Should MCs appearance be closer to generic or unique?

[blackanimelover]

So I am currently in the process of finalizing my designs for the characters of my upcoming series. For the longest, the main character of my series (named Mamoru) was a generic looking shounen MC. You know the type, dark colored spikey hair, brown eyes, average height, plain face and just one or two things that make him stand out. But around a year ago or so ago while I was still writing out the story, I had the idea to make him more unique. I thought that I should make him like super sexy looking, because I like making gags and wanted it to be a running joke about his appearance not matching his personality, which is a bit "wild". But once I did that, I wondered if I would be hurting the character in the long run. I know a lot of MCs are designed so that a person can relate to them or put themselves in their place, so authors tend to make their design and sometimes personality a bit less "busy". So I pose this question to you all as readers and fellow creators, what do you think an MCs design should be?

[DualDragons]

To answer your question, that depends on the type of story you are creating. For a shounen type of story, I would not try to do a generic design at all. Usually the stuff that happens in action manga is already over the top, so I think a unique design only complements that.

I do see why someone would make a generic mc, so people can relate to them. But I think that wouldn't work as much in a shounen manga, and more in a slice of life manga where the activities taking place are more relatable and therefore a generic design for the mc would do the genre justice.

[jmassat]

That's a hard question to answer because it changes so much for every story. And in your case, I feel like I can't know what type of MC design I would prefer unless I know the larger story of it, and how everything looks.

I can say right now, though, that I like the idea of your MC having a strikingly different but also kind of "gimmick" appearance. Characters like that do NOT always have to be played as flat jokes. Think of One-Punch Man. Heck, think of Oyasumi Punpun. There are lots of stories out there with funny-lookng characters who stick out like sore thumbs, and yet they still get tons of development and stand-out moments.

[darthmongoose]

Echoing @DualDragons , it's all about the type of story.

If the protagonist and their unique personality is a selling point of your series, like say Wolverine or Naruto, then like those characters, your lead should have a unique, even flamboyant and very distinctive look. The idea is that this protagonist is iconic and readers are tuning in for what wacky over-the-top thing they do next, and they might buy merch of that character, like action figures or want to cosplay as them. If a character has a unique look, they should have a big personality, because the relationship with the reader is "a friend", and their story will probably be about how their personality changes due to their journey.

The other approach is where the protagonist is a blank slate for the reader to project onto, like a lot of these isekai protagonists and also often slice of life protagonists. These are the "young man with short brown hair" team you'll see in a lot of video games and on the covers of a lot of the premium action comics on Tapas, or the young lady with medium length brown hair on the cover of a lot of romance covers. These characters have a plain but tasteful look because they represent an idealised version of the reader. Characters with a plain look should have a relatable personality, not too many weird hobbies, desires or strong political views, because the point is the reader can step into their shoes easily. Their story will probably not be about them changing, but about them changing the world they're in and realising their potential.

So first, look at what the protagonist's role is. Do you want the reader to see their story from the outside and admire them? Or do you want the reader to really put themselves into that character's shoes and feel like they're the hero vicariously?

[djourner]

Ok so as someone who looks waaaaay to deeply into character design, but isn't profficient in drawing... I can say a characters design only has to match their personality, not nescessarily that is to be flashy. How good or bad looking they are should be a consequence of their actions and the appearance should help show that... On a more relaxed series it's ok to break that rule, but generally speaking good design should reflect who they are.
I'll post some art below to try and elucidate my point,

This is inosuke from Kimetsu no yaiba.
At first the fact he has a mask on makes yous question... Dafuq is going on? ANd sure it's a hot talking point, but consider the way the mask is portrated and you will see a lot of why it's there.
For one it covers the face (duh) but why? the face is an important part of the character as it's the main way to show emotion... So it is essentially saying that he doesn't care much for the emotions he shows and how people interpret him which is exactly how he is in the show being brash and charging into trouble.
Then consider what animal it is, a boar, know symbol of ferocity and toughness, it is a territorial animal who will fight you to the death if you get on it's bad side... Just like the character.
Then consider the rest of his atire... The lack of a shirt might seem like raw fanservice, but consider how feral this character has already been pertrayed, do you think maybe he just doesn't like how constricting the shirt feels? HELL he probably only wears the pants because people would kick him out of the city if he didn't... So it makes sense.
And the lack of shirt also reveals another thing, I mean, he is a sword fighter, so being naked can be seen as problem as he has no protection... and yet he has no scars... So you can be certain those blades are not just for show. and he is good enough to not need any armor.
We could also look at the dented blades and how they are made for ripping flesh as opposed to just slashing... But by this point you catch my drift.

Thing is, inosuke is not the main character of his story, Tanjiro is, i picked him to show how much even a 'hidden' character can reveal with character design alone.
But what about protagonists? Sure it can feel like a lot of main characters are 'cut from the same cloth' the generic isekai protagonist with black hair with almost 0 features, or maybe the 'monkey king' type of protag who always hast this goffy smile and never takes anything seriously, or maybe the wide eyed and kind protagonist like tanjiro (kimetsu no yaiba) or midoriya (boku no hero) can feel similar.
But those tiny diferences in design can make all the diference as they show how that character is unique when there are others like him,

As a bonus note... Not all protagonists are made to make you mirror off of them... It is common for the isekai protagonist to do that because of the nature of (most) isekais as power trip fantasies, but that is not mandatory.
A main character can look AND ACT completely different from us and still be interesting to follow... I mean... There is an actual manga about a guy who has A GUN FOR A HEAD! I'm pretty sure no one can relate to that.
And there are main characters that are not made for you to like them, so their design can often be featured in a way that makes them particularly mean or creepy... And they are still the MC.

So in short, the MCs design needs to match the tone and setting, there is no tried and true way of doing it other than to look into those details with a scope to try and find the appropriate elements you want to incorpate into the design.
The way to make a charaters design interesting is not nescessarily to make it look as unique as possible, but instead to lead the reader to ask questions about them and to get those answers to them later in the form of plot.

I also purposely avoided using the charaters of my story as I didn't want to feel like i was promoting xD

[Dialusion]

Depends on the story, but I think a good blend of both works to help a MC stand out among the crowd. For example, everything about their design is pretty run-of-the-mill beside hot pink shoes. Suddenly, an "ordinary" look becomes a fashion icon. Or even something as simple as mark on the face. Even the smallest of changes can make a unique character especially if you go more generic. I say go bold with that unique flair.

Myself personally, I love unique designs. I want my characters to stand out positively among similar characters. I want you to get a good read on who they are at first glance compared to the contemporary. Even if it's the smallest of touches, that little thing standing out means the world.

Hope that helps!

[DokiDokiTsuna]

It's actually a bit of a tough choice (generic often means simple, which never hurts for an MC design) but I'd lean toward unique.

Even if you're writing a relatively ordinary protagonist, I don't think you would lose much by at least making their design somewhat memorable: give them a T-shirt with a specific design or it, on a signature hair ornament (like Yui's yellow barrettes, or Haruhi Suzumiya's twin bows-- both turn an otherwise ordinary hairstyle into something instantly recognizable).

I don't believe in making a main character look forgettable on purpose...or rather, I don't believe in people insisting that a character HAS to look forgettable in order to work. For many people (e.g. me), the concept of a 'blank slate' doesn't even exist, and they deserve something interesting to spend the whole series with. Again, what can you lose by putting in some effort?

I thought that I should make him like super sexy looking, because I like making gags and wanted it to be a running joke about his appearance not matching his personality, which is a bit "wild".

I think that's actually a cool idea. It would be an interesting switch in a 'harem anime' context: all of a sudden, there's a tangible reason that a bunch of girls would be hanging around MC guy, even if it's just a joke. ^^;

But even without that, it would make for a lot of fun 'first impression' scenes. I think you should give it a try, if you think you can do a workable 'sexy' design.

[rajillustration]

Uf, tough question--but honestly I'd go with what you'd rather want to draw. So long as it's visually appealing and fun, then it should be fine. You don't have to make yet another anime trope face in a sea of comics with anime shonen faces. If you feel like you'll get bored of that face, then I'd not do it.

[DiegoPalacios]

Don't be afraid to make things differently. If a character stands out over a sea of generic characters, that's a good thing.

People don't need a blank canvas to relate or connect with a character.

When is convenient for a character to look generic?, It depends of the story's purpose: parodies/deconstructions thrive in familiarity, so a recognizable archetype benefits for a generic look. Other stories where that works are when a key point of the character is being "average" or "blending with the crowd".......

[oliveoly]

All I want to say is that, if you want your character to be very unique, make sure not to over-detail him! Remember that your protagonist is the one you're going to need to draw the most often.
Don't add any detail that you might forget to draw from one pannel to the next!

[Kaydreamer]

Part of the reason I don't relate to many main characters is because I find them way too generic and boring. I can't stand the 'blank slate' trend a lot of authors lean into lately. So for me, while you don't want to make him look like a circa-2005 sparkledog, a visually interesting design is preferable! You want to go for a balance of visual interest, realism and easy-to-draw.

For instance, my MC is a pale, lanky human man with dark hair. Pretty standard... But he has amber eyes and unshaven facial hair, and his hairstyle is also overgrown and scruffy. All that makes him much more visually interesting. Combine that with my choice of attire for him (which leans hard into 70's and 80's shapes and colours) and he's pretty visually distinct.

Some of my other favourite designs for main characters are Spike Spiegel (who is a huge visual inspiration for my MC), Inuyasha, and Edward Elric. They're all visually distinct.

I actually love your idea of making him super good-looking as a kind of joke! That sounds like it could open up some fun character moments for him too, if he doesn't really think about his looks, forgets about them, then gets surprised when people are all starry-eyed around him.

[thedude3445]

Unique! Well, I guess unique. In my opinion, if you want a story to be a genuinely big hit, you want a main character who pops out in at least one significant way, or even a whole bunch of ways if you're aiming for that overdesigned Final Fantasy aesthetic.

Even for the most simple of designs, you should, in my non-artist opinion, aim for this goal: "I want my main character to be featured in an emoji set, and for people to recognize the character instantly." Unfortunately, a whole lot of stories don't end up doing this, even otherwise incredible ones such as Your Name., a great movie whose cast is really well fleshed-out... but so simple in design that I'd miss them in a crowd shot.

I didn't design them myself ( @jmassat did), but the main character of my not-on-Tapas web serial ATL has a simple design, but one I think really works to differentiate itself from the crowd of everyday protagonists. This is Morgan Harding:

They have longish hair, a plain clothing style, and a very prominent mole. For one, it tells you a lot about them just from a glance. And it's a visual signature that carries over in every art style they appear in (including, of course, emojis):

So, while they aren't "unique" as in a ton of visual flair hair and lots of pockets and all that stuff, they have a very distinctive design element, and one you'll (hopefully) instantly recognize. And that's one way I like to have main characters look!

But also, just sorta going crazy and making your main character look like something out of the anime Kaiba or something is also great.

[samiluu]

it depens on the rol of the MC. If they is just an excuse to introduce the reader to more important characters, they better not be that much unique, but if they is some kind of hero or the most important character then they have to be unique, of course. They can be a mix of both too, then the character will evolve during the story.
I will also say that some people doesn't feel represented by the typical MCs too, just to keep in mind. I, for example, oddly feel representated by MCs (at least not by their image).

[indagold]

I think your character's design shouldn't matter as much as the writing. Characters stand out when their personality is unique, not whether they look flashy or not.