How to Draw Jesse Custer

Finished Jesse Custer drawing with disheveled hair, a suit, and hatched shadows.

Jesse Custer is the protagonist of the comic book series Preacher. He is a young preacher from the small town of Annville, Texas, who becomes the “vessel” for a supernatural being.In this tutorial, our team will show you how to draw Jesse Custer using a simple line-and-shadow technique and his appearance from the TV series.

By changing the hairstyle and facial features slightly, you can also depict his original appearance from the comics.

How to draw Jesse Custer step by step

Step 1: Sketch Jesse Custer’s figure

The initial skeleton sketch is an important part of our drawing tutorials. Start with the head and outline it as a simple oval. Sketch the head tilted toward the left side of the page. Next, sketch the spine, chest, and pelvis, then use lines to mark the arms and legs. Draw the arms bent at the elbows, with the wrists near the hips.

Sketching Jesse Custer's oval head, spine, chest, pelvis, and limbs.

Step 2: Add volume to Jesse’s figure

Outline the neck and continue its contours into the torso. Draw the chest wider than the waist, with the torso following the slight lean of the spine. After that, sketch the arms and legs with simple geometric shapes. Outline each upper arm and forearm as a separate cylindrical form, then mark the hands against the hips. Don’t forget to add intersecting guidelines on Jesse Custer’s face.

Adding volume to Jesse's neck, torso, and limbs, plus facial guidelines.

Step 3: Outline Jesse’s hair and suit

Sketch the basic details of the drawing. Begin with the facial features and the outline of the hair. Mark the hairline across the forehead and add the outer hair contour above the skull. Then move to the body and outline the suit. Sketch the jacket open down the front, with its lower corners beside the hands. Add the pointed shirt collar and the waistband. Draw the pants slightly outside the leg contours. Use very light lines throughout.

Outlining Jesse Custer's facial features, hair, and suit with light lines.

Step 4: Detail the Preacher’s face and beard

Begin refining Jesse Custer’s features. Carefully draw the eyes, nose, and mouth. Place the eyebrows close above the eyes and mark the creases beside the nose and at the corners of the mouth. Then outline the jaw and draw the beard, ears, and disheveled hair. Use short, separate marks for the facial hair around the lips and chin. Add a few uneven strands along the top of the head. Gently erase all unnecessary guidelines from the head.

Refining Jesse Custer's face, beard, ears, and disheveled hairstyle.

Step 5: Draw the jacket and shirt

Move on to the clothing on Jesse Custer’s torso. First, draw the jacket’s shoulders and collar. Outline the notched lapels and continue their edges toward the curved jacket fronts. Next, outline the shirt collar and draw the button placket. Remove unnecessary guidelines, add the fabric folds, and draw the buttons. Place diagonal creases across the abdomen and shorter folds above the waistband.

Drawing Jesse's jacket lapels, shirt collar, button placket, and fabric folds.

Step 6: Refine the sleeves and hands

Continue the shoulder lines into the jacket sleeves and carefully draw their folds. Show the gathered fabric at the elbows with several short curved creases. Draw the hands as well. Separate the fingertips and add a few short marks at the knuckles. Refine the belt buckle between the hands.

Refining Jesse Custer's jacket sleeves, fabric folds, and hands.

Step 7: Finish the character’s pants and shoes

Use long lines to draw the pants and add the fabric folds. Mark the fly below the belt and the short creases spreading from the crotch. Draw loose folds around the knees and several overlapping wrinkles above each shoe. Draw the shoes, then erase all remaining guidelines. Add the soles beneath their contours.

Completing Jesse Custer's pants, fabric folds, and shoes with clear outlines.

Step 8: Shade Jesse Custer with hatching

Now add shadows to give the drawing of Jesse Custer more volume. First, determine the light source, then shade the areas that receive the least light. Use dense hatching for the shadows. Use light lines to indicate the boundary between light and shadow, then fill the shadowed areas with hatching. You can make this boundary slightly darker to create the impression of a core shadow.

Adding dense hatching to the shadowed areas of Jesse Custer's figure.

Comic-book characters often have very characteristic body proportions with exaggerated musculature. This is done to make comic-book pages more spectacular and interesting for the reader.

But sometimes the goal is to make the comic as convincing as possible and the character believable. This can be achieved by making the proportions closer to those of a real person.

This is exactly the kind of build we showed you when drawing the Preacher in this tutorial. By the way, you can see the same principle in our John Constantine drawing tutorial, where the character looks more like an ordinary office worker than a typical superhero.

Being able to draw different body types gives an artist a wider range of possibilities for creativity, especially if they want to create their own characters.