It is common to see your character look perfect on the first page only to turn out completely different on the second. Their pupils are bigger, their head is smaller, their jacket is longer, and the bag they always carry keeps shifting from one shoulder to the other with each new page. Each drawing stands fine on its own, but as a series, it is no longer the same character. The secret isn’t that all the lines are copied correctly; rather, a few key design decisions need to stay the same.
Before you begin creating a scene, pick the defining traits of your character. These are elements like head shape, hairstyle, body shape, nose, posture, silhouette of their outfits, and their recurring accessories. Your character with the round head, short legs, the big long raincoat, and square bag won’t become unrecognizable just because they have a different facial expression or the angle of view changes. Too many defining features make it difficult to remember what has been decided, and the more important features are often the ones you want to focus on first, because they are the shapes most easily seen at regular page size.
It is common for characters to change shape because they are drawn from memory. The first drawing of your character standing next to a table and the second showing them standing beside a door will not have the objects in the background the same scale as before. Use simple comparisons instead. Count how many times their head can be stacked on the body, the level their elbow is, how far out their shoulders are, and how big their main prop is in comparison to their hand and torso. These proportions will work better with different drawings than the actual scale of your drawings would.
Sketch a quick character sheet before refining the sequence. Your character sheet should include the front and back and side views of the character, as well as facial expressions and two or three poses, such as a few expressions and hand gestures. Also include the clothes they are wearing, their shoes, and other props that they keep carrying around throughout the sequence. Keep the sheet with your sketchbook or keep it open in front of you while you are working on your book. If you are struggling with the shape of a certain part on the next drawing, refer to your reference character sheet, instead of making your character up with different proportions on each page.
One way to test your work is to draw your character in three different poses using only silhouette forms. Have your character do a walking, an reaching or lifting, and a sitting pose without the face or texture of the clothing. Compare how large their head is compared to their body, how wide their clothes appear, and the shape of the hair or accessories of your character. If your silhouettes all seem like different characters at first glance, try to simplify the design of your character and try the silhouette test again. Maintaining the general outline of your character is more effective than making the exact eyes, eyeliner, or line weight the same throughout the drawing.
Clothing, accessories, and even the direction that your character is facing should be checked before you finish a scene to make sure your character hasn’t changed. Is the sleeve still rolled up? Has the pocket moved to a different position? Did they tie their scarf one way instead of the other? Does your character still have the same accessory in the same hand? If you have two pages that are supposed to happen near one another in a story sequence, compare them side-by-side to see if you have changed anything. You may need to add a note of continuity on the page that you are worried about and refer to it to ensure you don’t swap costumes or room decorations, have the character suddenly grow taller or have them shift position across two spreads.
Don’t force your drawings to look too similar. You will get slight variations in appearance as you change the perspective of the view, the facial expression of the character, or how their body or hands are posed. Your goal is recognition, not tracing, as long as the general size, position, clothes, and recurring props are all still present on each page, then your character is staying consistent across the story. Try making your two finished drawings into a thumbnail and cover the face to see if the character has still been consistent.