Serious tl;dr up ahead.

X:
To be frank, X is a nightmare to draw. That's not to slight X fans - I love this guy. The problem is his design is so simple his proportions need to be done right, or he looks stupid as hell. I cannot tell you how many times I redrew him here before I got something that didn't look like a stack of cigarettes.

The width of the different points of X's torso should be without too much variation. His shoulders are not too impressive, and his chest should be fairly wide but shallow.

With X, I try to focus most on his facial expression and particularly the shape of his head. He's a big deal in-universe because of his humanity, his compassion, and his hesitation. Though I sketch him often enough, I almost never get to that point of 'This is as good as it's gonna get, so I'mma quit while I'm ahead'. He needs to look like a hero, yet kind of a loser. Kind, but strong. Iconic in his simplicity yet unassuming in his simplicity. I like to use Maverick Hunter X's rendition of him as my reference - it pretty much covers all those bases.


Zero:
For the leader of a stealth operation unit, Zero's about as stealthy as a drag queen at a church gathering.

I focus on his torso. His chest should be wide but also deep, and his shoulders distinct. Out of the three, he's the strongman and attacks at the closest range, so it's not really a surprise why I try to make sure his upper body exudes power without slam-dunking the character into Super Saiyan territory.

For his face and in general, I think "Ladies wanna get with him; guys wanna be him" - in universe anyway, he should be the type that walks into a room and turns heads. I suck at conveying this maybe, but in my head I'm thinking he'd be of immaculate construction - the robot equivalent of beauty, I guess. I took a cue from X8 and give him pale, more yellow-ish skin and icy daggers for eyes. Although I liked the more streamlined hair he sported in that game, it just didn't strike me as 'Zero' enough, so I like to draw it like he had it in X4-X6 - not a fat yellow dolphin, but not a rat's tail either.

Axl:
Although some people hated the X8 redesigns - and I have to seriously ask you people what kind of upbringing you had that made it impossible for you to see good taste when it's right in front of you - most everyone agrees that Axl only benefited from the streamlining of his design.

To be quite honest, I don't think Axl has the greatest design to start with. There are too many anchor points, and his coloration doesn't shout 'young sassbasket' to me. But the black with red stripes are reminiscent of athletic wear, like track pants, so at least Capcom got that right.

I focus on his lower body - he's quick and light, flipping and rolling all over the goddamn place, so it makes sense. The key is shapely...not girly. And as with X8, his face should be shorter with his eyes occupying a good deal of the real estate. While his shoulder armor protrudes a lot, I never draw his chest armor wider than his head.

Nobody read this, lol.