What makes a character easier to rig?

#1

In terms of character design, what makes a design easier to rig than others? I know there are things that make 2D characters easier to animate, so I assume there are things that make 3D easier too. I assume that a character that is easy to rig is also easy to animate, but if I’m wrong, please explain so I can learn! Thanks

#2

The main thing is edgeflow, you want to makes a character out of mainly square polygons which roughly indicate the direction of muscle contraction and elongation.

There’s a good discussion on CGTalk about how to model characters. Additionally for faces, check out The Art of Moving Points written by Brian Tindal, an employee of Laika (formerly of Pixar), you can get the model from Rigging Dojo. There’s also a nice short video series by Sergi Caballer, currently a modeller at Disney Animation Studios.