Any advice for how to make more visually interesting and expressive character designs?

[PoquitoBird]

Contour shape and Line of Action in character development are important and literally can shape the attributes of the characters themselves.

You mentioned a bald military character? Try triangles or squares as a base shape. They are solid, authoritarian and have an air of command behind them.

Two thin kids? You can have a varied thin shapes, otherwise you risk running into same face syndrome.

Perfect example of great character redesigns: Ducktales (1989 vs 2018)

Original 1989 Triplet Designs: Same voices, same goals. They could literally be ONE character.

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New 2018 Triplet Designs: Each one has a unique and individual design which can let the viewer know their own personalities.

Dewey is assertive and ready for action. Huey is confident and positive. Louie is smug and cocky. Each contributes their own goals and worth to the team, which the viewer can identify immediately from their new character designs.

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You also need to think about how their design relates to their personality and movement.

Tom & Jerry have always been great analysis of character design in motion. Over exaggeration in comic action is important to keeping panels interesting as well as establishing how characters truly react in story situations.

Check out some YouTube videos regarding Character Design and implementation. I've found that Marc Brunet & Mitch Leeuwe have some good tutorials:

The key is to keep drawing and writing to improve! Its good to ask questions, but you also have to take some advice given from those in the community that are trying to help you!

Source: https://twitter.com/EtheringtonBros , https://twitter.com/artcycle , personal experience from being a teacher for over a decade.

[NickRowler]

I think you should focus trying out a bunch of different designs based off of that people have given you refs with so far. You can draw the character several times until you get to what you feel works.

Do you have examples of what designs you are thinking about? I feel like most of the art you post is from a year ago. Do you have anything new that you have been sketching or recent concept art you are thinking about?

[abigaillmartin]

The second concept art of Mother Gothel looks like if Disney drew Mrs. Evans from my comic Elsie.

I mean look at it!

Sorry if I interrupted the conversation. Got off topic.

[abigaillmartin]

I definitely have had many designs for my characters like one with Elsie with straight hair and glasses. Ernest looking a lot older and one was when he had red hair and blue eyes. Jane was also originally designed to be a little older. Lots of my characters went through many different designs before I came up with their final ones. It’s very interesting to see these things unfold. I mean I never knew Aladdin would’ve looked really different it’s really cool to see!

[AmazementComics]

Try creating a strong personality first, and then use outward appearance. Once your main idea about your character is decided, start brushing up the outfits and appearances. This is where your character will become an “original character” rather than just a generic idea.

The key component when drawing outward appearances is to create something visually memorable to your audience, such as a color scheme or a motif. For example, if the motif is a butterfly, add butterflies to their clothing and accessories. Even with a character dressed in a typical high school girl uniform, devise something characteristic of their personality, such as a hairstyle or a hand-held item.

A good way to think about key components is, if you were to draw your character as a chibi, this characteristic should still stand out. See the below images for examples of this (these aren’t mine).

Draw movement and poses that go along with the character personality traits as well. For example, a tomboyish girl could wear something that allows for free movement such as pants, and stand in masculine poses. You might also want to study anatomical poses to make sure that their clothes are fitted appropriately.

[NickRowler]

The ones for Elsa upset me because they are so much more creative and interesting then what we finally got. I want to see the movie about these women.

[abigaillmartin]

I think Elsa would’ve been a great villain honestly. I have a confession when Frozen came out I was the only girl that was not overly excited about it. It was okay when I saw it in theaters. I wasn’t overly excited about it because I just thought it was overhyped or something along those lines.

Looking back the movie was eh.

[abigaillmartin]

What I was really really excited about was Wreck It Ralph! Mainly because I was into video games and stuff instead of princesses and stuff. All the characters in one place and the arcade blew my mind! It’s actually what led me to write my first ever fanfictions and stuff. And the rest is history.

[powerplantanimations]

Movement. I remember my friend mention how my artist uses movement for my characters in That Stick Figure Isekai. I didn't even notice it until now. That's main reason why the stick figures work visually in my comic.

[JoshRaed]

I didn't want to ask this again, but... I am completely lost about the head thing. I cannot conceive of the idea that these heads are actually the same shape, or what I'd do to make them different enough. One of the characters I drew doesn't even have a chin. Can you try to explain it better?

[Kelheor]

Read this post carefully and watch the videos. Have you even tried making other sketches? You won't achieve anything operating on the sketches that are one year old without doing anything new.
https://forums.tapas.io/t/any-advice-for-how-to-make-more-visually-interesting-and-expressive-character-designs/77213/37

[JoshRaed]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

[JoshRaed]

Wait those character designs aren't a year old I drew them in June.

[IndigoShirtProd]

Have you... Have you drawn them since? I mean, it's August.

[JoshRaed]

Kind of but not really.

[IndigoShirtProd]

Okay. Have you tried to draw these characters since getting the majority of the advice in this thread? Like, have you watched any of the videos, practiced any of the drawing techniques, or read any of the outside content linked here?

[JoshRaed]

I'm going to. But I'm very lost on shape language. How do you make any of those shapes apply without drastically changing my art style to me way more stylized and anatomically loose? Like what would a triangular little girl look like?

Also I have a character where I think it would fit character-wise for her shape language to be very square, but also she's supposed to be a fairly scrawny and vulnerable looking character, so I can't really give her a square head or body.

[IndigoShirtProd]

Like what would a triangular little girl look like?

From a strictly cartoonish angle this. This is what one could look like:

without drastically changing my art style to me way more stylized

I mean, you're a beginner artist. I feel like you should worry more about understanding your fundamentals a bit more rather than worrying about how practicing will change your art style.

but also she's supposed to be a fairly scrawny and vulnerable looking character, so I can't really give her a square head or body.

Then make her rectangular. Don't get so wrapped in making characters follow these shape so strictly. You could have tear-dropped shaped characters, or trapezoidal characters, even leaf shaped.

[JoshRaed]

So here's a version of the design thing with their faces lined up in a default expression on the bottom. I can kind of see them having the same face now, but I'm not sure what else they could look like. I looked to TV shows for inspiration and didn't find much help. Did you know Aang and Katara literally have the same face? Same nose, same eye shape, same head shape, same nonexistent lip, it's all the same. And Deku and Bakugo are only differentiated face wise by their eye shape.

[darthmongoose]

I'm going to. But I'm very lost on shape language. How do you make any of those shapes apply without drastically changing my art style to me way more stylized and anatomically loose?

You have to break your style to remake it sometimes.

I know that feels scary, like you're losing a part of the "you-ness" of your work. But trust that changing up your process won't make it less your work.

Experiment with something drastically different. Or even better, try lots of different styles and approaches, and then pick the bits you like and can make work together. This might result in your style changing a little, but it's usually a good thing. Your style should simply be the method of doing things that works best for you to draw what you want to draw. Try not to be scared of it changing. You and your work will change over time, and if you're at peace with that, and feel like you're the one in control of that change, you'll feel better about it. Remember, even if you experiement with a very different style, it's just an experiment, and you can always go back if you don't like it, or take on just the bits you did like.