How to Draw Cool Characters
27 summit character design tips
The procedure of tackling character design is often total of hurdles. You need a whole lot of creative thinking to create your ain character from scratch, although many of the well-known characters from cartoons, advertising and films expect straightforward. Really, a vast amount of effort and skill volition have been exerted to make them and then constructive.
From Mickey Mouse's famous three-fingered hands (drawn to speed upwardly production when he was showtime developed for animations in the 1920s), to the elegant simplicity of Homer Simpson, creating character has e'er been about keeping information technology simple. To explore these, and other iconic characters, further, meet our guide to Disney Plus).
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But what practice you demand to consider for your character design? Bated from clean lines and easily readable features, there'southward knowing what to exaggerate and what to minimise, how to give a hint of depth and background and what to do to develop personality.
And then, of course, there's the matter of the technicalities of how to draw your character design. If it's going to be used in motion or every bit part of a comic strip, you'll demand to make sure it works from any angle.
For this article, nosotros asked a range of leading artists and illustrators their communication on creating memorable, unique graphic symbol designs. Many of these tips come from Pictoplasma (opens in new tab), an annual character design festival in Berlin.
Tips for brilliant grapheme pattern
01. Don't lose the magic
Many character designers will outset their project with a sketch. And most agree designers agree this is often where the essence of the character is captured. And then when y'all're working up your design, make sure yous don't lose that magic.
"I try to stick to my original drawing style, because the instinct is to try and clean it upward," says Laurie Rowan (opens in new tab). "I don't like to feel like I've created past characters; I similar to experience like I've kind of merely encountered them."
"When starting out on your character blueprint, don't get caught up in the details," says Pernille Ørum (opens in new tab). "Decide what you lot're trying to communicate, so create loose sketches with motility, acting and catamenia. As soon every bit you start to tighten upward the cartoon, y'all'll automatically lose some of the dynamic, so it's of import to have as much life in the early stages every bit possible. Move is all simply impossible to add afterwards, then make sure it's in the initial sketch."
02. Step abroad from the reference cloth
While inspiration needs to come from somewhere, the aim is to create something original. So Robert Wallace – known as Parallel Teeth (opens in new tab) – suggests non having the reference material right in front of you equally you work.
"If you look at something and and then you endeavor and hazily remember it in your mind, that's when y'all end up making something new, rather than a pastiche of something," he says. Higher up you can see Wallace's new take on well-known festive figures, created for a Hong Kong department store.
03. Enquiry other characters
For guidance, it tin can exist helpful to try and deconstruct why sure character designs work and why some don't. There'south no shortage of research material to exist found, with illustrated characters appearing everywhere: on TV commercials, cereal boxes, shop signs, stickers on fruit, animations on mobile phones, and more. Written report these character designs and think about what makes some successful and what in item you like nigh them.
"When you piece of work with characters y'all need to exist inspired," advises Ørum, "and you can do this through inquiry. Your mind is a visual library that you can fill upward. Try to notice people around you – how they walk, their gestures, how they apparel – and use that in your pattern."
04. ... but also look elsewhere
Information technology'southward also a skillful idea to look beyond character designs when hunting for inspiration. "I like birds' mating rituals a lot," laughs Rowan. The odd movements tin spark unique character behaviour.
"When I begin a project, I often start with the feeling I want to evoke," he adds. The process begins with the designer taking videos of himself as a reference, trying to capture something of the character idea's move or posture.
Other inspirations include ceramics – an organic texture and muted colour palette end his work feeling too clinical – and folk costumes.
05. Don't lose sight of the original idea
It's easy to subconsciously let our favourite designs influence us. Cornelia Geppert, CEO of indie games studio Jo-Mei (opens in new tab), is a huge fan of The Last Guardian, with its unique aesthetic and great video game graphic symbol designs.
At one point i of her team members had to say to her that their Sea of Solitude design was looking a trivial likewise similar to The Concluding Guardian. She looked back at her initial artworks, and it brought back the feeling she had when creating them. The project shifted back on track.
06. Exaggerate
Exaggerating the defining features of your character design will assistance it announced larger than life. Exaggerated features will also help viewers to identify the graphic symbol's key qualities. Exaggeration is key in cartoon caricatures and helps emphasise sure personality traits. If your grapheme is strong, don't just requite it normal-sized jutting arms, soup them upwardly so that they're five times equally big equally they should exist.
The technique of exaggeration tin exist applied to characteristics, too. Anna Mantzaris (opens in new tab)' hilarious Enough movie (to a higher place) shows everyday characters in mundane situations, doing the things we've all dreamed of doing on a bad day. "I think it's fun with animation that y'all tin push button things further, and people will still accept it every bit real," she says. "With live activity it would look absurd. You can as well push the emotion further."
07. Decide who your graphic symbol design is aimed at
Recall about your audition. Character designs aimed at young children, for example, are typically designed effectually basic shapes and bright colours. If you're working for a client, the grapheme's target audition is usually predetermined, as Aussie artist Nathan Jurevicius (opens in new tab) explains.
"Commissioned graphic symbol designs are unremarkably more restrictive but no less creative. Clients have specific needs but also want me to do my 'matter'. Usually, I'll break down the cadre features and personality. For example, if the eyes are important then I'll focus the whole design around the confront, making this the central feature that stands out."
08. Make your character distinctive
Whether you're creating a monkey, robot or monster, yous can guarantee at that place are going to be a hundred other similar creations out there. Your grapheme pattern needs to be strong and interesting in a visual sense to become people's attention.
When devising The Simpsons, Matt Groening knew he had to offering the viewers something different. He reckoned that when viewers were flicking through Television set channels and came beyond the show, the characters' unusually bright yellow pare colour would take hold of their attention.
09. Create clear silhouettes
Another good way to make your character distinct and improve its pose, says Ørum, is to turn it into a silhouette. "Then y'all tin can see how the graphic symbol 'reads' and if you need to make the gesture more clear. Practise you lot empathize the emotion of the character and see the line of action? Can things be simplified? Endeavor not to overlap everything, and go on the limbs carve up."
07. Develop a line of activity
One primal aspect to consider when creating a character blueprint is the line of activeness. This is what defines the direction of your graphic symbol, as well as being a useful narrative tool and bringing a feeling of movement.
"Try to bring the line of action all the manner out to the extremities," says Ørum. "A ballet dancer is a good example: they emphasise the line from the tips of their toes to the tips of their fingers. The line of activeness is also easier to see in creatures with fewer limbs, which is why mermaids are an ideal subject for developing a strong line of activity."
08. Go far personal
Geppert's Sea of Confinement video game is an exploration of her experiences of loneliness. Intensely personal though it may be, the game hit a chord with audiences when information technology was previewed at E3 earlier in the year, because it deals with an feel that is so universal even so however strangely taboo.
"The best fine art is based on personal experiences. People tin can relate meliorate if it'southward based on the truth," says Geppert. "It's not a fabricated-up story, even though it's based in a fantastical setting."
09. Discover the posture first
Félicie Haymoz (opens in new tab) has worked with Wes Anderson on both of his animated features: Fantastic Mr Fox and Isle of Dogs. When embarking on a new graphic symbol design, Haymoz likes to get-go by finding the individual's posture. This element tin can start the ball rolling on the whole feel of the personality. "I attempt to capture the stance of the character. Are they hunched over, or are they sitting straight and proud?" She also notes the face up is important to get right.
Read more of Haymoz'southward picture show character tips here.
10. Consider line quality
The drawn lines of which your character design is composed can go some manner to describing it. Thick, even, soft and circular lines may suggest an approachable, cute grapheme, whereas abrupt, scratchy and uneven lines might bespeak to an uneasy and erratic character.
Ørum recommends balancing straight and curved lines. "Straight lines and curves gives your character design a rhythm. A direct line (or a simple line) leads the middle rapidly, while a curved (or detailed line) slows down the eye.'
It'south also worth considering the rest between stretch and pinch. "Even a neutral pose can pb the eye by applying these two approaches, resulting in an effective character blueprint," says Ørum.
eleven. Use a joke construction
Rowan grew a name for himself by sharing humorous clips of his characters on Instagram, and went on to piece of work on projects for Disney, the BBC and MTV, and earned himself a BAFTA award and nomination in the process. However, it was his less successful years doing standup one-act that provided inspiration for his trademark grapheme animations.
"It's through standup I learned brevity. It's kind of a joke structure," he explains. Knowing how to frame the prune comes from by failures and successes on stage: "You very quickly learn how to striking sure points," he laughs.
12. Continue it simple
Equally well as knowing when to exaggerate, Ørum is also not bad to highlight the importance of simplicity. "I e'er try to communicate the designs with the fewest lines possible. It doesn't mean that work hasn't been put into creating the book, placement and design of the grapheme, but I endeavour to simplify as much every bit possible and just put downwards the lines and colours that conveys the necessary data."
13. Consider all the angles
Depending on what y'all have planned for your character pattern, you might demand to work out what it volition expect similar from all angles. A seemingly flat character tin can take on a whole new persona when seen from the side if, for example, information technology has a massive beer belly.
In the Character Design Crash Class workshop at Pictoplasma 2019, Jurevicius and Rilla Alexander asked attendees to sketch their character in poses held by other attendees, life drawing style.
And if you lot're going to plough it into a comic strip, a la Luke Pearson'due south Hilda, it'll need to not just make sense from all angles, just look good likewise.
"How to draw Hilda from behind without her pilus swallowing her silhouette", how to draw her beret from above; a long and drawn out boxing with how her nose should look… these were all issues Pearson had to deal with when creating his character. The problems all ultimately led to design solutions.
fourteen. Build it in 3D
If your character is going to be within a 3D world, as an animation or even as a toy, working out its elevation, weight and physical shape is all of import. Alternatively, go 1 stride further and create a model.
"Even if you're not someone who works in 3D, you can learn a lot by converting your character into 3 dimensions," says Alexander. Information technology's a key part of the procedure the students follow at the Pictoplasma Academy.
fifteen. Choose colours carefully
Colours can help communicate a character's personality. Typically, dark colours such every bit black, purples and greys draw baddies with malevolent intentions.
Light colours such as white, blues, pinks and yellows limited innocence and purity. Comic-book reds, yellows and blues might become some way to giving hero qualities to a character blueprint.
"To cull effective colours, it'south of import to empathize the bones rules of colour," explains Ørum. "Become familiar with the primary, secondary and third colours, too as monochromatic and complementary colours. 1 technique for generating an effective colour palette is to chose two complementary colours and piece of work with them in a monochromatic color scheme."
"Y'all'll create residue considering complementary colours create dynamism, while monochrome colours invoke feelings of calm. You could likewise effort a tertiary color scheme, which adds a 3rd colour (for case, violet, orange and dark-green), and and then piece of work with monochromatic versions of those colours, but information technology demands more planning and skill for it to work well. If y'all're new to colour, endeavor and go along it unproblematic."
To read more on this, see our mail service on colour theory.
16. Don't forget the hair
"Some years ago I went from antisocial drawing hair to loving it," Ørum. "Previously, I used to view working out all the details and directions of the hair as a tiresome effort. Now I think of information technology more equally a large, organic shape, which like a flag in the wind indicates and emphasises the motility of the character or its environment.
"Showtime by creating a large shape and divide it into shorter sections, while thinking about where the hair is parted and where the hairline is. Every line should help to define the volume, shape and management of the hair."
17. Add accessories
Props and clothing tin aid to emphasise character traits and their background. For example, scruffy dress can be used for poor characters, and lots of diamonds and bling for tasteless rich ones. Accessories can too be more literal extensions of your grapheme's personality, such as a parrot on a pirate's shoulder or a maggot in a ghoul's skull.
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Next page: More superlative grapheme design tips...
18. Focus on facial expression
Expressions showing a character's range of emotions and depicting its ups and downs will farther mankind out your character. Depending on its personality, a effigy'south emotions might be muted and wry or explosive and wildly exaggerated.
"When you know the basics of cartoon a face, play with the expression of the character," says Ørum. "Apply a mirror to read your own face up and notice the subtle changes. Push and pull the eyebrows to show emotion. Avoid giving the face symmetry. The oral fissure will e'er favours a side and it gives life to the drawing. And give the head a tilt to add dash."
Classic examples of exaggerated expressions tin be found in the work of the legendary Tex Avery: the eyes of his Wild Wolf grapheme ofttimes pop out of its head when it's excited. Another example of how expressions communicate motions is deadpan Droopy, who barely registers any sort of emotion at all.
19. Give your character goals
The driving forcefulness behind a character'southward personality is what it wants to reach. This missing 'something' – be it riches, a girlfriend or solving a mystery – tin can assistance to create the dramatic thrust behind the stories and adventures your grapheme gets upwards to. Often the incompleteness or flaws in a graphic symbol design are what make it interesting.
20. Build upwards a dorsum story
If y'all're planning for your character design to exist inside comics and animations, then developing its back story is important. Where it comes from, how it came to exist and whatsoever life-changing events information technology has experienced are going to help back up the solidity of, and subsequent belief in, your character. Sometimes the telling of a character's back story can exist more interesting than the graphic symbol's present adventures.
"If you're experiencing problems when attempting to nail the essence of a character, effort thinking of them in a sure state of affairs," Ørum advises. "Utilize the story to remember about your graphic symbol's emotions before tackling the design, and add the details afterward. Setting the scene is the best help when staring at a blank piece of paper, and it makes the process more fun, too!"
21. Call up it's not all about the face
Yukai Du (opens in new tab) is non what you lot'd call a typical character designer: none of her piece of work features faces. Instead, her trunk function of pick is the hands. Having constitute she wasn't expert at capturing specific emotions inside a facial expression, she turned to a unlike body part: the hands. "Hands are very expressive. You can tell a lot of stories with hands, and exercise information technology in a very subtle way," she says. Hands became her fashion of telling stories.
22. Make your character blueprint flexible
Having decent software and materials to piece of work with is useful, but not essential, when it comes to bringing your character to life. A lot of amazing characters were successfully designed years ago when no i had personal computers and Photoshop CC was just a dream.
If you character is really potent, you should be able to capture it with just a pen and paper. Or, as Sune Ehlers (opens in new tab) puts it: "The character should nonetheless be able to piece of work with a stick dipped in mud and fatigued on asphalt."
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23. Get feedback from others
Bear witness people your creations and enquire them what they call up. Don't merely ask whether they like them or not. Instead, run into if they tin pick upwardly the personalities and traits of your characters. Find who you think is the suitable or ideal audience for your work and get feedback specifically from them near it.
24. Make it honest
"A lot of my commercial project come out of my personal work. That'southward why I endeavor to brand my personal work so honest to what I like. I think it comes through to the viewer that I'm not just ticking boxes," says John Bond. The illustrator recently launched his debut picture book, Not LOST, based on his Mini Rabbit grapheme pattern.
25. Create the right environs
In the same style that y'all create a history for your character, you lot need to create an surroundings for it to help further cement believability in your creation. The world in which the character lives and interacts should in some mode make sense to who the character is and what it gets up to.
26. Fine-tune your figure
Question each element of your cosmos, specially things such every bit its facial features. The slightest alteration can accept a nifty effect on how your character is perceived.
Illustrator Neil McFarland (opens in new tab) advises: "Remember almost the meaning of the give-and-take 'grapheme'. You're supposed to breathe life into these things, make them highly-seasoned and give them the magic that will allow people to imagine what they're like to meet and how they might move."
27. Don't exist afraid to make changes
Hilda has changed over the years, from volume to book, but Pearson explains that no one has pulled him upward on it. "I like to think information technology means the design is stiff enough to withstand being pulled in all these unlike directions," he says.
This article contains content that was originally published in Computer Arts and ImagineFX magazine. Subscribe to IFX here (opens in new tab) .
Read more:
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- Sympathise Disney's 12 principles of animation
- How to depict a face
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Source: https://www.creativebloq.com/character-design/tips-5132643
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