On character designing? (All things aesthetique!) (show me your character evolutions) (but sfw tho)

Leyelle 2024-02-10 15:24:10 UTC #1

How do you come up with character designs?
Do your ideas start off with your characters looking a specific way or do you have to figure that out?

In my case, I often know what I want characters to look like from the beginning, at least in basis, but there are little details that I don't think about that show up later, or that add themselves into the design.

Example:
Alicia was a little vaguer at first than Kattar. I knew I wanted Kattar to be handsome, a little fair, and have dominant Korean features despite his Mexican mother, with little touches here and there of things I've seen in a lot of Hispanics in my country (I'm Dominican.) I chose to give him notably brown hair, but then later decided that his hair was dyed that color, and naturally black, making him look a lot more like his father.

Alicia on the other hand, wasn't really sure on from the start. I chose to make her Navajo, so I gave her a much browner complexion than Kattar, (who is about cashew-colored) and to give her very dark hair. Her height came up later, but i liked the idea and just rolled with it. (for those of you who don't know she's 4'9.) The scars were also something added after the car accented, but they added character and life to her design, so I definitely wanted them to stay that way.

(Art by Mariel Leister)

https://tapas.io/episode/3023865.

For the OCs from Hushabye Prince, Jinwoo was inspired by a celebrity I had a huge crush on when i was younger (Yoon Jeonghan) but his design also sort of reflects the dichotomy of his character, young and old at the same time, as it were.

He's also very soft boy, which unintentionally makes him appear as a character foil to his little sister, who is very street wear in style, and was imagined pretty clearly from day one of her conceptualization.

The tatoos were my partner (the artist's) addition, but so cool, and add to her character (spoilers) as well.

Hallie and Mad have been themselves since basically day one...

And last but not least (for the moment)

The female lead:

I knew what she looked like physically since the beginning of her design, but her style (which was originally tomboy chic) has taken a full 180, as she's now girl-next-door meets coquette:

llobucervallince 2024-02-10 15:50:32 UTC #2

tbh I don't really think that much about nowadays from my concept design of secondary character that will only appear on one specific episode to how I actually draw it has some changes.
Concept vs comic:
vs
but I have made many changes bewteen the more important characters.
1.0 vs 1.2
vs
1.0 vs 1.4
vs
Specially my main:

kyupol 2024-02-10 15:51:23 UTC #3

My char designs come to me when I'm writing scripts or even during the outlining phase. When you do that your mind gets into an alpha state.

Then the info gets "downloaded" in my head and I can "see" how they look like.

Then I draw them and sometimes look at anime pictures for reference because I "forget" their appearance when I'm actually consciously drawing them.

Leyelle 2024-02-11 23:35:41 UTC #4

These are so distinct they could legit be in a cartoon network cartoon

llobucervallince 2024-02-11 23:50:45 UTC #5

best compliment ever recieved for real thank you so much

Glofernwolfe 2024-02-11 23:58:39 UTC #6

I usually start of with a character sketch, then revise it, then revise it again. Then give up. Then come back after a few months and revise it again. And then when I'm almost satisfied I revise it again. Until I'm finally a 100 percent sure they ready. Then I change their outfits throughout their life. Lol

This is how Zov'ha and Aekis progressed through the years

Leyelle 2024-02-12 00:19:18 UTC #7

Wow, but i definitely love the last Zho'va best. I actual drew the leads to "hushabye prince" (with the exception of Jimin, because she didn't originally exist) all those years ago when i wrote it's first draft. maybe when the series officially releases i'll shame myself by releasing those doodles from teeny 14 year old me

Glofernwolfe 2024-02-12 00:22:44 UTC #8

Ah come now, no one's going to judge. Look at the first Aekis I made it was terrible!

I'd love to see some of your MCs original designs!

Leyelle 2024-02-12 00:23:56 UTC #9

Lol, i have a real artist now and she's fabulous, but i'll dig up the pictures and share them on the thread and my ig one of these days

Leyelle 2024-02-12 00:27:04 UTC #10

The warning will be that Jinwoo's and Kimberly's fashion statements, and Madeline's too honestly, have changed basically completely. Basically the only thing that stayed the same is Kim's love for layering and Mad's love for baggie clothes, which might just come from the fact that everything is baggy for someone small.

CarltonIsaac 2024-02-12 04:14:26 UTC #11

I come up with a story idea, plot it all out, do page by page breakdowns and have place holders for characters.

Then I create the characters to fit into the requirement of the story and develop the characters along the story as it progresses along the preset path.

Yangying 2024-02-12 04:20:37 UTC #12

It all depends on the character really, mostly I just come up with a vibe for them and I keep trying to design them until it feels right, like how Emilia went from this:

To this:

Lorian 2024-02-12 05:10:29 UTC #13

My character designs are made on easthetics. I gather them and then try to find a look that would suit them.

For example my fae character, Lorian, changed in looks a lot, but the current and vinal vibe of him is based on this:

He looks now as below:

(art by Darkenaz <3)

Leyelle 2024-02-12 19:01:30 UTC #14

Okay, but this is copy pasted from what you said in the other thread, this thread is looking for details about designing visuals for your cast.

Leyelle 2024-02-12 19:02:59 UTC #15

Na-young (Now Madeline Han): The short one with freckles
Hallie Yildiz: The tall one with light colored hair

(Second pic by Mariel Leister)

MaxFF 2024-02-13 02:53:08 UTC #16

I decided to completely avoid making human characters, although they are sort of humanoid, I like to come up with weird monster heads, hands and other things to make them clearly inhuman. Many details are just added on a whim because I think they might look cool. Here's a few of my characters.

Roland has clothes inspired by aristocrats from around 1600s, but simplified. I don't want to deal with hair, so he has none, but the hat is fancy and prevents his head from looking too plain and boring. his hands have two fingers because I felt like that's number he should have.

Zyphy also has no hair, but she does have some spikes sticking out her head that sort of visually serve the same purpose and keep the head from looking too boring. I added a bunch of tendrils coming out of her back cause I thought they looked neat. I experimented with a more assymetrical design compared to Roland by having one arm with a hand and the other almost swordlike in shape.

Crysta is another character where I use head spikes as a replacement for hair. She fought in multiple revolutions so I gave her an eyepatch to show the injuries she's gotten in combat.

I felt like making a bird character so that explains his overall design. He comes from the same social class as Roland so his clothes are somewhat similar, hat with a feather in it, a nechkerchief, a long coat, and a sword. But the designs and colors are different.

This is a character inspired more by plants than animals. Giant "wings" based on a cactus.

This post is already massive so I'll leave it at that.

Leyelle 2024-02-13 03:01:58 UTC #17

What program did you use to design this in that sort if 3D?

MaxFF 2024-02-13 03:03:47 UTC #18

I modelled the characters in Blender. I am using some unusual shaders and post processing to try and get a unique look. It really is possible to get a wide variety of 3d styles with a bit of experimentation.

skidiggy 2024-02-14 03:26:17 UTC #19

Each of the roommates was designed independently, with specific attention to making them as distinct and different from one another as possible. I've run into a lot of "same face syndrome" with characters in the past, so I wanted everyone to look unique.

As for the colors, each of the roommates has their color palette sampled from irises. No joke. That's really how I did it. For example, Byxx Malignar is based off of a "blatant" iris (which is very "on-brand" for him):

Leyelle 2024-02-14 17:50:28 UTC #20

Jimin, Hallie, and Mad in my style