1. Research and character design development

I was a bit lost on where to start with research for character design, but after some thinking, I feel a good place to start is by asking myself; what makes a good character design? by looking into this, I feel I’ll be able to learn a lot, so I’ve decided to start by watching some videos and reading some articles about character design, and after this I’ll look at some of my favourite character designs and apply what I’ve learned to them, before beginning some rough sketches for a new character design.

To begin with, I’ll watch two YouTube videos on Character design and take some notes here on my blog.

Video 1

• The video starts with a line-up of three characters from the Anime Toradora, and asks the viewer to guess which of these 3 is meant to be the beautiful model character. It’s quite hard to choose one out, since all three characters look quite ordinary, which the narrator makes a point out of; If nothing about the character’s design communicates what is supposed to be special about them, the audience won’t know. A good character design should give you information about the character straight away; A character who loves to eat might look chubby and be holding a snack, a mean character might have a mean facial expression and dark clothing and a happy-go-lucky character might be very expressive and bright.
• A character’s design should reflect a lot of things about them- their personality, beliefs, interests and background should all be seen through their appearance. A design should also be appealing- consider your audience and what appeals to them before designing characters.
• think of a character design as an answer to a question- what kind of a person is this character?
• Semiotics- How different visual objects come together to create meaning- for example combining a pillow, moon, stars and a blanket brings about connotations of night time universally. Combining things like this can be a good way of easily visually communicating what kind of a person your character is to the audience. Different visual components should come together to imply a meaning.
• If a character has a cowboy hat, you’d automatically think they’re a cowboy because the hat acts as a visual signifier- we make assumptions about characters based on what they wear.

The character Jotaro Kujo from the anime Jo Jo’s bizarre adventure is used as an example of a good character design. Jotaro is very tall and muscular, implying that he’s a strong character, often wearing a strong expression which indicates that he has a strong and serious personality. We get all of this information alone from his design, but it doesn’t stop here; Jotaro also wears a Japanese school uniform, which lets japanese audiences know that he’s younger than he looks, and a school student.

The type of uniform Jotaro wears is often seen in japan as a symbol of delinquents and delinquent culture, combined with his hairstyle, telling us as an audience that he may be some kind of a thug. To add to this, his uniform is open with his own bright shirt underneath it, further implying that he’s someone who breaks rules and adds a touch of themself to things. His design says a lot about his rebellious nature and character. His hat also casts a shadow over his eyes and the back is ripped, which adds some roughness and mystery to his look.

Despite all of this, the hand on his hat has a double meaning; In some Indian religions it’s a symbol of peace, while it also serves as the logo for the JoJo writer’s manga company; manga artists are often people who pay a lot of attention to detail and are careful with their work, putting care into it. The hand adds a sense of good nature and kindness to Jotaro’s design; despite his tough appearance, he has a delicate and peaceful temperament, and has personally chosen to add this detail to his look. From his design alone, all of this can be implied about his character.

Next, the narrator makes an example out of Shinobu, a character from the game ‘No more heroes’. In the story, Shinobu is a hired assassin, but she’s also a teenaged school girl; Her stylish school uniform contrasts with her darker and rougher accessories, which speaks on her lifestyle as both a student and a killer. He also speaks about her sword, pictured here;

Shinobu’s sword has a lot of phone charms (similar to keychains) on it, which were popular amongst Japanese school girls once for how cute they were. They provide a bit of personality when attached to an object; They tell the viewer that despite being an assassin, Shinobu is an ordinary girl who enjoys trendy things like her peers. She isn’t just a killing machine, but a person with other interests.

Lastly, the narrator discusses how what you do with a visual indicator can change the way a character is perceived, with these two examples for a muscular body being a character’s main trait;

While these characters are both muscular, they give off quite different vibes to the audience; Takeo is more of a rounded off square shaped character, with most of his features being rounded off and soft looking, so he looks friendly and soft despite his build. Toguro, on the other hand, looks slightly grotesque due to his proportions, and he has a lot more sharp edges and points in his design. This ties into shape theory;

We read circles as soft and harmless due to their smoothness and lack of corners, which makes us perceive round characters as soft, fun and friendly. Squares are bulky and bold, which cause us to associate square-shaped characters with strength and boldness. Shapes with a lot of points, such as the star pictured above, seem dangerous and sharp, so we associate characters with a lot of edges as a threat and someone potentially harmful or violent.

Professor Utonium is made up of squares, giving him a somewhat bold, steady and reliable appearance, and letting us know that he’s a smart and reliable character in combination with his expression and outfit.

Next, I watched through this video;

The video starts by firstly stating that a character design isn’t better or worse depending on it’s complexity, because everyone is different and characters will be used for different things. You should design a character with the intention to appeal to the audience, valuing how they communicate with the viewer above how complex you can make the design.

The video goes on to state that clarity is important in character design; a clear silhouette, palette and exaggeration makes for a recognisable character. Over doing things makes the character’s overall appearance look cluttered; piling too many details into one character makes them difficult to read, and hard to re-draw. Most recognisable characters have distinct silhouettes, with the shapes used communicating something about the character to the audience, as I spoke about above.

A good way of maintaining clarity while adding distinguishable features to a character is to give them a small and recognisable trademark feature, such as Finn’s hat. This helps us to identify the character in a crowd, seen here;

As well as saying something about the character; Homer’s two pieces of hair tell us that he’s balding and middle aged, while Finn’s hat looks a little animal-like, indicating his love of the wild and advenutre. Poses also play into a character’s perception; You can always reduce a character to their silhouette to see if there’s anything you can add to the design.

In terms of a palette, It’s a good idea to have one dominant colour and a range of secondary colours that don’t compete too much with the main. Not only does this make the design look harmonious, but it can communicate something about a character to the audience; Yellow is generally seen as a happy colour, and combined with SpongeBob’s smile and shapes, he comes across as friendly. and happy.

This design features a lot of competing colours, which throws off the clarity a bit; without line art, it would be hard to determine where the ear ends and where the dress begins.

Something as simple as changing the colour of the dress gives the design a dominant colour, unifying the rest of the palette, and adding some clarity to it.

Pallettes should also be adjusted so that the colours are harmonious and don’t clash; you shouldn’t have colours that are all too intense or bright, they should tie into each other and look somewhat natural for the character.

Here, the character has been given more round shapes which make her look friendlier and say more about her personality. Her pose is feminine and confident, and her crown makes her silhouette distinguishable. Her palette has been simplified and the values of the colours don’t compete. Her pose is also more exaggerated, easily communicating what type of character she is; ‘Less is more’ works well for this character.

Her palette in combination with the background has a lot of harmony, and nothing is fighting for attention. Brighter colours have been used in the foreground while dimmer ones are used in the background, offering a sense of perspective and guiding our eyes forward.

Combining a good silhouette with a good palette makes for a character that is recognisable from a rectangular colour swatch alone.

Colours mean different things to different people and isn’t as clear as shape, so combining colours with features is important; yellow in combination with round features can give off a happy vibe for a character, while yellow in combination with a sickly appearance can give off a more grotesque look.

Colours can also tell us about a character’s environment, as pictured above. We can make assumptions about where a character is from based on their palette; someone with green skin like Shrek is probably from a swampy area, while someone with a fluffy blue coat is probably from somewhere cold and snowy.

Exaggeration is important because it helps us to read emotions clearly; as humans we’re naturally empathetic, and we take more towards characters that we can relate to and empaphize with. While the picture on the left is more realistic, The one on the right capture’s simba’s youth and expression in a more exaggerated and easier to read way. You should observe how real people or things make you feel, identify what makes you feel the emotions you feel when looking at things in real life, and apply them to character designs.

Poses are also important; you shouldn’t stick to one textbook structure for all of your characters. A body is a reflection of the mind within; a slender and feminine character probably thinks in a feminine way, caring about her appearance, while a bulky and muscular character probably values their health and strength, working toward goals the hardest they can.

This is an example of posing that could use some work; while there is clearly personality and a relationship between the characters, the posing doesn’t give us much information. The two have similar proportions and aren’t very exaggerated, and the staging isn’t very clear as it’s a little hard to tell that the demon is supposed to be behind the boy.

Here, the design is improved; there is more of a distinction between their proportions, and more exaggeration in their poses and facial expressions. We get more of a sense of who these characters are through this artwork, and we can make assumptions about them based solely on their poses and faces.

Gathering real life reference such as reading, observation and photography can help with exaggeration; broadening your understanding of the world can help you to become a better storyteller, both visually and writing-wise.

Character design should also reflect the vibe of the story; instead of only working in one style, you should consider what style will best convey the mood of the project best. For example, south park is animated in a very simple style which helps the simple, crude jokes to land better, while sad things like grave of the fireflies are animated in more realistic styles, so that we as humans can relate to them and read their emotions in a human and organic way.

After finishing these videos, I wanted to take two character designs I really like and apply some of what I’ve learned to them;

• clothing- cultural, she’s a character representing China in a fighting competition. She takes pride in her culture by wearing traditional garments, but there’s also a sense of danger added to her costume; her sharp arm bands and the exposure of her muscular legs tells us that she’s a fighter with an aggressive side.
• Often posed in a symmetrical, bold way; somewhat rectangular. She’s a woman with a strong and sturdy personality, which is reflected through her posing. Her expression is a calm one, excluding confidence without making her look like a threat.
• Her head buns are a trademark; identifiable and unique to her. Adding these to any other characters would probably make you think of chun li, and she’d be recognisable in a crowd.
• Colour- Chun li’s palette is a calm one, with the main colour being a soft blue. This speaks a bit on her personality; She’s fighting for justice and is a hero, with a calm and strong temperament. She doesn’t wear many abstract colours, with no makeup or bright hair colours, giving her a natural appearance and telling us that she cares more about her strength than her looks; despite being a female character, she poses in quite a masculine way.

• A simple and confident pose; tells us that she’s a character who holds herself in high regard and is sure of herself
• round shapes that make her look friendly, but sharp and spiked hair; tells us that she’s a friendly character with a wild side
• confident facial expression which works with her pose to tell us about her personality
• a limited palette with green as the main colour; makes her distinguishable from her sisters and other characters
• a clear and balanced silhouette; she’s recognisable.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-02-26-how-to-be-a-better-character-designer As the last portion of my research, I’ll read an article about character design and take notes. The article is here;