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Character Design Survival Guide

This document provides a guide for developing characters from concept to finished design. It outlines 8 steps: 1) Define the character, 2) Use shape language, 3) Establish themes/motifs, 4) Iterate designs, 5) Establish key poses, 6) Develop expressions, 7) Draw turnarounds, and 8) Create a character sheet. The guide provides examples and advice for fleshing out a character's personality, visual style, and communication through poses and expressions. Following these steps will help create strong, well-rounded character designs.

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1K views

Character Design Survival Guide

This document provides a guide for developing characters from concept to finished design. It outlines 8 steps: 1) Define the character, 2) Use shape language, 3) Establish themes/motifs, 4) Iterate designs, 5) Establish key poses, 6) Develop expressions, 7) Draw turnarounds, and 8) Create a character sheet. The guide provides examples and advice for fleshing out a character's personality, visual style, and communication through poses and expressions. Following these steps will help create strong, well-rounded character designs.

Uploaded by

mister vibrato
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CHARACTER DESIGN

SURVIVAL GUIDE
A helpful guide to developing characters, from concept to character sheet!

BROOKES EGGLESTON
CHARACTER DESIGNER
When designing your character, the steps outlined on the following pages will
ultimately help create the strongest design:

1. DEFINE YOUR CHARACTER

2.USE SHAPE LANGUAGE

3.ESTABLISH THEMES AND MOTIFS

4.ITERATE ON YOUR CHARACTER

5.ESTABLISH KEY POSES

6.DEVELOP EXPRESSIONS

7.DRAW TURNAROUNDS

8.CREATE A CHARACTER SHEET

1
Before you start designing the visuals of your character, you need to figure out:

WHO IS THIS CHARACTER?

1. What is their purpose within a story?

2. What is their relationship to the other characters in the story? (if any?)

3. Name the top 3 personality traits of your character:

My Character has the following...


Motive:

Flaws:

Bias:

Place in Society:

Everything on this page can change as your character develops. Keep


in mind that a strong character will encorporate these elements.
WHAT SHAPES WILL YOU
USE TO DEFINE THIS
CHARACTER?
Round shapes are soft and expressive. We connect easily and
more emotionally to circles and curves. They can convey
warmth, youth, beauty, and empathy. Round shapes can also
convey femininity, as well as potential.

Square shapes are inherently static, masculine, hard, stubborn,


and unemotional. They can also denote heroism, an organized
and orderly character, versus a chaotic one.

Triangles are versitile and dynamic. A bottom heavy triangle


can represent an overweight character. An upturned one can
represent a devious or agile character. A triangular character
may not fit in somewhere, or be in a transitionary phase of
some sort.

Try sketching your character within one of the shapes above.


Decide which one represents them the best.

Of course, characters are not generally made exclusively of one shape.


Use combinations of shapes, and combinations of round and straight
lines, to give your character visual interest and dynamic form.

CHOOSE A SHAPE AND INCORPORATE IT THROUGHOUT THE DESIGN OF


YOUR CHARACTER, OR DRAW YOUR CHARACTER WITHIN THAT SHAPE.
THEMES & MOTIFS
CONTRAST/DUALITY: Creating characters as opposites is a great way to represent two
sides of an idea. It’s also a compelling way to create interest between characters.
Whether they’re friends or enemies, there is an inherent conflict between blue and red,
tall and short, happy and angry. Consider what disagreements or consensus would be
shared between the two sides of the contrast.

STEREOTYPES & ARCHETYPES: No one sets out to make a cliche character. As much as
we seek out creative and original designs, remember that long standing truths are
readily accessible to us. By including an element your audience will readily understand, it
becomes easier to include a more complex or obscure point. Archetypes are the long
standing roles played in countless stories before yours. A knight in shining armor, a silver
tongued trickster, a lady consumed with vanity. Archetypes tend to be larger than life.
We can leap-frog off of our audience’s established expectation of a character to create a
character with a unique difference.

NATURE AND THE ELEMENTS: Animals and plants, as well as the natural elements, have
always held such descriptive uses in our language and imagery. Characteristics of your
character’s facial features, shape language, costume, or props can allude to that natural
and fundamental quality.

THINK ABOUT THE SYMBOLISM THAT YOUR CHARACTER REPRESENTS!

FOR EXAMPLE: THESE TWO ROBOTS REPRESENT THE CONTRAST BETWEEN WAR AND PEACE, AND
ARE BASED ON A MILITARY TANK AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT, RESPECTIVELY.

MY CHARACTER REPRESENTS ______________________


(theme, motif, likeness, metaphor, etc.)
THROUGH THE USE OF______________
(symbol)
ITERATE ON
YOUR CHARACTER

FILL a sketchbook page with ideas for your character, thinking about the
ideas on the last few pages of this guide. Don’t get too attached to one idea. Don’t
be afraid to draw something too stupid or irrelevant, consider this the “blue sky”
portion of your design process.

SIMPLIFY your character and their silhouette. Refine, subtract, and


define. Carry one shape or set of shapes through every portion of their design. Enforce
the groundwork you’ve laid for their personality and cut the things that don’t.

EXAGGERATE your character. Make their big mouth bigger.


Make their wimpy legs smaller. Make who this character is instantly recognizable, so
that an audience begins to understand something about them before they say a word.
ESTABLISH THREE KEY
POSES FOR YOUR
CHARACTER
USING FACIAL expressions OR
Poses, USE YOUR CHARACTER TO
COMMUNICATE THE FOLLOWING:

Joy Frustration Rage

Worry Disgust Sadness

Surprise Confidence Calm

(EXAMPLES IN BACK OF GUIDE)


TURNAROUNDS:
Only create turnarounds after completing the process outlined on the previous pages. Creating turn-
arounds prematurely can lead to stiff, bland, and uninspired designs that are too focused on symmetry
and ignore personality. Remember the silhouettes of your front and back will be the same, and that all
elements should be at the same height on all angles.

FRONT 3/4 VIEW

BACK SIDE
CHARACTER SHEET:
NAME:

KEY POSE
Bio:______________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
FRONT SIDE
FACIAL expression
EXAMPLES:

Joy Frustration Rage

Worry Disgust Sadness

Surprise Confidence Calm


Continue to reuse this guide every time you design a character or
encounter struggles! The best characters are born from iteration,
clarity, and understanding the character. I hope this guide has been
helpful for you. For more Character Design learning, there are new
videos every week on

CharacterDesignForge.com.

LEARN CHARACTER DESIGN


Get a comprehensive character design education through the course at
www.LearnCharacterDesign.com

• Hone your craft with practical drawing skills

• Create personalities with motives, not just lines

BROOKES EGGLESTON
CHARACTER DESIGNER

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