Is your main character attractive? is it important?

[yansusu]

I'm reading lots of Chinese novels and honestly, I've started to roll my eyes at every 'jade-like beauty' that gets introduced. Like, seriously, just have some normal-looking person once in a while! Isn't it enough that they're super-good at what they're doing, come from a wealthy family and have very coincidentally (yeah, sure ...) married Mr. Perfect? Do they need to look like some celestial deity too?
And then people always say how those Chinese novels are supposed to be self-inserts ... I'm sorry, but how many people are able to insert themselves into that kind of overly perfect character? Gosh, give me some diversity!

[aqua03]

Well, kinda? I mean, I purposefully designed my protagonist of DRAGOONS to look kinda of not traditionally heroic to subvert expectations. So I made him look kinda "Evil" in a way.

As for the rest of my characters, I'd call them less "attractive," and more "cute" than anything.

Though there were a few characters I designed to be explicitly "handsome" in their comic world more than anything.

So Yes and No I guess......

[vothnthorvaldson]

To me, physical attractiveness of a character is not very important, and it's very fortunate, because I'm generally very turned off by conventional beauty criteria, whether Western or Eastern; so if that was important to me.. I would be left with very few comics to read.

However, I do read more stories with non-conventionally beautiful people, but I don't think it's due to the fact I find them more attractive. Rather, I feel there is a tendency for stories that escape conventional beauty, to also escape conventions in a more general sense.
I think @punkarsenic 's comic is a very good example; as the unconventional characters fit so well in the unconventional art, story etc. I don't really imagine this story, with this art, with characters looking conventionally pretty.

The only case when unattractive characters can put me off badly, is when the artist exaggerates traits to make a character attractive, but it completely backfires. Exaggeratedly gendered traits being the worst. If your men and women look like being from two different species, I'm out.

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In the case of my characters, I did not think of it at all for most. Most are teenagers and probably younger than my readers, so I did not aim to make them attractive really. I don't think they are particularity attractive or repulsive to the reader? There's one of the adults who got a few compliments, though

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In your case @Tanako , I don't think Braylin is particularity unattractive physically, but certainly unconventional, and his personality is very unattractive. This being said, in my opinion, it what makes your story interesting.

I'll be honest, it's really not the type of story I usually like, and I'm not subscribed to it, but I read it from time to time because I'm intrigued by this character. I'd like to see what you have to tell us about him, I'd like to see what explanations you could give to make him more likable. To me, it's an unlikable character that I would like to be able to like, you see? To read more to understand. I really like the idea that he may appear ugly to people at first sight, but that is not actually where the real ugliness is. And how we're given the hope that, the same way that he is not physically ugly if we don't follow arbitrary social conventions, he may not have such a ugly personality if we one day understand where he is coming from.

So maybe you have a very good compromise here: a general setting and story outline that are pretty conventional for the genre and may attract the usual public, + an unconventional (on many aspects) character who may interest a different set of readers.

[Freemints30]

not attractive but appealing in design. Really it all come down to design and the purpose of said design. If the character is a model of course they are supposed to be attractive unless you are planning make an issue of them struggling the cut throat industry despite what they see as beauty flaws. Design appeal is a bit harder to explain but I think its pretty much you can look at the character and know a little bit about them and want to root for them. This doesn't mean attractive but it those mean you need strong character design.

And whats the hate on freckles. I think their cute on many people.

[Luminosophy]

I selected 'yes, it's important' to make attractive characters in the poll but my reasons for it are reflected in the comments here. I think it's important to design what you, the creator consider to be attractive. If you write for a niche, draw for one too. But after all comics are a long slog, so you should always derive some form of joy from your character's designs.

For my personal aesthetic philosophy, I really agree lol. I play lots of mmos and in the past a lot of chinese based ones that design the kind of look you're talking about and apply it broadly for every toon. It honestly gets boring and the 'beauty' gets lost in the sea of similarity. If everyone looks the same, no one is pretty. : v

[yansusu]

If everyone looks the same, no one is pretty.

Well said!
I noticed that about MMOs too, not only with the eastern ones but also with western ones. It's even more glaring with those that give you oh-so-many design choices of attractive face A, attractive face B, attractive face C ...

Another thing (not in response to what you said but something I just remembered ) I think attractiveness can be important if it has an actual effect on the story.
For example, the main character of my novel "Romancing the Son of Heaven" is exactly the type of "jade-like beauty" I just ranted about (joke's on me, I guess ) but it's a major influence on how he is as a character: He isn't just attractive. He's attractive and knows it and knows that everybody else knows too. But then he's having issues because he feels that while he's outwardly perfect, he has issues with his personality which (among other things) makes him majorly depressed. He might not have been that way if he wasn't that beautiful so his appearance is important to him as a character and, in turn, to the story itself. It's not just being beautiful for the sake of being beautiful.

[Rubyleaf]

I don't know if my main character's attractive in Mean Boys; he sure is cute as a button, and most importantly super easy to draw (let's be real: that's what actually matters), but I personally wouldn't call him attractive. Just... round and baby-faced and squishy. (He's fourteen years old at the beginning of the story, so I think it'd be weird for me to call him attractive anyway.)

For those wondering, this is him:

In my personal opinion a main character doesn't have to look attractive in or out of universe, it's more important that they're recognizable and fun to draw. Looking at Braylin, you definitely succeeded with the recognizability; the freckles add to the uniqueness and personality of the character and should absolutely not be streamlined away for actual or perceived attractiveness!

[ButterflyEmpress]

I don't think it's important unless it's centered around the plot (ie a story about a beauty pageant, etc).
I think the reason that main characters are often designed as conventionally attractive is that it's guaranteed to get an audience. It's the reason why characters that are considered ugly in their universe aren't really ugly, such as Meg Griffin, Kuroki from Watamote, the love interest in Ready Player One.
Or if they are written as such, they get portrayed by a good looking actor.

Some people can be really shallow though. I know someone who refuses to watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame because Quasimodo is ugly.
I honestly don't get why people think freckles are ugly. I think they're cute!

[Tanako]

that's exactly why i abandoned that genre. i got fed up with the riches and beauty and then they think, making the male lead mean and a masochist it a bonus? GTFOH
yea, you wont catch me reading such rubbish. gross

[yansusu]

Bonus points if he has an ice-cold face that never melts ~ Gosh, yes, and don't get me started on the abuse and rape *rape*

[JeanGuillet]

oh dear, the freckles seem to be a huge plus for my main character... I get tons of comments like 'you had me at the freckles' 'freckles are my fetish' XD When creating the character design, I took all the stereotype villain ugly features...like, the guy's old, he's got a nose like a toucan, a lantern jaw, dead dead soulless eyes, literally bad crooked teeth with weird gaps, villainous cheekbones of doom hollow face, and freckles. and it all turns out that he ain't ugly, nope, he fine. He's tall and he's in reasonable shape for his age. Everything else is attitude and confidence, not something he's lacking in 'cause he's just too dang old to care what people think.

A lot about how a character is perceived isn't the raw physical components, it's their actions, their nature, how they come alive...their character.

[unknown_user]

Mmm... my male MC is attractive... or was attractive, when he was younger. He used it to infiltrate and mislead people. At the moment of the beginning of the comics, he doesn't care anymore! But probably he will care again at some moment... who knows.
My female MC is moderately-attractive, but it isn't very important for her.

[Toastbuster]

Ecolin! I miss that little shit lol! Hope things are going well for you @kimketli!

[kimketli]

aaaaaaaaaaaaw.
I miss that little shit too. :'<

[amortelito]

Your characters are drop dead gorgeous. All of them.

[kimketli]

[Kann]

For me my MC is kind if attractive, but it's not an important detail to the story, so does it really matter? XD He also has some features that wouldn't be considered attractive by some people. For example not anyone likes scars if we're talking about character design.

[Tanako]

I don't think Braylin is particularity unattractive physically, but certainly unconventional, and his personality is very unattractive. This being said, in my opinion, it what makes your story interesting.

I'll be honest, it's really not the type of story I usually like, and I'm not subscribed to it, but I read it from time to time because I'm intrigued by this character. I'd like to see what you have to tell us about him, I'd like to see what explanations you could give to make him more likable. To me, it's an unlikable character that I would like to be able to like, you see? To read more to understand. I really like the idea that he may appear ugly to people at first sight, but that is not actually where the real ugliness is. And how we're given the hope that, the same way that he is not physically ugly if we don't follow arbitrary social conventions, he may not have such a ugly personality if we one day understand where he is coming from.

So maybe you have a very good compromise here: a general setting and story outline that are pretty conventional for the genre and may attract the usual public, + an unconventional (on many aspects) character who may interest a different set of readers.

You are absolutely right. he isn't likeable at the moment but thats all part of the story and slowly it will all unfold with time. i like to create complex story and sometimes complex characters because in reality people are all different. Brayli's behavior is defiantly unacceptable because in reality, we aren't perfect. just because you aren't attractive dosen't mean there had to be something likable about you. you may ask whats the point? lol the point is, people also can change and thats whats going happen with braylin.

[Kura]

I wish there was an I don't know option, as it's actually not something I think about when designing characters, my mind is more 'I like to draw this so character will be this'

I'm not worried about him being attractive or not. Also really couldn't tell you if he's attractive or not? To me I feel that he really isn't, but some commentators will say otherwise.

What's important about how my characters look mostly rests on the idea of "am I willing to draw this person over 5000 times?"

[AmazementComics]

My main characters are four mutant fruit ninjas, so that should indicate to you my answer to the question.