Character Design 101

>> Hey, art nerds.

We are going to be talking
about character design.

Now, creating an entire character from scratch,

human or otherwise, takes
a lot of creative energy.

Every artist has their own creative process,
so there is no right way to create a character.

But, typically, the character design process
for each artist begins at the same place.

Before even putting a pencil to paper or pen
to tablet, a character designer should start

with the most important step of all, research.

It can be helpful to try and
deconstruct why certain characters

and their characteristics
work and why some don't.

Study other characters, and think about
what makes them so successful and what

in particular you like about them,
their personality, their style choice,

or maybe you just really dig their hair.

You need to take a deep look into
your character's personality in order

to develop a visual idea
of its physical features.

So one big influencer for your whole
design is who your character is aimed at.

What group of people is your
character intended for?

This group is referred to
as your target audience.

Think about the age of your intended audience.

For example, characters aimed at
young children are typically designed

around basic shapes and bright colors.

Be sure to also take a close look at
your audience's gender, personality,

or subcultures that they may be a part of.

Whether you're creating a llama, robot, or
monster, you can guarantee there are going

to be 100 other similar creations out there.

Your character needs to be
strong and interesting

in a visual sense to get people's attention.

Even its silhouette needs to be striking.

So what special trait does
your character possess?

Do they have any usual or unusual quirks?

Maybe some cool prop hat or weapon
they seem to always carry around

or that illustrates some aspect of their being.

Exaggerating the defining features of your
character will help it appear larger than life.

Exaggerated features will also help viewers
identify the character's key qualities.

Is your character supposed to be super
fast, curious, smart, evil, kind, strong?

What can you do to exaggerate or accentuate
these features your character possesses?

Colors can also communicate
a character's personality.

Typically, dark colors, such as black, purples,

and grays depict baddies
and malevolent intentions.

Light colors, on the other hand,
such as white, blues, pinks,

and yellows express innocence, good, and purity.

By changing only the color, you can change
how your character is perceived by others.

Interesting looks alone do not
necessarily make for a good character.

Its personality is key as well.

A character's personality can be revealed
through animations or even as simply

as how he or she carries themselves.

While some characters appear to be
confident, standing tall and relaxed,

others may appear very timid, with
shoulders ever so slightly slouched,

keeping their arms close and eyes
avoiding contact with all others.

The personality of your character doesn't
have to be particularly agreeable,

but it does need to be interesting, unless
your character is purposefully dull.

The basic shapes you use to construct
your character can contribute

to its perceived personality.

If you want to learn more about this, I have
a whole video that goes into shape language.

So be sure to check it out.

Expressions showing a character's
range of emotions and depicting its ups

and downs will further flush out your character.

Depending on its personality, a
figure's emotions might be muted and wry

or explosive and wildly exaggerated.

Subtle alterations in the shape
of your character's eyes, mouth,

even eyebrows can change
its expression dramatically.

As the old saying goes, the eyes
speak louder than the mouth;

and emotions can be seen around the eyes.

Even with only being able to see the
eyes of each of these characters,

I bet you can get a pretty close guess as to
which emotion he or she may be expressing.

The driving force behind a character's
personality is what he or she wants to achieve.

Often, the incompleteness or flaws in a
character are what make them interesting.

And to help out -- figure that out,
your character needs a backstory.

Developing its backstory for your character
is important, especially if you're planning

for the character to exist
within comics or animations.

Where does your character come from?

How did it come to exist?

What life-changing events has it experienced?

Having answers to these questions are
going to help back up the solidity

and subsequent belief in your character.

Sometimes telling of a character's
backstory can be more interesting

than the character's present adventures.

The deeper you go, the more
real your character will be.

Relationships, hobbies, bad habits, routines,
things they collect, things they hate,

what home is like, what they wish
to accomplish, the list is endless.

Even when you think you are nearing the end of
your character's design, question each element

of your creation, especially
things such as its facial features.

The slightest alteration can have a great
effect on how your character is perceived.

Things like head shape; hairstyle; facial
features, such as eyes, ears, nose, mouth;

even the fit of your jeans on
your character says something

about their personality or their mission.

Baggy, lazy, comfortable, athletic jeans.

Got some relaxed, stable,
and more reliable jeans.

They got those stylish and
creative skinny jeans.

Okay. So there's so many options, so please
pay attention to every single detail.

The idea of character design is to go
on a creative dive into the unknown and,

from that abyss, pull out the best design
that matches the character description.

Great and memorable characters come as a
result of the time and creative energy put

into making them by character designers.

And think about this.

Every single character you've ever seen on TV or
played in a video game was designed by someone.