How do you personally like to go about figuring out character design? (Your designs are stellar.)
Lol that’s a good question, one I don’t know if I’ve fully thought about before!
A part of me wants to say it can depend on the character, but I do think there’s a general process I follow with each. For the sake of organization I’ll go ahead and number each step, but there’s really no strict order I follow. I jump around all over the place, especially when I forget one or two things to take into account lol.
The first step is fleshing out initial mental images.
For any character, there’s typically at least one element, usually a simple shape, that I start with. For example, when I was designing Theo for Wrighton, the first thing I knew was how her hair would look. I knew I wanted a pulled back ponytail that started at the hairline, and everything after was built around that.
Mary’s also an example, as way back years ago when I first designed her, first thing that came to mind was how her eyes would look. Then I got the idea for her tail, and slowly I built her from the outside in.
Where these ideas come from, I think it’s two places. One is outside influence. That starting point may be inspired by an object or picture or shape or outfit you saw before that stuck with you, like how the Queen was inspired by album art.
The other place, I couldn’t quite say, honestly. From your subconscious, I suppose? *vague hand waving* I think these kind of ideas are rooted in whatever aesthetic bias your brain may have. Like, there’s a number of repeated elements with my characters- long wavy hair, those triangular ears like Theo and Mary have, large elliptical eyes- that show simply because those kinds of shapes appeal to me, and I like drawing them. My brain tells me what it thinks would look good, and from there I start fleshing that idea out into a character.
The next step is building around this basis- namely, figuring out the character alongside their design.
Some good questions to ask while designing a character can be about their personality and story. How do they carry themself? Are they confident, shy? What do they wear? Why? Do they care how others see them? What motivates them most, and how do they physically display this? Are they open? Secretive? Where do they live? Does this affect their appearance? Etc.
The more you know a character, the better you can design them. Ask all the who, what, where, when, and why’s that you can. And these are things that don’t all have to be known at the start; I know I tend to trickle bits of personality into design over time. Or in reverse, how you design them can determine who they are! You feel like drawing a character that wears nothing but neon? Sounds good, go ahead build a personality around that! An entire story of mine was literally conceived with that method, all because I wanted a character with rainbow hair.
Another step is to figure out practicability.
This can go hand in hand with the above step as it also depends on the who, what, where, when, and why of your character. But basically, it’s good to ask if a character could really go out into the world shaped or looking like that. Are they able to move, function, get around in some way?
I like to give every detail some kind of purpose, either to develop the character or their setting more, just to make the design all the more motivated. Try not to leave people asking “Uhh what is that on their head?” or “Why do they have so many belts everywhere??” if you’re not intending for the design to be confusing.
I also consider aesthetics.
Is this aesthetically pleasing? And I don’t just mean does the character look pretty; this question is relevant even if you’re not trying to make something traditionally attractive. This is more about how in control of the art fundamentals you are. Is there good shape diversity? Are you using interesting and varied line quality? Is there good repetition throughout the whole design (repetition is one I make sure to really focus on)? Etc.
Research is another good step to take.
And one I can often forget xD But for those characters that do have outside influence (which tbh is all of them, but some more than others), diving deeper into that inspiration and learning more about it can inspire greater ideas. Looking into other styles, fashions, and cultures can broaden your creative horizons, and I like to look at both formal and casual wear of other cultures just to see the different shapes and colors they use to communicate whatever it is they’re trying to.
And then the actual doing!
There’s always a number of sketches and experiments I have before finalizing a character design. It is very possible for those mental images you get to not work out, or at least not initially, and it can take some reworking and reshaping to realize what you want. There’s a big difference between imagining something in your head and seeing it physically on paper.
Also! If this is a character you plan on drawing a lot, it can be good to test whether it’s a design that you can recreate or not. Don’t be afraid of the design evolving over time as well, as it’s inevitable.
Color is one of the last things I figure out (because color scares me and I’m still just a wee bab learning how to use it >>), but I use the same art principles with that. Repetition, does it compliment, does it make sense, all that fun stuff. I’m usually a fan of giving characters a bi or tricolor scheme, as that makes repetition easier and just keeps the whole thing simple but effective.
But yeah, those are the main things I keep in mind when figuring out character design! How long it takes can really vary, as some characters just click while others take literal years, but that also depends on how quickly the design is needed I suppose x3 But adding onto the actual doing section, basically I just like to scratch out any initial ideas I have, and then experiment from there to see what looks good on physical paper. Often I take notes along with the sketches, and sometimes pieces of a design are made up on the fly or by happy accident.
Hopefully this was all coherent! x3 (And aw, thanks ^^)
