Shelby Peake

Hhhh I’ve had this in my drafts for about a year or so now and just now remembered that it existed.  While not an extensive masterpost as you can find more good tutorials & talks than these, these are some of my favorites to look at.  Remember though: a good character design should have good construction/proportions/etc. behind it, so think of this as adding on to the basics of drawing & construction. c:

Talks from Specific Artist

From Lackadaisycats:

Lackidaisy Construction

Notes on Character Design

From Dresden Codak:

Costumes: The Wearable Dialogue

Figures That Speak for Themselves

Silhouettes: The Silent Killer

A Pose is Worth a Thousand Bio Pages

His entire Design tag, which is good for overall post on comic paneling too

His Character Design list:

10 Best Superhero Redesigns - Even if you don’t like superheroes, each of these list are good to look at to see WHY a redesign is good, bad, and what makes it so.

10 Worst Superhero Redesigns

5 Essential Superhero Redesigns

Obligatory Favorite Design List

John K’s 4 part character design talk in animation (and sequential art in general).  Part discussion, part opinion pieces:

The Character Design Fallacy (”DESIGN IS THE WHOLE PICTURE AND STORY, NOT JUST THE CHARACTERS”)

Primer (Explaining the elements of a good design)

Layout Artist with Versatility, Conservatism, Style, & Control (how layouts & character design interact with one another)

Tex Avery (an example: as Tex Avery’s animators changed over the years, so did quality of character design)

John K. also has a TON of other stuff on both character design and animation in general, and while he’s quite opinionated, all of his post are fascinating reads.  Here’s a few others on Character Design specifically:

Not on Model, but generally on model

Character Design as a Job vs. Character Design for an Animated Show

What Makes Lasting “Iconic” Characters?

General Tutorials & Guides on Character Design

Thoughts on Character Design by Wouter Tulp. He talks mostly about the process of creating a design.

Unique character design tips  - Simple, quick, and to the point (with very good points).

3 Tips to Unique Character Design by raindropmemory - Three simple ideas on how to vary things up.

5 Tips for Character Design by winrie - Very cute, more like a design process then a tip list but still good to look at.

Character Design Tips by  digi-fish - a nice glaze over of character design.

Character Design: an Introduction by elephantwendigo

Character Design Tutorial by miss-dutch - While not as in-dept as it could be, I would still call it pretty darn coherent and another good tutorial that covers all the basics.

Character Design Tutorial by mademoiselle-nuit - a tutorial that mainly focuses on how the design relates to the character.

Basic Character Design Tutorial  by ky-nim - good start-up tutorial that’s simple but will definitely help you out if you’re starting off.  Done with Pokemon Gijinkas.

Character Design Tutorial by MarionetteDolly.  Another simple one that will introduce you the fundamentals.

Character Design Tutorial by NuttyNuti - In deph tutorial, especially good for fandoms.

Color Design Tutorial  by i-moosker - Mainly on  color and how you can use it on your oc.

Colors Tutorial by ranoartwork - Very short, but has a good idea.

Character Design Tutorial by noriy - Quick design thought process.

Specific Things

Outfit Tutorial by primrosemoon - Good tips on outfit design.

Clothing Tutorial Part 1 and Part 2 by minosch - 

Face Tutorial by phobs

—-+ EXPRESSIONS TUTORIAL by

Posing and Expression Tutorial -

Posing and Body Language Parts One, Two, and Three

Unique Features Tutorial Parts One, Two, and Three by jeniu

Tutorial: Species Design by JNetRocks - More like a walkthrough on speceis design, helps with the basics.

Creating Original Species by followmeimlost

Guide To Species Design by eviri

Model Sheets 101 Part 1

Model Sheets 101 Part 2

Examples

Character Design References -  A whole Pinterest dedicated to character design, with over 45,000 pictures & 331 different categories, including but not limited to clothes (men, women, jackets, barbarians, wizards), various body parts (noses, eyes, body type), various people (old women, young women, teen boys, Afro), poses (eating, drinking, kissing, gesturing), & animals.  It also has  props & environmental design too if you’re struggling for help.

Locotik Gudie by - A nice example of a species layout sheet.

Old Student Portfolio - How someone took the cast of Wicked and turned it into a Disney animated movie.

WannabeAnimator’s Character Design Tag & Model Sheets Tag

Design a Character

Just some sample of cool badass pages :) I have only a few pages left (8) !! After that, and until end of septembrer, I ll do a pass to fix every drawing I can, fix the dialogues, add or remove some sequences, or adjust some sequences. I m trying to work in a very organic way and feel free to adjust the story until the end :) so exciting to work like that ( I m inspired by the way we work at Pixar, prioritizing the story over everything else, readjusting it until the end). this comicbook will be released in jan 2020 in France (hachette)

Feeling that your drawings can look a little bit more fun? Do your character designs seem a little bit static or generic? Maybe they need a small push to their proportions!

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The “How to Make Your Art Look Nice” Series

Developing Style | Lighting | Flow and Rhythm | Thumbnailing | Mindsets | Reference and Style | Color Harmony | Contrast

Even your best sketch can be a bit confusing for everyone else. Paint a mid tone gray and erase or paint white to get the main light sources.  It’s super easy and quick to make, will enhance your drawing and you will be capable of making several light studies in few minutes.

SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

While Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson talks about storyboarding for cgi animation features, it is awesome to see her process for storyboarding and animatics for work and personal.