What can you tell about this character from their design? (Nishitani)

[jamontoast98]

Thinking about doing a spinoff chapter for my series and this is a potential character design for that series. Was wondering what your takes on this character are based on these character design sketches.

[Veropatra]

First of all: I love that Design.
To me this Charakter looks like the typical badass quiet character who doesn't talk much (probably prefers texting). But he/she has also a cute side and seems to have a passion for video games, which nobody expected about her/him.
I imagine that this character has the classical cool calm guy/girl voice.
Also, if involved in a fight this character would be a difficult opponent.

[jamontoast98]

Thank you! You noticed a lot of things that I was going for. Glad you like the design

[darthmongoose]

Well, the silhouette of her clothing evokes a hakama and she has a mesh top and a mask, so my immediate thought is that the character design is meant to evoke a "ninja" or a "ronin" character; so I'd expect her to be somebody who's strong and can look after herself. The long skirt and chains evoke those old Japanese school girl gangs too, so her general vibe is very much "tough", "punk", "intimidating", "nonconformist".

The "Asian girl with black hair but part of it's dyed blue/red/green to show she's nonconfomist/not like other girls" is a bit of a cliche and some people see it as problematic depending on the context, so that element is... something I'd note as a potential red flag that there may possibly be some problematic or cliched content in this depiction of an east-asian character (not guaranteed, but I'd be lying if it said it didn't put me on alert).

[jamontoast98]

Oh, did not know that was seen as problematic! Do you think it would be worth changing, then?

[darthmongoose]

My advice would be to look at what actual east asian women have said about it. It generally depends a lot on things like the setting, what the rest of the cast is like etc. etc.

I found a bunch of stuff just by googling "asian hair streak trope". I think this Teen Vogue article is one of the clearest and most cohesive:

Stop Calling Asian Women With Colorful Hair “Rebellious”

It's obviously a trope I paid attention to because the most prominent east asian woman in my comic has blue hair... but since literally everyone in my comic has weird haircolours, rebellious or not due to how magic works in the setting, it seems to generally be seen as okay, because it's not marking her out as "different from other asians". That's why context is important. The trope applies when a female asian character whose hair is naturally black/dark brown, has chosen to mark herself as a rebel by dying part of her hair a wild colour.

[jamontoast98]

Thanks for the article, gave it a quick read. In that case, there are a few things to consider:

-This character is actually more on the introverted side, and wasn't intended to be rebellious (at least, not on the inside!). Not the kind of person to be driving motorbikes away from explosions, but more the kind of person who prefers to text than speak.

-I'm at a crossroads at the moment whether the setting will be in Japan or the UK. But what I do know is that everyone does have different coloured hair too

-My comic is black and white, so the hair dye would only appear on the cover page.

I mean -- I don't personally see it as a necessary change, and I like how the red goes with the rest of the colour scheme. But then again, I don't want to come off as offensive to a culture that, admittedly, I don't understand that much. So maybe I should change it then? But at the same time, an Asian character with partially dyed hair but is actually an introvert could be seen as breaking the mould? Ugh, I dunno, decisions are hard

[darthmongoose]

-This character is actually more on the introverted side, and wasn't intended to be rebellious (at least, not on the inside!). Not the kind of person to be driving motorbikes away from explosions, but more the kind of person who prefers to text than speak.

I think it's less about being "rebellious" like smashing phone boxes and riding motorbikes and more "rebellious" as in "doesn't conform with east asian culture (as it's perceived by white people)".
The reason the trope is problematic is that the unfortunate implication is that all asian women are basically a homogeneous mass who look the same, dress the same, vanish into the background as studious quietly hardworking people who get decent grades and do what their families tell them, but that THIS GIRL is DIFFERENT because she has a unique personality, opinions, hobbies, fashion sense and life/career goals.

Honestly that character design would still look really cool without the red hair, especially in a black and white comic, so why not see how she looks without the red and in B/W?

[jamontoast98]

Here's an example! (Even though there is no fighting in my comic, I did a kick pose just for practice). I think the design still works as I intended it to be black and white anyway. So perhaps I'll just go without the dyed hair then - it's not a necessity and if it has the potential to offend then best just to leave it out...

[darthmongoose]

Looks great without! I think you should go with that design!

[jamontoast98]

Thanks! I will go with tis one!

[Dialusion]

The first thing I noticed was a feeling of being closed off, then the mask and phone, then the thought "how many belts are on this design?" and finally the thought "Wow there's a lot more belts than I first thought, covered from top to bottom in 'em".

I'm assuming this is a more casual outfit you'd see in places like Harajuku, a sort of fashion statement. I get that mostly in the combination of mask, makeup and hair coloration. Adding onto that the simple shirt design.

As for the character, I'm getting a more relaxed vibe but someone who cares about their appearance. The pose on the right-hand side looks like the character taking a selfie of their outfit. Bottom-Right lets me know they play fighting games so I assume some competitiveness. A cool-headed and fashionable character that's not afraid of conflict or competition.

[jamontoast98]

Funny you mention the belts, I was inspired by Tetsuya Nomura (character designer for Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts). Here are some of his designs:

While not inspired by any character specifically, I admired Tetsuya's bravery - even if his designs are somewhat silly sometimes! So I wanted to try a similar thing for my character. For this character, the belts are supposed to add to the closed off feel like you mentioned.

[R.n.P]

She really likes belts, lots of belts and is an assasin