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Oct 2019

One thing I try to keep in mind is color combination. Picking the right colors for a character can make them very pleasant looking!

It also doesn't hurt to experiment with colour saturation :smile_01:

Something I’ve heard, and found to be very true and helpful, is that very rarely do you want to settle on the first design you draw up for a character. You’ll want to redraw and redraw and redraw, and as you do, you’ll get more ideas to add to their design, weed out what you don’t quite like, and then you’ll have your finished character and all their glory. :slight_smile:

My philosophy is to not overdo it on details while making it as diverse as possible. Work on the character until they're simplest they can be but still be recognizable, saves time too when it comes to comics. It depends on art style though, I draw cartoony so I often go crazy with body types and facial features. Something that's super useful to me is finding a theme for a character such as flowers, food etc. to base them around the same shapes and palettes. Both easy and looks nice!

Character design is an incredibly dense, detailed category. Something people write entire books about. Could you narrow it down a bit? What sort of info are you looking for?

Besides a theme, it's picking that person's style and a reason for it.

ie this person wears baggy pants but fitted tops because they're short, so pants are always long on them

For general character design, focus on silhouettes first, then later think of each detail on an outfit or how big you want the body parts to be, or how weird the haircut must be. Always do research even if your character has no basis in reality - animal anatomy, clothes, weapons, everything to get the ideas rolling and have a good reference to look at while you sketch. As mentioned before, never stick with the first sketch, even if you have to give it some time to think of what needs to be changed.

For comics, focus on character designs you can reliably redraw. If you have the whole week to yourself and no schedule, sure, go ahead and make an entire tapestry on your knight's cape, but most people won't have it and it's better to have some stripes or on striking color. Your time and hands will be better spent if you have sketches or a character sheet to know how they'd be seen from various angles too, rather than having to figure it out on the spot.

Character design. Let's see, this might be something everyone is going to say.

The character's design must match their personality... And it needs to look compelling.

That's all I got for ya, lol.

A good tip is to make inspiration boards for your characters. Think about colours, shapes, fashion styles, hair, objects that feel relevant to that character... then try mixing those elements into something you like! (but not like mixing everything together at the same time, just a few things each time lol. I agree that keeping your character simple can be better for comics!)

I have still a lot to learn so I'll just share a vid I watched a while ago about the topic, hope it helps!

The designs must also match the setting and style of your story.
You will see a smaller range of variance if you're doing a realistic story about a law firm than a fantasy guild.
And if your story is set in the real world and want real-world rules and systems in place, do your research!
(low-key irked when I see male police officers drawn with long hair who aren't undercover. There is very often a dress code for professional and practical reasons.)

Dynamic poses have helped me with my designs. Instead of creating a character in a static position, I have them walking, running, leaning into a chair, pointing, reacting with shock, etc.

It's not just about the clothes, after all. Body gesture also has a lot to do with how you portray their personality.

I like all the advice on here, and I think it helps to also look to fashion design and study how IRL clothes drape and move and are sewn together--so I like to haunt fashion boards on pinterest and made big ol pinterest havens of fashion designs to seek inspiration from when making characters. https://www.pinterest.com/RAJillustration/character-design-inspiration-women-characters/4 and for boys I have one here https://www.pinterest.com/RAJillustration/character-design-inspiration-male-characters/2

Because the big thing is that yes the clothes have to help tell the character's personality, but it also has to look cool, have a distinct silhouette, and look like something someone would actually wear. What I like about fashion designs is they tend to go more simple than complex because they understand how clothes move on the body--and you'll usually draw characters moving or leaning than standing perfectly straight. There's a tendency when doing character design to get way too overly-complicated and stick a bunch of thingamybobs all over that you rarely see and can detract from the story.

Also don't fall into 'conventional' thinking when it comes to what makes something attractive.
Particularly for feminine characters, don't just stick with a heart-shaped face, large eyes, small nose, etc.
Like Dreamworks has a great variety of female faces!

Boy, did Dreamworks' "Let's make our characters look like their celebrity voice actors!" policy in the Early 2000's not age well.....

Yeah, but never forget the horror that was Will Smith Fish....

Never......