Looks to fit a personality or intentional dichotomy's? How do you prefer to design your characters?

[LostKelp]

I feel like Leopold design doesn't read immediately as evil, he could plausibly be a comedic relief in a different comic, but he does draw on the general look of tech CEOs, and has color changing eyes which makes him more ominous.

I feel my MCs are all pretty generic looking, and pretty much any other background character are as distinct as the MCs which is the point, because of the whole corperations-sqwashing-identity-to-make-everyone-into-cogs-of-a-machine thing. The Shadows especially look almost identical, but this is specificly because Leopold wants a certain type of person to be a symbol of power and violence (light skinned and masculine with eyes that glow red in the dark)

[ArtGremlin]

Soooo when I originally designed this guy I was going for “creepy uncle” vibes… but then he became the main character, so the comic is set before he becomes a creepy uncle- yeah.

He was originally just the “bad guy” then after I finally designed his (girlfriend?) everything fell into place and he became the main character against my will
(Yeah it was my will, but shhhhhhh)

[DasIstWunderblyat]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

[NickRowler]

I usually use personality to define their mannerism.

I personally have a pet peeve of how character design is taught because a lot of it reenforces negative stereotypes.

This is why I might have characters that look creepy or unusual but they aren’t villains or bad. Because I don’t think we should be defining that by physical features. Or by disability. Just because my character is blind in one eye doesn’t make him evil.

[Leyelle]

i agree, i think it's dangerous to assume that evil people will be ugly, and pretty people will be good. Though some people will write pretty villains, unusual people or people who don't fit the beauty standard are rarely made protagonists

[Leyelle]

Jinwoo's design is very specific to his character with a lot of little details relating to who he is, basically everything has a reason behind it's place in his design, and that in and of itself, makes really simple things profound. Since they are crucial to the story, i won't give spoilers but i will say what traits are relevant to his character's intent.

1. Gray hair (and when he's reading, glasses)
2. his long hair
3. the fact that he always always always wears blue

All these things were designed with his character in mind, and a story behind them IN the story, or for intentional contrast to express the dichotomy of his existence

[Leyelle]

Tbh tho, what does it mean to look like you're personality? technically that whole idea is based in cliches that are always associated with an idea. like assuming that a cute person would wear bright colors because bright colors are cuter than dark ones?

[TheBlacKat333]

I’m not very good at character design, since a lot of it is completely unplanned. I usually have an idea for the design first, and then think of a personality for it later. Then, I draw the character, until the design naturally evolves into something that fun and quick to draw.
I do put a LOT of value in the silhouette, and using as little colors as possible. Those are the only things I’m actively paying attention to.
Heres two characters designs, one of them changed a lot as his personality changed, and the other just got a bit tweaked

[Leyelle]

if you design the look first and then add a personality you'll probably have an easier time avoiding the trap of making a character design a cliche 'representation' of a character archetype.

the way a character dresses, imao, should fit their personality, but not their personality by how it fits into a trope, but the character's specific likes, dislikes, hobbies etc.

[Leyelle]

My character Madeline (Hushabye Prince.) is a very crazy and chaotic little tomboy. Hence, her style fits her personality because she rarely wears skirts or dresses or anything like that, and likes quirky, colorful accessories, but her physical design, I would venture to say, doesn't fit the typical tomboy aesthetic. Her hair, while not being super long, is fairly long and curly, and the cut is pretty feminine and cutesy. She honestly looks less traditionally tomboyish than another character of mine who isn't a tomboy at all, Jimin.

[ArtGremlin]

Since Ian was originally just a villain, he still looks like one.

I feel like having a long face/nose is often a “villain trait” usually not something main characters have.

[Leyelle]

yeah, I think it's because having a long face makes you look thinner, and we usually associate being tall and thin with being scary for some reason.

[Leyelle]

like being scary or being hot. there's no in between somehow

[beebutterbee]

I think Lady Lock looks somewhat like a typical villain, but she’s actually not evil despite what everyone in the world is lead to believe: she is one of the main characters. Still, she has a slightly longer face with a distinct nose and she’s pretty tall too. I don’t think she’s very skinny though? Also @ArtGremlin I’m glad Ian is the main character though I think it makes his design interesting. Lady Lock also dresses in dark clothing like him lol

[Leyelle]

Yeah, prominent noses are another one of those traits usually given to vilains for some reason. Not the case with my character Melissa who has a pretty distinct Jewish nose, while being tied for the sweetest sweetheart in the novel.

Not sure i have any characters yet who look like they'd be villains but aren't, as all the characters are fairly mild because the story is set in the normal world. I will say that being a very 'typical' looking hispanic, Alicia would probably be assumed to be sassy and have a lot of attitude, instead she's very mild, and even when she's being flirtatious, it's in a kind of cutesy coquettish way rather than the 'fiery' attitude we're associated with for some reason.

[beebutterbee]

I don’t think a prominent nose is a bad thing at all, so I’m glad your writing a sweet character with that feature and lol yeah the “spicy Latina” trope needs to be retired I’m not a fan of it either, I don’t mind so much when another Latina writes a Latina character with a strong personality but usually then there’s more to the character than just that.

But it’s nice to see some rep as someone who is Mexican! Lady Lock is coded half Mexican and I think she has a calm personality. I think that does fit into typical depictions of knights though, as being stoic.

[Leyelle]

that's true, knights I think are often considered very serious people.

But yes! There is nothing wrong with prominent noses, and as a Latina myself, I want latinas to get some more personality. Not one of the Latinas (and there are TONS of Hispanics in Damsel in the Red Dress, the whole main cast is POC and most of those are at least part Hispanic) falls into the spicy cliche. This wasn't an intentional decision, but the fact is, when most people are complex people, no one on earth can be spicy all the time lol.

Mrs. Moon (Mexican) is the most glamorous cooing over everybody character I've ever written. She virtually never refers to her son by his name, always calling him her "angel" her "Principe precioso" etc. She does the same with Alicia, who she usually refers to as "darling" "mi amor" and so on.

Melissa Xochitl is Mexican and Jewish, and super bubbly. She never stops talking but she's always so cheerful and sweet to everybody, and honestly a little quirky at times. She doesn't act like you'd expect a woman her age to behave lol.

Juana Xochitl King acts like one of those glamorous, deep voiced old black and white movie stars, but also pretty tired (she's in her sixties, we need to give her a rest, she should be retired by now.)

And I have plans to bring in some more Dominican girls later in the story (I'm Dominican myself) but the only spoiler I'll give is that the first one's name is Veronica Chwe.

[beebutterbee]

I have lots of Latinas in my stories too! With a wide variety of personalities. It’s cool you show older characters too, not only do they all have different personalities but their ages are varied as well. I feel like it makes the worlds feel more lived in.

And I have a Dominican character as well, or coded that way since it’s fantasy, but she ALSO hasn’t show up yet lol she eventually gets her own arc though. She’ll show up earlier before that though as a more minor character. Her name is Serenity and she’s one of the vampires lol I’m guessing your character is more based in reality tho despite the small amount of info you gave on her

[Leyelle]

lol yes, my story isn't fantasy, it's slice of life. I have one Dominican already, my FLs ex boyfriend, Etan Sosa. But it's so cool you have a Dominican character, tbh, I've only ever seen ONE other series with a Dominican character in it, for real.

And yeah, my story has a lot of characters of varying ages as the leads are almost thirty, but the male lead's mother is like, the third most central character to the plot and nearly 60 (don't tell her I told, she's 56) and her friends are also relevant because of her. But then at the company where Alicia works, most of the staff are older than her. Juana King is Melissa Xochitl's sister in law, but old enough to be her mother actually.

(the math works out like, Juana is 17 years older than her youngest brother, who is nine years older than his wife, Melissa. Hence she's 61 while her sister-in-law is 35. There's a pretty large age gap between the central characters in this series!)

[beebutterbee]

Yes definitely we work in different genres. Also I don’t know a whole lot of series here on tapas in general but I think there’s a significant amount of fiction about and written by Dominican authors that’s traditionally published. So it is pretty weird that there’s not rep here? I feel like it’s a fairy common background too in the United State, and I’ve lived in different states.

Even in another webcomic idea I have one of the central characters is Dominican, her name is Candace

I actually have art of her- meanwhile with the other character, Serenity, her concept art is very simple right now I’ve mostly just written the outline for her arc and character

Also it’s interesting you have older characters! I feel like so many times characters are stuck being teens lol I write characters mostly from early 20s to late 40s. Also that is quite the gap between her sister-in-law! Do your characters get along? Or do their ages separate them?