Hey, I was wondering if you had any tips on how you make characters? Your character designs have always amazed me and I’d love to learn how you make them so unique! :]
literally made a list to try to answer this one because it's kind of second nature at this point for me and i really had to think
and even so, i'm not sure this answer is particularly... great? I don't really know how to answer how I make my characters "unique" because on one hand, i'm really hard on myself and often don't feel like my characters are all that special
on the other hand, i feel like everyone's characters are intrinsically "unique" (as in, individual) by virtue of the fact that there is only one of us each existing in our current lives with our current specific experiences and thus even if characters look similar, there's always something somewhere that can be worked with and developed into actively showcasing that individuality more
and on the other OTHER hand, i feel like that answer is actually a really long one. The way I make my characters probably connects to my entire life, since I started drawing with intent to make comics at the age of 5
Like, stuff like being inspired by Spongebob or Invader Zim or Dot Hack or KC Green or etc, things where I could write 40 pages of info and still miss things or not accurately convey how I make character design choices
as a result, i think i'm just answering this question more from the angle of "how does one draw out their own individual voice (over time) when designing characters?" since that still applies to me and how i design my OCS generally but can also apply to others, as opposed to "what choices do i specifically make so as to make my characters look the way they do" (though i did use my own choices as examples)
I'd like to ask that even though I'm sharing aspects of how I design my characters, to please not just lift these things wholesale without intent to develop your own style and choices. It makes me uncomfortable when people copy me (I've had bad experiences with becoming popular at 15 and people stealing my characters, and just... -sighs- a lot)
it also can make it harder for you to know what your own voice is, too
It's one thing to take inspiration, and another to base your entire visual language on someone else
Thank you
Anyway let's get into my list of whatever
click here for words i say about art
First off, I think style is part of design
Design is like an outfit and style is the person wearing it. The design looks different based on how the person fills the "outfit" out
Many designs can feel way more unique if the style of the person is more individualized... As a result, my reply is going to involve style choices too (how you choose to exaggerate something), not just design choices (picking a color or fur marking or something)
- Develop a visual library
So a visual library is basically a bunch of ideas in your head for what something can look like. So, if I were to say "imagine a flower", someone with a lot of gardening experience or otherwise a focus on flowers would have a much larger visual library with larger variation (different colors, shapes, maybe thoughts on where the flowers are (like a bush or in the grass or in trees or on cactuses etc) compared to someone who might not have thought a lot about flowers
Another example is to think of dogs. Dogs can vary wildly in how they look from breed to breed, and someone with a fleshed out visual library in relation to dogs would have a lot more to choose from in making a design
You can google things now to get a lot of different images, but developing your own internal visual library is helpful with making the design process feel more natural. when you begin to figure out what you like and why, and keep these things in mind, you can notice more of what you value (which i'll get into in the next bullet point)
Additionally, visual libraries can include shape language and colors, so on, which isn't as easy to google
For me, how I develop a visual library is ... drawing things or watching/playing media or just observing things outside. I still remember playing klonoa 2 as a kid and being blown away by the designs and feeling whole new doors open in terms of shapes or color ideas, so on
I remember being a teen and being driven back home from the air port and seeing how cool the air traffic control towers looked, how they sort of looked like faces from certain angles
These moments, these personalized feelings or memories, are really useful for personalizing a visual library
It's something you ultimately cultivate... For example, Eddy from Ed Edd and Eddy has these lines around his eyes?
I remember as a kid going "that makes his expression look a little more intense" and taking that for when I draw expressions...
- Taking time to think about what you like and why within your own framework and not others. If you don't know why you like something, it's okay, but definitely keep in mind that you do like it
By within your own framework and not the framework of others, I mean things like... like when people say "Um no one will hire you if your art looks like that" or just generally those sort of videos that are like DO THIS, DON'T DO THIS
Those are someone else's frameworks and judgment calls
remember that that is what someone else believes is the best way to make art and that might not correlate with you
It can be helpful to see advice, but if you take suggestions as "I should always do this" or "I should never do this", you end up closing a lot of doors and ways you could really make something your own
For example, in the past people have tried to offer me ways to smooth out the texture markers leave behind... but... I LIKE the texture, that's exactly why i LIKE markers (and why I'm sad prismacolor apparently discontinued their markers)
i LIKE that you can see each stroke? that's... seeing choices I've made in art! seeing me in the art
how things make you feel, what makes you feel that way specifically, are pivotal things in art
for example, in the above comic page, you might have noticed on the final panel, the character's mouth is very wide open, but he doesn't have a visible tongue... That's just something I prefer? I'm not entirely sure why. I could list reasons like "It makes them feel just a teensy less human" or "The mouth feels even larger, like a chasm", but the fact is it's just something I tend to prefer
It feels better to me
what do you like? where do the things you like tend to go (like, wings on arms or backs)? where do you want them to go (head wings, ankle wings, wings floating off the body, etc)? what reminds you of the thing you like?
This one can be work, or it can come super naturally. It used to come more naturally for me, it's kind of work now though because I've taken a lot of emotional damage and struggle connecting with my emotions on and off over the years, especially from trying to make art my job
even if you don't know why you like something yet, if you do know you LIKE drawing the thing, that's so fucking important, i can't overstate that
it's so important to not lose track of what you like to do in art...
- Develop your own personal visual language of meaning
This one is a big one
I'm gonna start with examples of visual language shit I have:
Some of you may have noticed my character designs sometimes have striped necks (including my sona)
-debating sharing what it means...-
I guess this is vulnerable to share
I started doing that when I was like... maybe 14? 15?
it started with a character of mine called Fiver Driver I believe -- (holy shit I should draw fiver driver again)
Anyway, his story relates to hell, and striped necks in that story meant... something akin to "you're going down deeper"
if you're in hell already, you're on path to go down to a deeper rung of it
the logic was something like... black and white thinking? Like, there's no gray area, what is going on is extensively clear, you're marked
for a long time as a result, I marked characters who were troubled with striped necks...
I don't entirely do this always anymore, sometimes I just think it looks nice, but it's still something I think about a lot and it's something that definitely influenced how I designed things and still can
Another example...
So, above is Nuez who has a giant bow ribbon on her head. I love it. It feels iconic of her to me, it can convey emotions when I draw her too
For me, a giant bow like that can just... mean so much about a character? It's a flourish Nuez actively has to choose to wear! It draws attention to itself, it matches her suit top, it adds a dash of femininity to her design, etc
Even when Nuez changes her look later, she still has the ribbon, just as a hairtie sort of thing now, more subtle
When I add a cartoonish gigantic bow ribbon to a design now, it's likely going to be internally drawing upon what I associate emotionally with Nuez, what I feel about that sort of character type: deeply passionate but intense, struggles with showing care, struggles with not being destructive, extremely finicky, has a cartoonish side to them, etc
Here is a character in a different story. her placeholder name was NUEZOID but now it just Is NUEZOID because that's a fucking awesome name.
you can see how her bow droops when she's sad
... i could talk too long about this, because poodle-like design elements ALSO hold feelings for me about different things
anyway, the point is that with these meanings, you will be able to develop patterns in logic for your character's visuals that make them feel like specifically your characters
Having your own "language" of what design choices mean to you personally (as opposed to others) is really integral to self-development of a style I think
- Drawing characters and things you like helps you notice small details and feel how they connect or don't
When I was a kid, I used to draw characters like Canti from FLCL, Elk from Dot Hack-- wait i took pictures of old art recently holy shit
When you actually try to draw what you like, with active intent to see what you like about it (so, gotta be focusing), you pick up on a lot? this is hard to word, but... for example, I remember paying a LOT of attention to Shadow's shoes as they had details I wouldn't have thought about
I remember paying attention to clothing details with BlackRose and Kite and other dot hack characters (though I don't have more images in that regard)
I cannot fucking TELL you how long I spent drawing kite's hat as a kid.
I mean I just ended up taking his hat for my sona anyway
This helps with visual library but also just with... translating what you like from external media into your own visual language too
anyway please look at possibly the best design I've ever made, which I made when I was probably around ten:
- think about the feelings you want to explore or convey in the character. think about the context. Scraggly vs powerful, refined vs raw, etc. why?
These two characters next to each other highlight their contrast. One is very scraggly and scrawny, and the other is really strong, more "monstrous" almost
Whatever you feel from each character, it is affected by their context, by those around them by the world by who they used to be or will become
For the second image, the larger character has their arm in front of the smaller one, and I've heard some people say it feels protective while others say it feels possessive
These takes exist from the two characters being in the image together! If there was only the large character posing in the same way, "Possessive" and "Protective" would likely not be used to describe them, since what would they be possessing or protecting?
The personality and context of a character goes a long way in the design
- Willingness to exaggerate. how big or small do you want something? when do you make something bigger or smaller? Where do you put effort and focus?
Here's an example of Delux, where I drew her hair just kinda small and then decided "no I want a fucking giant tuft"
Another example for this one to me would be something like... I fucking love how Bob Clampett cartoons go nuts with the expressions, especially with how the focus is on teeth and facial structure (wrinkles, cheeks, etc)
(First is from A Tale of Two Kitties 1942, 2nd is from A Corny Concerto 1943, last is from Wabbit Twouble 1941)
i fucking LOVE seeing these sort of expressions, there's something that i really enjoy in cartoons feeling tangible in how their faces get treated with weight, but they're still really exaggerated? the expressions in the first cap are huge inspirations to me, there's so much tension and attention on the mouths and you can really tell these cats have it in for tweety
Anyway, you can SEE how the mouth in these images (and the eyes in the first two) become the focus of the expression! The second one has a big ol tongue jutting out, the first and third have the teeth jutting out affecting the silhouette, so on
These are exaggerations! Choices on where to focus and why! Elmer's face in the third one is fucking awesome, all the wrinkles on his cheeks, his forehead, it really is showing how strongly he's smiling!!!
Same with the first image, you can see attention to detail put on the wrinkles of the mouths, just under the eyes, on the chin
Where you decide to put focus, put drawn effort, hugely determines how a character feels and looks!
In these next images (which are edits of Bugs Bunny gets the Boid, 1942 bob clampett cartoon)...
You can see that in the original frames, Bugs Bunny's mouth stays well within the confines of his face, not affecting the silhouette directly, while Nuez's mouth (and teeth) directly affect the silhouette, her mouth stretching her head out, her teeth jutting outward, etc.
This is a conscious design choice I like to do, for me it makes an expression feel less contained
I made the choice to show way more of her teeth than Bugs does too!
I cannot stress enough that art is a ton of choices... Which... Brings me to my next bullet point which is a hard one for many.
- Make the choice to be vulnerable and imperfect
I struggle with this one a lot (I have so many OCD subtypes I might as well be a catalogue, but a big one is perfectionism OCD)
Ultimately, because art is a lot of choices, when you make the choice to avoid drawing something because you think others will ridicule you if you share it... you are choosing to remove yourself from your art
When I was a teen I hung around really edgy elitist ppl and they hated anime and furries etc
WHICH was not great for me as a kid who grew up with funny animal cartoons and anime
While it wasn't all bad and I hope those folks are doing better, it did affect me and still does affect me
I became really elitist and still struggle with that
I still struggle with feeling like people will hurt me for choices I make in my art, I still struggle with feeling like I need to do things in established and prestigious ways... instead of just doing things how I want to do them
But the thing is, the more you are vulnerable (i.e open and honest with yourself, kind to yourself and your interests, even if others don't approve), the more you will find those who care about what it is you do as work that is yours
your support network will become people who genuinely care about who you are as opposed to what you should be
that vulnerability will become a strength
in the rare moments where I can feel that way, it's awesome
you don't have to please everyone
start with pleasing yourself
you don't have to share everything you do, but at the very least admitting to yourself that you like to draw furries or anime or whatever else, that's a start
letting yourself enjoy things others feel as cringe is so pivotal
I know people say it a lot, and it's not necessarily easy or painless, but it's true
If you're only allowed to like what others say you should like, you end up ignoring parts of yourself and this can build up and up until you realize you've not been yourself at all, but instead playing an inauthentic role that feels "safer" to be than you
You don't end up actually growing and thinking about why you like what you do, or why you dislike what you do
You don't end up actually learning
draw ugly things
draw weird things
make scribbles, experiment with an idea that maybe won't work
If you want to draw cool angular sort of characters and styles, but you have little to no experience drawing that... it's likely going to feel uncomfortable doing that at first
That's going to feel vulnerable, and you might end up shying away from it entirely (at least, i tend to be like this)
but... perfectionism is often the opposite of experimentation
experimenting and exploring... you don't really do that when you know how to do something perfectly, when you know every last thing of what you're doing
i genuinely believe people often grow in spite of perfectionism, not necessarily because of it
wanting to make something look nice isn't perfectionism (to me at least)
perfectionism is thinking that what you made doesn't deserve to exist unless it's perfect
but art is a messy process
our lives are messy processes
it's important to try to keep this in mind
- Figuring out how you like to draw in general, when you like to do ABC or XYZ. also, what you like can change over time
Recently, I started going out and doing some figure drawing and also doing studies of human faces.
I use this site
While drawing these, I realized that I ... really like the angles of a face? I like the structure, the angles and bends of a profile, so on
So when I've been drawing lately, I try to remember this and incorporate it into how I draw, even if it's not a human face
I like drawing clothing folds, the way a tail can curl, fun stylizations for hair
This is not just stuff I like to draw, but how I like to draw them
- Feel free to have multiple iterations of the same concept where you allow yourself to just make things that aren't going to be pretty or the final idea
keeping the duds, not erasing things, really helps. It helps you see your thought process, it helps keep a history for a design, to see where you go from there
You can see Preguntas Luxurium's design process above... It took a while to actually get to her end design! I designed her years ago and its only now that I am happier with where she is
But having the old designs... It's fun
Like seeing baby photos
I struggle a lot with this, due to my perfectionism
Sometimes I feel like I'm wasting paper or time if I don't draw a character and IMMEDIATELY have them
But... it's important to give your character space and time to grow
You might not have all the pieces yet, for what you want them to be
Below is another sketch process, for Belnono and Belauna, who are paper dolls meant to be dog-like, with a day and night motif.
- Time is important. Focus on the meaning for yourself and what you like and it will refine itself over time.
developing a style and designs you're happy with happens over a timeframe, and it continues to happen as long as we draw and live. Think about how different JJBA's style is over time, due to Araki's focuses refining more and more.
it takes putting in time, effort, and openness
if you have all three, its a smoother experience
2 out of 3, possible but a little rougher
1 out of 3, its gonna feel really really uphill
If you (or anyone reading this) has been trying to get into the art industry or generally trying to monetize your art, keep in mind that the current artistic climate is fucking poison for growth
It's really easy to feel lesser because you don't draw as fast and can't keep up
But time is necessary for something to grow
Art is really not treated well lately, and artists aren't either
I don't know how to word it better
The worst thing I ever did was accept the idea that "if im not good, im not worthy of love" paired with letting consumerist ideals define to me what "good" is
It's made me deeply unhappy and disconnected with my art
and myself
that's another topic really, capitalism is hell, but like...
if a style is a collection of choices based on what you like, based on your experiences and feelings, then it... intrinsically requires time to feel it and understand it
try to give yourself kindness and grace, to recognize your own pace and what makes you you, even if those things are things that others don't like
you're allowed to need time and space to just focus on your own shit
