Character Design Question

[fluxist8070]

I would agree that simplicity is a key element of good character design.
However, as an artist develops a concept or characters from my own experience, it seems that the simplicity that you are observing and and are becoming more aware of does not happen at the beginning. It is the outcome of strenuous and astute editing. It is a distillation process. For instance, consider making wine which also has a distillation process. Through years of distillation, a fine wine is produced, but only after someone has made the decisions about what to filter out, and what to leave in.

[Lunatique]

I think certain design philosophies work better for certain styles. Some of the rules of character design for more stylized/cartoony characters will be a lot less relevant for realistic character designs used in mature sci-fi/military/horror/action type of IP. Let's say you have a WWII IP that needs to be very mature and gritty, you would go with a photorealistic style over a cartoony style. In a case like that, even the simple rule of using obvious silhouettes would no longer be that relevant in photorealistic character designs. Take a squad of soldiers--they'll have the same haircut, similar build, same uniform. If you dramatically give them very different silhouettes it'll appear to be a bit silly--you know, the hulking guy, the nimble little dude, the broad shoulder narrow hip hero...etc. In realistic design you'll have to go for subtlety, match facial features to personality, body language, speech mannerisms, voice...etc.

When I do character design, the first thing I do is think about the personality and premise of that character, and then it's mostly a matter of instinct. I just draw the most likely pose this character might be in. For example a loner assassin with a mysterious past, who's had his whole family killed when he was young, and then grew up learning from the school of hard knocks, then entereed the military where they trained him to be a deadly assassin in the special forces, then after leaving the military he now works for an organization that hires out contract killers to the highest bidder.

Just pulling that description out of my ass as I'm typing it, I already have an image of how this character should look, walk, sit, talk, and the clothes he'd wear. It's all instinctual, like storytelling. If an artist can't do it on instinct, he'll have to research a lot of character archetypes and watch a lot of films, TV shows, read a lot of books...etc to build a memory bank of different types of personalities, fashion sense, mannerisms..etc.

[Shuggs]

WOW.

Very insightful! Thank you for that! It's well appreciated, Luna!

[musicguy]

Hi Shuggs,

I think character designs for the leads should always be memorable and recognizable and designs for the supporting case should always bring out the difference in the leads.

If you can introduce elements to a design that make people remember a character then the character's design is working. Examples are the Simpsons' yellowish skin, Smurfs' blueish skin tones and mushroom hats, Sonic the Hedgehog's funky look, Lara Croft's athletic but sexy physique etc.

I've written a lens on Character Design at http://www.squidoo.com/anime-character-design which is relatively popular. I hope you find it useful :)

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