FAQ About Character Design

One of the most important steps is clarity. It is very important that the silhouette, color palette and exaggeration of the character are clear. Thus, the character is identifiable in any art style. 

The lack of clarity of the character can make the story look bad.

Let's say that while designing the character, instead of using one color palette, many different palettes were used. Thus, the colors are confusing and not character-specific.

This takes the audience's attention from the story and gives them an understanding of the character. 

The silhouette is important because the character needs to be recognizable even from the silhouette alone when you remove all the color and details from it.

Thus, it appears that a truly unique and recognizable character has been created. 

There are shape rules in character design. Saying a rule is not very correct, but let's say there are situations where it is used a lot.

For example, the square shape is used to represent reliable and stubborn caharacters. Examples include Carl from Up, Professor from The Powerpuff Girls, Ralph from Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Or, if the character takes the shape of a circle, we understand that it is a more friendly and sweet character. For example Mike from Monsters Inc and Winnie the Pooh.

Finally, there are the triangle-shaped characters. These characters also contain elements such as bold, edgy and dangerous. For example, Batman, Maleficent, Sonic, Spiderman. 

Gathering reference is very important. Not only visual references, but also references from books and movies are very important. That includes going outside and watching the trees.

Clarity of exaggeration comes from the artist's perspective of story. So it can be a pretty cool way for the artist to go out and experience some of the things the character might experience. Even for simple things the character does, such as crossing a bridge, having a drink at a bar, experience is essential.