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A secret I just noticed to character design.
15 years ago
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@Snapai (me) / @Snapimation (art)Okay, okay, those of you who already design good characters are probably gonna be all "Well DUH!" at me, but I hadn't ever noticed this before, so it's kinda' amazing to me.
It is possible to draw characters without designing them.
Okay? That's the big secret I just noticed. I draw characters all the time where I just draw something comfortable and vaguely like what I'm trying to draw. And while that is certainly a valid form of character design, it is not really applying design to characters, any more than making a painting is strong graphic design.
I'm sure I'd have confused many character designers by going "OMG HOW DO YOU DESIGN SUCH GOOD CHARACTERS" at them, when the answer is "Well, I just design them" which I heretofore would have interpreted as "Well I just draw them". No, they don't. They design them. They sit down, and play around with different proportions, and shapes, and structures. They don't take the way they draw them as the ending, it's the design process as applied to characters. Certain analytical and synthetical methods, applied to something, to deliberately break the first idea, to then let your perception of "what's good" improve things.
Those methods are of course, the focus of a character design (or any other design) book. But what's not so obvious is that it's entirely possible to have a "character design" style, that if you don't deliberately DO (and get in the habit of doing) the design process, you'll wind up just creating things in the same style. (Where style is defined as "the way I'm comfortable doing things").
So for example, I might sit down a robot, and not do any design on it whatsoever, just draw the first robot that pops to mind. But if I want to *design* a robot? I should sit down, and vary bits on my first sketch/design, or do one that's deliberately unlike the first drawing, to come up with a good idea.
Yeah. Anyways. Like so many ideas, it's terribly difficult to describe what the thing is you figured out, after the fact. But I thought I'd try to share anyways.
It is possible to draw characters without designing them.
Okay? That's the big secret I just noticed. I draw characters all the time where I just draw something comfortable and vaguely like what I'm trying to draw. And while that is certainly a valid form of character design, it is not really applying design to characters, any more than making a painting is strong graphic design.
I'm sure I'd have confused many character designers by going "OMG HOW DO YOU DESIGN SUCH GOOD CHARACTERS" at them, when the answer is "Well, I just design them" which I heretofore would have interpreted as "Well I just draw them". No, they don't. They design them. They sit down, and play around with different proportions, and shapes, and structures. They don't take the way they draw them as the ending, it's the design process as applied to characters. Certain analytical and synthetical methods, applied to something, to deliberately break the first idea, to then let your perception of "what's good" improve things.
Those methods are of course, the focus of a character design (or any other design) book. But what's not so obvious is that it's entirely possible to have a "character design" style, that if you don't deliberately DO (and get in the habit of doing) the design process, you'll wind up just creating things in the same style. (Where style is defined as "the way I'm comfortable doing things").
So for example, I might sit down a robot, and not do any design on it whatsoever, just draw the first robot that pops to mind. But if I want to *design* a robot? I should sit down, and vary bits on my first sketch/design, or do one that's deliberately unlike the first drawing, to come up with a good idea.
Yeah. Anyways. Like so many ideas, it's terribly difficult to describe what the thing is you figured out, after the fact. But I thought I'd try to share anyways.
I figure out what I want the character to be like first, then describe the character based on its core features.
I normally like to start with a name, then go forth. Everyone has different methods of designing and the steps to do so. But still a good read, thanks. ^..^
Another thing to think about is -who- you're designing. The kind of attitude and mentality you wish to display through him or her, and try to capture those attitudes in some sort of physical manner. A character with a solid form but a pot belly implies an active-but-beer-drinking kinda person. Big upper body and smaller lower body usually fit characters that are physically capable but somewhat air-headed and silly/dumb (the idea being that the character worked his upper body but not his lower one).