5/4/2016 Good Character Design Goes Deep

Good Character Design Goes

Deep
By Chris Oatley

Think about your best friend.

How long did it take for you to really get to

know each other?

Hopes and fears, experiences and

expectations, strengths and weaknesses,
victories, failures, pet peeves and passions…

Whether he or she is your spouse, partner,

close family member, colleague or high
school BFF, the friendship has taught you
that people are unique and endlessly complex.

The job of the professional character designer is to design characters.

…unique, complex people who seem no less unique or complex than your BFF.

In more than a decade of reviewing character design portfolios at art school Q&A
sessions, comic cons and online, I have met many skilled artists.

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…but I almost never meet an aspiring or pre-professional character designer who

actually understands the job.

Typically, these artists rush into the design without getting to know the character.

So if you feel like your characters are at or your designs are unoriginal, here are
three ways you can add depth to your character design portfolio…

Generic-Gun-Guy Must Die:

Okay, let’s do the easy part rst…
ChrisOatley.com
If you’re pumping out page after page of Generic-Gun-Guys or Sexy-Sword-
Ladies, then you’re risking shallow character design.

Generic-Gun-Guy and Sexy-Sword-Lady are not characters, they’re tropes.

Sure, they hold potential for titillating design but they are inherently lacking in
character.

So the best possible version of a trope is a cool design.

…and that’s only half the job of the character designer.

Disney subverted “Generic-Gun-Guy” expectations with the character of Sgt.

Calhoun in ‘Wreck It Ralph’

I enjoy a good geek-out as much as the next guy…

But true character design goes much deeper…

If you aren’t into Generic-Gun-Guys and Sexy-Sword-Ladies, that doesn’t mean you’re

safe from shallow character design.

There’s also Cliché-Cartoon-Cat and Routine-Robot…

…and don’t even get me started on Mundane-Manga-Man…

If you want to design complex, surprising, believable characters and get someone to
pay you to do it, you’re going to have to be consistently surprising.

Find Time For Yet Another Re-Design:

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5/4/2016 Find Time For Yet Another Re-Design: Good Character Design Goes Deep

A Monster In Paris is one of my favorite animated lms

released in the past few years.

The music is buoyant and emotional.

The color keys painted by Aurelien Predal are some of the

most gorgeous digital paintings I’ve ever seen.

…and the character designs by director Bibo Bergeron and

Christophe “Zebe” Lourdelet are, in my opinion, some of
the best CG animated character designs I’ve ever seen
(along with Pixar’s Up, Dreamworks’ How To Train Your
Dragon and Nickelodeon’s new Turtles).

Bibo says that the designs for most of the main

cast developed quickly (note that, in animation, “quickly”
could mean an entire year) but the design of the monster
was more of a struggle.
Raul from ‘A Monster In
Paris’
The team went through many di erent monster revisions
until Bibo had an epiphany (which I’ll explain in the next
section).

My point is that though sometimes they come together quickly (and “quickly” is
subjective), a good character design takes time.

Before you go using, Bibo’s story as justi cation to rush, keep in mind that he is a jedi
master with several feature lms under his belt…

Yes, I know, I know, “Deadlines, deadlines…”

If your character designs lack the entertaining complexity needed to get good, steady
work, you won’t have any deadlines to worry about…

So until you’re a seasoned pro, slow down and don’t give up until it’s great.

If you’re happy with your design, re-design it.

Why not?

You might surprise yourself and create something even better!

If you’re happy with what you have, you have nothing to lose by trying a di erent,
more surprising version…

Connect The Internal And The

External:

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The di cult design process for THE ‘Monster In Paris’ was relieved by Bibo Bergeron’s
epiphany that the monster’s name “Francoeur” means “pure heart.”

Look closely at the character’s face in the image above.

It’s a heart.

Bibo drew a connection between the internal character and the external design.

That simple idea unlocked a surprising, elegant, appealing character design.

The implicit lines in the design of the face ow through the character’s entire
silhouette and the energy of those lines is detectable when you look at him from any
angle. (I highly recommend an intense, freeze-frame-study of this gorgeous lm).

Francoeur isn’t the only character whose exterior design is connected to his inner
character.

Spongebob is SQUARE, for crying out loud!

How genius is that?!

Again, here we have a simple elegant, appealing design driven by a unique, complex
character.

Now go try this!

Transcend shallow, unoriginal character designs by nding the essence of the

character.

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Oh, and if you want to try something a little trickier, do the same thing but with a list
of opposites.

Start with the soul and then design the shape.

Dive Into The Deep End:

Whether your portfolio is lled with generic characters or you’re rushing your
designs, you must keep in mind that your characters are people too.

You can’t spend as much time on a character design as you’ve spent getting to know
your best friend, but odds are, you’re calling your designs “done” way too soon.

How will the perspective presented in this post a ect your future character designs?

Please share in the comments below.

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

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5/4/2016 Good Character Design Goes Deep

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Comments
Dusty says
January 14, 2014 at 2:32 am

They say not to judge things by appearance, but appearance often betrays
character. An absent minded genius can be shown through mismatched
clothes and poor hygiene. A vain man can be drawn as having long hair and
immaculate nails. You’re completely right, the personality of the character is
the key to portraying the design. It’s easier with cartoon characters (literal
heart-face, square Spongebob, etc) but goes all the same with others.

I’m in the middle of a design right now for a portfolio (due in a few days so,
alas, deadline!) and she’s interesting to say the least. The character is an
archmage of a magical academy in the middle of the desert, so straight o the
bat she’s not going to look like a typical medieval-England mage. Her design
needs to re ect her prestigious position, but at the same time re ect that she
grew up in poverty and is uncomfortable with the amount of waste she sees in
the upper classes. I’m going to do that by giving her clothes a complicated, but
ratty design, while also keeping her hair and face simple and spartan, along
with her sta .

(Also, I hope it’s okay for me to o er a bit of criticism — in my opinion it would

help your articles a lot if you reduced the amount of ellipses in your articles to
two or three a post at most. I counted 17 in this one. Having said that, the
content itself is always fantastic and this is pretty much the only website I’m
actually subscribed to. Your podcasts are also the only podcasts I listen to
regularly!)

Chris Oatley says

January 14, 2014 at 7:23 am

So true, Dusty!

You’re describing a technique I call ‘The Flip’ and I’ll explain it in-depth in

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an upcoming post.

JJ Abrams has his lens ares and I have my ellipses…

Hahaha. Someone brings that up at least once a year. It’s a stylistic choice.
I try to write like I talk. The goal is to increase smooth, readability.

Paul Burrows says

January 14, 2014 at 8:53 am

What are ellipses in writing?

Chris Oatley says

January 14, 2014 at 11:18 am

“…”

Dusty says
January 14, 2014 at 5:16 pm

What do you mean when you talk about “the ip”, Chris? Do you mean
when characters appear to have contradicting traits, or something
else? I look forward to that post.

Haha, I was going to say, I understand it works verbally ’cause it

sounds like how someone would talk, but what works for speech
doesn’t always work for writing. I used to drive my beta readers crazy
because I would use dashes and italics all the time — interrupting
myself like this — and they ended up sticking a limit on me per piece
of writing I gave them, LOL. Punctuation’s a bit like line economy.

Rajiv says
January 14, 2014 at 2:36 am

I love reading you articles Chris! Lots of info to keep in mind when designing.
Thanks so much!

Chris Oatley says

January 14, 2014 at 7:23 am

Thank you, Rajiv.

Dan says
January 14, 2014 at 3:35 am

Thanks again for another great article and reminder . It’s so easy to get into the

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