Changeable Character Template Whiteboard

one of the hardest things about writing/ drawing comics has to be character creation, a dodgy nose here and a bad hair cut there can make a budding comic book enthusiast, head desk over and over again. this problem usually sees people adopt pencils to draw there characters which leads to mistakes with bulky erasers and gray smudges (not to mention the excessive paper work required to adopt a pencil) on what would other wise be the marvelous Pi-man "da da DA DAAAAAAAH"

having thrown a mountain of paper at my rubbish bin, i realized there had to be a better way. a way to draw on an image without leaving gray smudge marks and or rubbing out the wrong things
hence the template board was born (unfortunately not from radioactive waste)
its quick and simple, made from items witch should just be laying around (that's right FREE!!!!)

Step 1: Materials & Tools

MATERIALS
- Thin cardboard
- Thick cardboard
- Paper
- Plastic folder sleeve

TOOLS
- Whiteboard marker
- Tape
- Scissors or hobby knife
- Ruler

Step 2: The Frame

place the plastic folder sleeve a corner on the thin cardboard, and measure out from the side and the top 4cm (1.6 inches)(**note** do not include the plastic piece which holds the sleeve into the folder) (image 1)

cut along marked line, then trace onto the thick cardboard and cut out (the thick cardboard is optional, you can use two pieces of thin card however the finished whiteboard will be allot weaker)

on the thin piece of cardboard (this will be your frame) mark lines 3 cm (1.2 inches) in from all sides (**note** it doesn't matter which side of your cardboard you mark as we will cover it with tape latter) (image 2)

cut out the middle of your frame, taking care not to cut past any of the lines (even small cuts past the lines can weaken the final product, depending on where the template slides in, in relation to the cut (more on that later)) (image 3)

Step 3: Attach the Sleeve

this is probably the hardest step

choose which side of the frame you want to be facing out and lay the frame on the table with that side face down. center the sleeve on the frame and tape down the piece which holds it in the folder. do not tape it all the way to the top other wise you will not be able to get paper in it 

Make sure the sleeve is tight-ish, by pulling the other side lightly before taping it down(again not all the way to the top), finally tape the bottom(all the way along) (image 1)

slide a couple of pieces of paper into the sleeve to check, its not to tight, if the paper does not go in easily remove the tape and try again

when you are happy with the position of the sleeve and the ability to put paper in, take a strip of tape about half the side of the opening and tape the bottom sheet of plastic to the frame at the top(it should be taped such that the corners can still move, the sleeve still opens but the top section does not come away from the frame when hung upside down) (image 2)

tape the backing piece (the thick cardboard) to the frame, along the bottom (image 3)

Step 4: Attach the Backing Piece

slide 10-20 sheets of paper into the sleeve this is to make sure you don't tape the back on too firmly (image 1)

tape the back piece to the frame, with tape down the sides. As before don't tape the sides all the way to the top, this will ensure you can still place paper into the sleeve. the tape doesn't have to be even, we will cover this up soon any way (image 2)

cover the frame in tape, being careful not to tape the top shut, or tape the frame to the back piece above the tape you just applied (image 3)

finally take the paper out of the sleeve (image 4)

Step 5: Get Creative

with the whiteboard finished its time to find some templates
you can download character templates from 

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/char-templates.html
http://mutants-masterminds.deviantart.com/favourites/?set=39468769&offset=24

or comic templates from

http://www.nbc.com/heroes/comiccon/comic.shtml

(**note** i own none of the linked images above, copyright is as stated)

or (if your more skilled then i am) draw your own!


have fun and be creative, the images are Pi-man, the hero how must save 3.14 people every day!
and magnet man, who has trouble walking past trash cans

if you draw a character on your own template board i would love to see it, post it in a comment below

to your drawing boards HEROES!!!