More Character Design Tips

January 9, 2024 - Published

So you read my first character design tutorial, you designed a character, and they're looking pretty good! They have solid shape design, their color scheme doesn't make people's eyes bleed, and it clearly communicates a design concept.

However... it feels like it's MISSING something. That sort of ~pizzazz~ that most popular characters have... what could it be?

As an example, I'm bringing out Kiwi the kobold! I designed them about a year ago, but they never really stuck around as a character. They satisfy all the "requirements" from the last article -- visually pleasing earthy colors, and a combination of sharp/soft shapes since they're a cute li'l rogue kobold -- but nothing really stands out about them, despite my attempt at adding interest through bandages/straps. They also don't have much lore other than being a petty thief. Let's see if we can get something more interesting going.

#1: Have a focal point

A very easy way to make a character more memorable is to give them some sort of focal point or signature. Everybody knows Mario by his big red hat with the letter M, and characters like Steven Universe will have a symbol like a star. In some more extreme cases, it could be argued that a character's signature symbol is the character. 

Link from Zelda is often recognized by his famous green outfit, but this was completely redesigned for Breath of the Wild and its sequel. The only signature feature that was carried over was his iconic Master Sword. His long blond hair and pointy ears are also there, but those are generally very common fantasy character features and would not make him immediately recognizable.

In some cases (like Kirby) a character's shape design can be so iconic that their design isn't in need of any extra symbols, but this is generally uncommon. As you can tell by the examples, this focal point can be pretty much anything -- a weapon, hat, shirt, accessory, or even a shape/symbol. These are usually created through contrast, whether that be a color that stands out, or strong shape design.

For Kiwi's case, there's two things I have in mind: one is their hood, since its shackle is in a very noticeable spot, and the other is their weapon. Kiwi would love daggers as a rogue, and being a petty thief on the streets, it would make more sense for them to have fancy daggers rather than fancy clothes. Even if they aren't holding the daggers, this also gives us the opportunity to add the sheaths to their design, which will increase interest.

#2: Break up the design

This is a very simple concept that I considered including in the first article, but decided not to in order to avoid pushing too many concepts towards beginners.

Have you ever noticed how lots of old cartoon characters have big white gloves? While it was for multiple reasons, the one we'll be focusing on is the fact that it created contrast in the black-and-white cartoon era. Most of their bodies were black, and since hands often conveyed very important information, having it show up clearly in front of the body was very helpful. 

Whether or not you're doing animation, breaking up a character's body into segments usually helps a lot. It makes clearer silhouettes for more poses, but it also usually just LOOKS better. As an example of a character design that DOESN'T break up body segments very well, let's look at Guile's outfit in Street Fighter 6.

This is a subjective opinion... but I find this outfit REALLY ugly. I know it's an air force jumpsuit and everything, but there isn't a clear visual separation between his torso and legs, making it look like he's wearing pajamas or something. However, the designer clearly knew that some modification was necessary to make recognizable body segments, so they rolled up his sleeves to make his arms stand out, and colored his shoes differently. Still, his older design does this much better.

BEAUTIFUL! His arms still stand out so that his punching attacks are emphasized (you'll be seeing Sonic Boom a lot), but there's still separation between his top and bottom half. There's a relatively subtle but important difference in color, and a belt to really emphasize it. His boots are also much bigger, and that combination makes his kicking attacks still really easy to follow. This is the design that remains Guile's most iconic outfit.

You can break up designs through colors, or through clothes/accessories. Animal characters will often have countershading or patterns to create interest, while humanoid characters usually have straps/belts to break up areas that aren't broken up through clothing. Each piece of clothing also naturally creates color contrast, and I will personally note that I find characters more fun to draw when they have good segmentation.

Kiwi has some nice accessories to break up shapes, but it's generally not very interesting other than the black cloak's contrast. I used other kobold designs as a reference and decided to add a modified loincloth, which is common iconography for kobolds, partly due to their social standing. Instead of making it fancy, I made it look like scrapped cloth, and it's colored black to mirror the cloak.

I also tried on countershading, and really liked how it looked! I don't think it's totally necessary for Kiwi, but it does add a nice feel.

#3: Symbolism

This is the most complicated one, but it's what makes some of the most memorable character designs. As character designs are often linked to stories, they are just as capable of telling a story by themselves. Symbolism can be created in many ways! 

The most obvious way is to include a shape or object that represents something else. I'm bringing back an old example because it's just really simple and effective: Pikachu! His tail (especially with the yellow color) gives off the impression of a lightning bolt with its zig-zag shape, making it very memorable iconography without being super obvious. If you were to draw a cartoony lightning bolt, it would probably look a bit different than Pikachu's tail.

As a counter-example of how to do it badly, I'm showing another Pokemon, Elekid. He is also an electric type, but the symbolism is EXTREMELY on the nose. He has a literal electric plug on his head, and as insult to injury, he has a big lightning bolt symbol on his stomach. It isn't even anything physical, it's just a tattoo slapped on his stomach. Again, subjective opinion, but I find him very ugly, and his design is painfully uninteresting. Like yes, OK, we can tell you're an electric type! But where's the rest of you???

Another way to include symbolism is to add a feature that has meaning to the character. One of the quintessential examples of this is to give a character a scarf, which makes me immediately think of Mako from The Legend of Korra.

While I haven't watched too much of the show, Mako's design is pretty strong, and his red scarf immediately stands out against his very simple and understated clothing. Once you learn about the scarf, you find out that it belonged to his father, who was murdered along with his mother when Mako was only a child. Because of that event, he had to essentially become the father figure for his younger brother all the way through adulthood. 

This is different from the first type of symbolism because there's no way to know what this symbolism means just from looking at the character alone. However, it can build up the complexity of the design without making the design itself any more complex. The fact that Mako wears this scarf regularly shows what's important to him, and defines his background and primary motivations. All just from a simple red scarf!

The last type of symbolism I'll go over is having a reference to another work. At the risk of bringing up this series, Nagito Komaeda from Danganronpa 2 was intentionally given similarities to Makoto Naegi from Danganronpa 1 in order to make players immediately start questioning his identity. On top of the visual similarities (mainly through the jackets, but also arguably through the face and hair), they were given the same voice actor and similar lore by both being Ultimate Lucky Students. This created a much larger air of mystery around Komaeda, which worked really well for a game that was essentially designed around mystery.

Uniting characters through design is often done to visually connect characters who have an in-lore connection, like family members. However, there's many ways you can go about it, e.g. referencing a popular character to create some sort of twist on them. My favorite example of this is the fox from Tunic, which had very clear inspiration from The Legend of Zelda to immediately give players a preconception of the game and character. 

It can also be considered a mix between this point and the first point, but I personally enjoy referencing popular iconography in my own character designs. Fidget has a long black coat for multiple reasons (mostly just thought it'd look cool), but I kept it because it gives off the impression of stereotypical wizard robes, hinting at his magical nature. 

We'll be following point #2 and add little storytelling pieces to Kiwi. Their daggers will be designed to look expensive (mainly by adding gems, gold color, and complex decorative shapes) to imply that they're stolen, and I'll also be adding various scars. The bandages were originally added entirely just to look cool, but I want scars to suggest that they're not just for show; Kiwi is an amateur and often doesn't make clean getaways.

#4: Exaggerate Features

This one's a really simple one, but it's something a lot of people are afraid to do. If your character has a strong character trait, try to exaggerate it, especially if they're a cartoon character! You can do this physically by making certain features bigger, or by using more features to emphasize a specific trait. If the other tips don't resonate with you, you can always just exaggerate what's already there to make your character stand out more.

I won't be making notable changes to Kiwi since I'm happy with where they are, but I did make their ears notably large since I enjoy that design trait. I'll also be sizing the daggers to make sure they stand out.

Say hi to Kiwi! They're a kobold who's a petty thief, and frankly not very good at it, but is still riding the high of the one time they managed to nab two very cool daggers. To their credit, they have managed to never get captured, though.

Thank you for reading! This article took a lot of work since I had to redesign a character on top of everything else, so I hope it helps people out.

• Vecderg