Some Character Design Feedback Please?

HGohwell 2020-11-18 09:24:50 UTC #1

As the title says, I'd like a bit of character design feedback please. I think I've done the art equivalent of saying a word so many times it stops sounding like a word. I'd like a bit of feedback on the designs for my project in the works. I don't want to give too much context for it, partly for spoilers, and partly to see how people think of the designs without caveats, but I will answer any questions if you want more context. The basics really are, it's about phantom thieves (if you don't know, think cat burglar turned up to eleven and potentially magical, there's a TV Tropes page) but feel free to ask for more if you think it's necessary.

There are a few things I'm concerned about, but I'm gonna wait and see if they pop up in feedback, because I might just being doing the normal creator thing of seeing all the flaws that people don't really see as flaws.

So yeah, thank you in advance to anyone taking the time to give me feedback. It's much appreciated.

Llyrel 2020-11-18 10:15:59 UTC #2

Ooooh, they look so cool!
Okay, so I think you've got some really nice characters over there and I absolutely LOVE their outfits in that first picture! Actually, I love the ones in the second picture too: love the colorful anime feel they have and I think you've got some really cool designs there. I only have a few things to point out, so far. I take it that the outfits in the second pictures are gonna be the ones your character are going to use for "business-related" stuff, so forgive me if I assumed things wrong, lol.

Since we're talking about phantom thieves, I think one thing that should be taken in consideration when planning outfits is practicality. Your characters will need to be stealthy, to move quickly from one place to the other without anyone noticing their presence. And while it's true that most "phantom thieves" anime series don't really seem to take practicality in consideration (think Kaitou Jeanne with her super short skirt and bows and all sort of cute but impractical stuff), there are a couple of details that strike me as kinda counter-productive: namely, the dangly ornaments on blue girl's skirt and mask and the hat on the last girl. The decorations look nice, but they remind me a bit too much of the bells on a jester's hat, which... do not feel very stealthy at all, I'm afraid I'm pretty sure you didn't mean for them to be intended that way, but that's the feeling I get from looking at the picture. Overall, in a job where being silent is key, you probably wouldn't want any dangly decor that you can't really control and that might betray your presence at any time. A similar issue goes for the hat: don't get me wrong, I think it looks AWESOME on her and adds to the overall mystery, buuuut... it also sounds like the type of hat that just won't stay on your head as you're running away from the police. And the last thing a thief would probably want is having to keep their hat still as they're trying to run away or, even worse, leaving accessories/clothing pieces around for the police to use to track them. I know that A LOT of fiction simply doesn't seem to take physics in consideration when it comes to stuff like hats, but it's always been kind of a pet peeve of mine when a character who's running/falling doesn't lose their hat, so I felt like pointing that out, lol

That said, I love the shape of their clothes, I love the colors you used and I'm especially glad to see that you gave some leggings to the girl with the skirt so that she can still be comfy when running around

darthmongoose 2020-11-18 10:34:12 UTC #3

The designs are all relatively solid in a vacuum, but I think where there are issues is how they go together as a team.

My immediate feeling is that the red and blue characters are too similar looking. All three characters have the same physical build, they're all about the same height and then red and blue have pretty much identical faces. While the designs of the outfits aren't identical, they have a really similar silhouette. I assumed they were alternate looks for the same character. If they're twins or sisters, that's fine, but I feel like having twin characters with matching looks and then one odd one out feels like an odd balance. If there are more characters to come, this might be okay though.

Right-hand character has a bit of a boring, boxy silhouette, and her colour scheme feels much less cohesive than the other two as well as being less saturated. I'm not sure what her thief/rogue archetype is meant to be; the other two evoke harlequins or jesters, but she's like a mix of 90s magical girl and then there's a musketeer cape and a 1920s schoolgirl style boater hat? If the hat was meant to be more like a musketeer hat, evoking Ribbon no Kishi / Princess Knight, the shape needs fixing a bit, right now, it's reading as a boater and adding more detail to the design without doing much interesting for the silhouette. I'd recommend pruning down the detail overall on her to match the other two and picking out a more clear overall colour scheme (unless there are more characters coming who like her don't have a single identifying colour. Again, this is why two matching characters and an odd one out is a tricky balance).

I feel like maybe there's an issue with how fantastical the non-costume outfits are too. Left and middle already look like they're wearing fantastical costumes in the first set, which I assume is the "normal/everyday" while right is in a sort of... 1940s socialite feeling outfit which would pass as modern clothing in a fictional setting for a rich girl type character. I wouldn't look at the three and assume they belonged in the same story other than by the art style and colour palette.

HGohwell 2020-11-18 10:37:37 UTC #4

Thank you for taking the time to give me feedback! I'm so glad you like so much much about them too!

While not bells but just gold water droplets (there are matching ones on the red collar but I think they got lost in the sizing) this is actually exactly what I was going for. So actually that's really good that you get that vibe for it. It's one of those context things that didn't seem important to mention but curious if it came across, the entire group are based on jesters/circus performer themes that I didn't want to over take the design but give nods too. I was worried about the size of them though and looking for a balance of noticeable (as I say the red ones have vanished) without being too over the top, so I might remove them entirely.

Haha tbh I just unashamedly love a hat and will use any excuse to ignore physics and go with it. And given how many phantom thieves have them I was just going with it. ~~I was more worried about the cape on her~~.

Thank you so much again for taking the time to give me feedback!

HGohwell 2020-11-18 11:28:37 UTC #5

Thank you for taking the time to respond!

The red and blue are twins, yes. I wanted their designs to be similar but not identical. And there are more characters, these were just the three I was most uncertain about and have been reworking a lot to the point where I've sort of lost clarity. I could post the others, or at least her partner for a bit more context.

I was trying to get a bit more diversity in their builds, so I guess I'll have to exaggerate that a bit more to be noticeable.

This is something that I was concerned about. There is a loose circus performer theme that I was struggling to balance not over taking the designs while still being noticeable and I'm glad it's worked for the first two. She's supposed to lean more into a trapeze artist kind of vibe and I struggled a lot with her colour scheme. It's supposed to be mainly purple but the accent colours was where I was struggling. Originally I planned to have her match the colour scheme of her partner just with different balance, which was roughly the same but the pink was redder and with green as well but I got a bit self doubty, so I might go back and mess around with that a bit more.

It was originally closer to a musketeer type hat but I was concerned about the details of it so pulled it back to what it is now so I might go back to that a mess around with it a bit more.

Yeah, another area I was kinda unsure in. The day to day outfits are kinda baroque but yeah I definitely feel like the last one didn't work as well. I feel like I need to (reworking the colour scheme aside) either bring the skirt in or more volume, one or the other I guess it's sorta middling, or maybe lengthen and open up the cape into something more like this and then have some details and a similar corset-esque shape underneath.

But then that feels a bit like it's going back to the issues of it being too boxy. I might just have to start completely from scratch on this one.

Thank you for taking the time to give me such a considered reply. It was really helpful. Thanks!

cherrystark 2020-11-18 18:00:16 UTC #6

All six images are beautifully rendered. The first girl in the maroon dress/coat thing is my favorite. I'm not really sure of the aesthetic you are going for your world, so please take my comments with a grain of salt. But without more context, the clothes don't seem practical. The second row of pictures looks good if they were going to a costume party but not so good for thieving. The outfits kind of reminds me of the gravity-defying outfits that are really common in anime. (My experience with anime is limited: Pokemon, Yugi-Oh, etc.)

More context would be helpful for feedback, tbh. I think if row one is their "normal" looks and row two thief "thief" looks, define each look, ie give them a reason for how they dress like Batman and Robin. Robin dresses in "bright colors" to distract the bad guys from Batman's attack.

migxmeg 2020-11-18 19:30:33 UTC #7

These are cool! A couple thoughts - battle suits on 1 & 2 I found the one shiny legging each distracting. It is a cool idea, but the texture contrast took more of my attention than I think is helpful since usually we like to focus on characters' faces. Battle suit on 3 looks awesome in the static pose but I am wondering if the stiff skirt will look odd when she is doing something more dynamic.

Great colors and appealing characters overall!

rajillustration 2020-11-19 03:15:33 UTC #8

I like them, overall, I think they're pretty fun. My biggest thing is that without really knowing the plot, I don't get the vibe "thieves" at all. Like they do have a super-hero/magic girl vibe going on, but they they're too brightly colored to be cat burglars, youknow? It's not really an outfit of stealth.

HGohwell 2020-11-19 07:07:34 UTC #9

Thank you everyone for your feedback so far. I'll deal with this specific bit all in one since it's come up

Phantom thieves are a pretty anime trope, so the physics and practicality aren't a huge concern. There's a circus performer theme to the outfits and I think it helps to consider that phantom thieves often want to be seen. Think of them more like stage magicians or escape artists, only when they make the crown jewels disappear, they've really stolen them. And that's only fun if people are there too see. They often announce what they're going to steal and when so there's more security and then they still get away. And often wear outfits that go with the idea of it being a show.

So practicality and stealth be damned!

But yeah, more seriously, while I don't want them to be totally out there practicality wise, hence the tights and no ridiculously high heels, I'm not adhering too tightly to it. It is going to be leaning more into the anime style or story telling.

Mmm, I'm totally with you on that. It was one of my concerns. I really like the asymmetry of it but it felt a bit off. I'm considering putting either the same shine on the other leg to make them more clearly tights rather than just one side or maybe making the other leg coloured as well.

I'm going to be pretty heavily redesigning the third one. It is the one I was having the most trouble with. At this stage I'm thinking the stiffer underskirt going completely and leaning into something more like this but, you know, without the butterfly wings and stuff, obviously.

And that'd probably tie in better with the others too.

The quickest easiest way to describe it would be low fantasy pre-industrial alternate world Venice. It's colourful but not too bright. Day to day, the outfits take a lot from the baroque period, low necklines and waistlines, fitted corset being an obvious part of the outfit, large sleeves and laces collars (hence why, yeah the third one doesn't really feel like she fits very well). If you've seen The Musketeers 2011 movie, think something like that, only modernized. There's also a big element of rebellion with the second costumes, in a similar way to how kids who've got away from controlling parents will wear everything they were never allowed to or dye their hair, it's a lot like that. They've just left a pretty strict order, they're suddenly allowed to wear anything and be anything, they pick the brightest, most eye catching things they spot, especially for something like hiding their identities and standing out.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to give me your feedback. I really appreciate it.