Appealing or Appalling?

Beginning Character Design

You do not have to like the character to find it appealing

An appealing character is interesting to look at. Appeal does not mean that it is cute , lovable, infantile, or cuddly. Monster in movies/games contain good examples of appealing negative characters. We want to know more about the monster and the victims. Victims are often disposable props who never develop personalities. We are horrified by what happens to them, but we sometimes identify more with the monster!

 Example: Giant Ape attacks city! Do we identify with the city or the ape? We may feel empathy for the human victims and sympathy for the monster. An appealing character will have a design that is interesting, but not so complex that it is unable to perform actions required by the story/ gameplay. The design of the character and the production must never prevent the character s actions from being clearly perceived by the audience/player.

Form follows function

Characters without fingers and thumb would have to do certain action by some other method. E.g. wielding a sword. Dealing with physical limitation can produce very entertaining solution. Drawn characters can stretch their arms if necessary, but we must consider this stretchiness a conscious design on the part of the creator, not an attempt to repair a design mistake. It s like a chicken-or-egg theory. If we haven t yet set our story/gameplay, but want to design an appealing character, where do we start?

Reading the Design: Silhouette Value

A good animated/game character, in any medium, will have a recognizable shape. When we can identify it instantly in silhouette, we say that it reads well.

Construction Sights
Create a rough silhouette for each character at the start of the project. Work loosely and experiment with variety of shapes. When you have found one that you like, shade the silhouette in to test the readability. If you have more than one character, work on them simultaneously and vary the size and shapes of the silhouettes.

 After you have your basic silhouettes, design your characters from the inside out. Break each silhouette into sections to indicate the size of the head and length of the legs. Do not! Divide the shape evenly since this leads to uninteresting design.

 Body shapes can impart subconscious meaning to the viewer/ player. Example: youth and old age. The shapes tells us something about their characters before they have even begun to move. Characters portray their age in their silhouettes. The older figure contains some infantile features such as small extremities scaling against a larger body.

 The bony structure of the human skeleton, particularly the jaw and spine, shrink as a person ages. This loss of bone mass and a heavier body causes an old person s hands and feet to appear proportionately smaller than those of younger people. Babies also have large, heavy bodies that contrast with small, rounded arms and legs. However, the cartilaginous tissue in the nose and ears never stop growing and joints become gnarled with arthritis as a person ages. Elderly people appear to have larger noses and ears because they really do.

 Always consider silhouette value when designing a character. Even ordinary characters can become interesting if props and appropriate costume are design with the figure. Tools and uniforms symbolizing specific occupations can create variety in background or crowd character designs. Never just draw a man or a woman . Simple props can create personality. Analyze the design of a graphic character to determine how it moves. Does it shape morph (distort) or it will remain unaffected while surface details animate across it? All of these question must be answered before your character design is put into production.

Foundation Shapes and their meaning

We will refer to some shapes as foundation shapes since they form the basis for complex design in the art of many cultures. Circles & Ovals, which are easiest to draw and distort, Squares, Triangles, Cylinders. These shapes translate into primitives in CGI programs.

The Shape of Things

Certain shapes have taken on symbolic meaning over centuries. Circular characters are seen as cute or non threatening. A character constructed primarily from triangular shapes will seem proactive or aggressive. CIRCLE/OVAL : reassuring, trusting, non-aggressive Or bland, sugary, infantile. SQUARE: (a) solid, dependable, (b) strong, balanced, OR: (c) unyielding, inflexible. TRIANGLE: quick, sharp, aggressive, and insightful. Triangular characters hurried the actions and get things done. They maybe heroes or villains, but they are always active. Yet a triangle, when used point uppermost as the foundation shape for head, indicates a character of low intelligence. These stereotypical shapes can help the character s appearance convey its personality.

Going Organic
Good design is a continuing process of simplification and communication. Organic design have shapes that flow into one another. They are not simply stick together like a snowman. Your design describe a volume, not merely the outline of a shape. Think in the third dimension, not in line. Design the whole character, not a series of discrete components Identically-sized foundation shapes can create a repetitive and uninteresting design. A flat and symmetrically constructed character is in danger of illustrating the Gingerbread Man effect. This symmetry is generally avoided unless you are actually designing a Gingerbread Man.

Reference Reference REFERENCE!! Study human and animal anatomy to learn how a character s external shape and range of motion are determined by its underlying muscle and bone structure

Race:
organic, demonic or undead race: Alien, vampire, angel, succubus, skeleton, mutant, elf, human, norm, fish, pixy, treant, giant. Robots, metal constructs, magical, golums, cyborgs, steam engines, steam equipment or anything with electronics.