, 50-ish. After that, skin gets kind of saggy and whatnot.

But the kids I draw end up looking like chibis =____=;; -annoyed-

I...have the same issues with drawing ages as well, so there's not much advice I can give you on that aside from look at cartoons to see what features other artists emphasize to express age. I think the Avatar/Legend of Korra series is really good at drawing different ages.

As for your characters' ages....
I think Storm looks 26.
I think sin archer looks 23.
I think sin merc looks in his early 40's.
I think guard looks 19.
I think Kienra looks 30-ish.
I think Lunis looks 15.

The second male looks like the oldest of the bunch, and the fifth looks like the youngest (did I get it right?? Do I get a prize?!)

Like Addy said, the proportions on kids are totally thrown off. Bigger head and eyes, and really skinny limbs. Their features aren't really as defined or detailed as an adults. I wouldn't worry about making them chibi-ish - they basically ARE chibis. Little weirdos.

For older adults, facial hair (for males) and sharper angles are a good indicator. Their eyes get smaller, and everything else gets larger. Even the waaay older ones can stay angular, they just have more wrinkles and such in their face. Basically the older they get, the more detailed their features become.

Child

Adult

Elderly

Couldn't find very many elderly pictures. Nobody likes old people. =/

Young can look to younger or not young enough and old can look TOO old. *Gives you a hug then*

I would say, eyes are a great way to change the age of people. And hairstyles. That helps too.

Put pig tails on anyone, and I bet it will lower the age.

... Or it could make them look like they're trying way too hard to seem young.

Older folks are difficult for a lot of people because they don't really understand how the aging will actually work, or they try too hard to keep the old look while still keeping it pretty.

Knowing the subtle details of a person's face really helps there. If you're the kind of artist that relies on the same general facial shape every time (sorry Espy, but your faces kind of all look the same to me), then you're going to have a harder time. Things like hair and clothes certainly help the picture, but what happens when you have that older character that dresses young? Those shortcuts just won't work then.

There's just so many tiny bits of anatomy in the face that we seem to forget, some practice just on that could really help. Take some time, learn which parts wrinkle first, which ones thin out, which ones start to sag. Don't be afraid of skin imperfections like variations in color. As we get older, gender gets more and more ambiguous, too, so don't fret too much about that until you get age itself down first.

... draw them from real life?

Older people are the hardest for me, children usually have rounder and smaller proportions. They also lack height and boobs so when you draw children draw them next to something for scale and people will immediately read it as a child. It is also how they dress. I learned a long time ago that innocence usually wears more clothing then evil. You put a girl in a sunday dress and well most people can see its a child as well.

other than your third they all look twentysomething

i think everyone ele has given the general sum of age though i have one little bit to add though it does not /always/ apply

younger people are less saturated skinwise, they are softer paler versions and older folks are more rich and saturated, you can see a catalog of the sun on nearly all colors of skin as a person ages

Female 1: late 20s early 30s
Male 1: 25 ish(did human years not elven years)
Male 2: 34
Male 3: 18/17
male 4: 25
male 5: 19

Hey Espy I thought this might help.
Promised you a drawing a while back, on a different account but anyway, zoom. I felt I rather post art on an account that wasn't based off a movie I watched, anymore, even if it didn't matter.

For the first one, I'd say that they are early 20s or like 18-19 years old.

For the second, around 26-30 years old.

For the third, around 45-50 years old.

For the fourth, around 25 years old.

For the fifth, around 30 years old.

For the sixth, around 20 years old. I think you are doing well with ages.

I found some infographics that might help you a lot. :D












I'm really excited about the stuff differentiating chibis from children, too. SUPER helpful.

Too long to quote XD Thanks. Most accurate of the ones so far, but yeah, I still think I need to make my older characters look...older >.> The fifth one is actually late 40-ish, but some of the details got lost in the shading and hair.

Thank youuuu. Those really help a lot.

Not a problem! I saved them all myself, since I also need to work on my age range. Pretty much everybody I draw is in the 20-30 mark, haha.

I'm pretty good at snagging handy stuff like that as I'm browsing so glad I can share. :D