Our Expert: Ken O'Brien

Ken O'Brien's Avatar
Ken studied at Cal Arts with a double major in art and animation, and later worked in the video game industry as a level designer for companies like WayForward Games and Activision, where his credits include Jake Long the American Dragon and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, among others. O’Brien is a longtime Apple guru, working as a personal instructor of Apple software and products after his career in video games. In 2010 O’Brien started his own art blog, LunchBagDad, which features hand-drawn and painted lunch bags he initially created for his daughters.

Step 1: Head
1. For the head, draw a circle.

2. Draw a curved vertical line of action down the center of the circle. Since Benson is looking left, the curve should face that direction.

3. Draw a horizontal eyeline across the circle. Make sure the line is two-thirds of the way up the circle.

Step 2: Face
1. For the eyes, draw two small circles bisected by the eyeline, one on each side of the line of action.

2. Draw two horizontal lines, a shorter one above a longer one, right above his eyes.

3. For the nose, draw a triangle coming from the left side of the line of action. The top point should be right between the eyes.

4. For the mouth, draw a downwardly-curved line projecting out from the left side of his nose (to our right). Add a vertical straight line at the end of the curved line.

Step 3: Body, Appendages, Clipboard and Lid
1. For the body, draw a square coming down from the head. The square should be slightly smaller than the head.

2. For the legs, draw two long, thin vertical rectangles down from the body.

3. For the feet, draw a thin horizontal triangle coming out of each leg. Each triangle should be projecting to the left. 

4. For the clipboard, draw a parallelogram that's vertically bisected by the right side of his body (the side on our left).

5. For each of his arms, draw two long, thin angled sticks. His right arm should angle down and to the left (our right), and his left arm should angle down and to the right (our left). 

6. For the lid of his head, draw a very small, thin rectangle on top of his head. It should be on the back left side of his head (the side on our right). Add a small diagonal straight line coming out of the top of it. Add a small circle on the end of that line.