The Basics Of Character Design: Mastering The Fundamentals

Before You Get Started Designing Your Character

The 3 Fundamentals of Character Design

At this point, you might not be so sure about learning the basics of character design. Think of it this way: learning the basics of a skill is like getting tools.  You can use a rock to hammer a nail, but a hammer is much better. Without using and understanding the fundamentals, designing characters might be tricky for you.

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By the way, there's no secret formula that works for everyone. Each artist has their own unique set of fundamentals. Some art styles use gestures, others rely on shapes. Guidelines are critical for some, while others prefer creative freedom. We’re all different! 

We’ve picked out some basic elements of character design that you can’t go wrong with. The more you design characters, the more your process will evolve. Later on, you might find out that you only like to focus on one or two of these elements. That’s okay! For now, we encourage you to consider all 3 of these elements in your character designs. Soon, you’ll know exactly what works best for you!

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1. Striking Silhouettes and Shapessome
   • This is basically the character’s shadow. It’s important to craft characters that are easy to tell apart from each other. Making unique and recognizable silhouettes is one way artists do this. This makes it possible to recognize them from a simple shadow. Including fun shapes in the silhouette can help distinguish a character from the rest!
     1. TIP: ‘Shape language’ is using shapes to show something about a character.  For example, circles in a character’s design can show that a character is gentle and approachable. You’ll learn more about this later in the article. 

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2. Palatable Palettessome
   • Squint your eyes at a character. When we take away all the proportions, features, clothing, and environment, what’s left? The colors! Choosing the colors for your character’s design is important to how the audience will see them. For example, the audience will assume that a character wearing bright, happy colors will be a bright, happy character.
     1. Tip: Experimenting with contrasting colors can help your characters pop off the page! Try…
        1. orange+blue
        2. Red+green (maybe pink and green!)
        3. purple+yellow
3. Explosive Expressionssome
   • To bring a character from ‘meh’ to awesome, showing how they express themselves is key. You can do this by using exaggeration, gestures, and playing with proportions. Pushing the bounds of these can add tons of life to a character. So, don't be afraid to be bold with your design choices!
     1. TIP: Before experimenting with proportions, make sure you understand anatomy! You’re allowed to break the rules, but you want to be able to break them well. 

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Research What Works

These 3 fundamentals of character design can be seen in every character you can imagine. To see them in action, pick out a popular character that you will enjoy studying for a bit. (Research is always more successful if you have fun doing it!) To be able to apply these fundamentals to your own design later, you have to study the basics.

1. First, look at the character’s silhouette. Compare this character’s silhouette with other characters from the same series. When all you have is a shadow of the character, can you tell who is who? Take note of which parts of this character’s outline helps set this character apart from the others. Doing this exercise can help give you ideas on how you would like to draw your future character(s).

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Take note of what shapes make up the character. For example, a tall, skinny character may be made of mostly rectangles. Or, a short and stout character may be made of ovals or circles. A great exercise is tracing these shapes over the original character. Take inventory of what shapes are used. What do the shapes you found add to the final design? What purpose do they serve? 

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2. Next, make a palette based on the character you’re studying. You can do this by using many methods, like using a dropper tool to choose specific colors from an image. Another option is using coolors.co to make a palette from a picture. Once you have the character’s palette, here are a few questions for you to consider
   • Are the colors warm or cool?
   • Do the colors harmonize or contrast with each other?
   • Which emotions are associated with these colors?
   • What is the general vibe of these colors?
   • Why did the original artist choose these colors for this character specifically? 

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These are color palettes from My Hero Academia characters. One of these is the palette of a hero. The other is from a villain. Think about the above questions and apply them to these palettes. Which one do you think belongs to the villain? Try to not overthink it! 

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The answer? ‘A’ belongs to the villainous Shigaraki,  and 'B’ is from Deku! It’s alright if you couldn’t tell. Remember, the colors are just one part that shapes how you see the character. Without being able to see the character’s full designs, it’s hard to tell who is who! This is another reason why these 3 fundamentals are so important to focus on.

 Another secret is that either of these palettes can work for any kind of character. Notice how red is in both palettes. Simply adjusting the brightness or saturation of a color can change its vibe! 

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3. Now, think about which parts of this character are exaggerated. For example, child characters often have large, round eyes. This tells the viewer that the character is innocent. The character doesn’t even have to do anything to prove it! While you look at this character, ask yourself “What is the artist trying to tell me about this character by exaggerating _____?” (Hint: It’s usually something about the character’s personality, but not always!)

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Also, pay attention to what kinds of poses the characters pull. How do they stand? How does this character show emotion (or lack of emotion) in the way they hold their body? Do they seem tense? Loose? Excited? Depressed?

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HEY! Let’s put this classic character design to the test!  Pause before reading further. Have you have never seen this character before? If not, jot down some assumptions about him based off of these photos. Then, Google him! See how many of your assumptions were right! Based on that alone, do you think that this is a good character design?

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This is the iconic cartoon rockabilly, Johnny Bravo. His design is just one big exaggeration!  Let’s talk about his hair. It’s big, bold, and neat. It also has a bit of a triangular shape to it. The yellow is brighter than any other color in his palette, too. It’s clearly meant to pop in his design, and it does! We (the audience) can assume that this character really cares about his hair. You don’t even have to see the photo on the right to guess that!  If he didn’t, it wouldn’t be so neat! Plus, the artist wouldn’t have highlighted it if it wasn’t important to his character. (After all, his shoes are nothing special!)

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This is truly the heart of designing characters. Through shapes, colors, and expression, the artist communicated this character's personality to us. This is your goal when designing a character!  

Creating Your Character

Usually, when you meet someone, your first impressions are based on how that person looks. A tricky part of character design is that the opposite is often true! Before you can really pinpoint your character’s appearance, you must get to know them first. This might seem a bit backwards, I know. Trust me here! It’s much harder for a character to tell you who they are versus you telling your character who they are.

Defining WHO Your Character is

1. First, you have to decide who will be your character’s target audience. Designing a character for a child is very different from designing one for adults. Keep your audience in mind while thinking about your character’s personality.  Consider what traits they may find appealing.

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2. Grab an umbrella, because a brainstorm is on its way! You can start with a pencil and some paper, or use a character description template. This part can be tricky, but that’s okay! Don’t give up if you get stuck at this point. After all, you may simply need a dose of inspiration!  For now, just focus on jotting down traits, interests, or quirks your character might have. Remember to add flaws! These traits are crucial to build a realistic, relatable character.  

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3. Consider your character’s place in the world around them. Will they be embarking on a journey within a story? If so, how might their personality shift and change? This may not be necessary for you to do if you’re not sure if you want your character to be in a story or not. Sometimes, original characters, or OCs, are just fun to draw! You can always revisit this stage later. 

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4. Finally, get it all in writing! At this point, you have a lot of information to remember about your character’s life. Writing a character description can help you keep track of your character. It’s a great tool for later reference, too! Your character is going to change and grow as you do. So, remember to update your character description as you both change! 

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Designing Your Character’s Look

Think about what kind of personality your character has. The art of character design is about crafting a character’s outer look to reflect their inner self. The audience can get hints about a character's life by looking at the traits you give them. For example, a happy mechanic character would not wear all white all the time. That would be too impractical for such a dirty job. (Plus, they probably won’t always have a scowl on their face if they’re a joyful character!) This next section will tell you all you need to let your characters speak for themselves!

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Design With Your Character’s Personality in Mind

Shapes build your character. Before you start sketching, think about your character’s personality. Be broad here. Break them down into simple traits, like ‘kind’ or ‘edgy’. Think about those traits. This might sound a bit silly, but: is kindness, for example, sharp? Or soft? Is it round, or does it have corners? Choosing the shapes in your character’s sketches is super important. It’s your first chance to show off your character’s personality. This is shape language 101!

TIP: The Walt Disney Family Museum offers this very helpful guide on shape language! 

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Now, this part is what many call ‘the fun part’! It’s time to actually begin designing. And, brainstorm some more. This is where a lot of artists get overwhelmed. Don’t get discouraged, and whatever you do, don’t quit! If you’re not sure how to design a character, or where to start, pause. Now, you have your character’s foundation, so you have more freedom to start where you like. Decide what part of your character you will have the most fun figuring out, and start there! 

If you’re stuck, it’s time for you to pause, too! Actually designing a character means you have to come up with a lot of ideas. For a LOT of different things. If you need character design ideas, you can check out CharacterHub for more inspiration and tips on designing characters!

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Finally, make sure that all the parts of your design go together in some way. This doesn’t mean that your character has to be totally consistent, though. (After all, who is?) An evil villain can have a Hello Kitty keychain! Mix and match different styles. Just remember to give the character an overall vibe that viewers can pick up on. 

 Experiment!

Finally, you’ve done it: you have created your character. All your hard work is over now. It’s complete! Well, not quite. In reality, artists might tweak their character’s design forever. Characters are people, too, (er…maybe not, but you get the point) so they change and grow as we do! Don’t feel pressured to decide a final design for your character right after you create them. Over time, your character might look totally different than your original design. That’s okay! Think of it as them “growing up.”

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So, how do you get as close to ‘completely finished’ as possible? Experiment! By experimenting, I really mean get out of your comfort zone. Try including elements in your designs that you’re not usually drawn to. You might be surprised at how much you’ll like the results! Have fun with different hairstyles, clothing, and even facial features. Keep tweaking your character’s design until it feels just right. 

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You can also experiment with the foundations of character design, too. It’s never too late to tweak your character’s silhouette or exaggerate some features! One way to practice doing this is by doing many thumbnail sketches. A thumbnail sketch is a small sketch that you do quickly. It’s not meant to have a ton of effort put into it, so feel free to experiment away! Once you have a few versions of your character to compare, you can see which features you like and which ones you don’t. Exaggerating the character’s most important feature(s) can be a great final touch. 

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Get ready to draw. A lot. You want to be able to draw your character the same way every time. Repetition is the key to being able to do this! Practicing drawing and redrawing your new character helps you develop muscle memory. This can prevent you from making little mistakes when drawing your character. (Eventually, you’ll be an expert!)  Accidentally drawing something as simple as the hairdo wrong can confuse the viewer.  Remember, being recognizable is important for a character!  

TIP: Don’t lose sight of your original goal for your character. Plus, Don’t forget to have fun!

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Character Design in Action

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Let’s walk through a quick example of designing a character. 

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Step 1) Before you put pencil to paper, you gotta know who you’re drawing. After some brainstorming, I came up with a Punk Painter Kitty named Riot. She’s a fiery feline that loves to paint. When you first meet her, she seems excitable and a little aggressive at first. Once you get to know her, though, you realize she isn’t all that bad! Riot is outspoken, creative, and sometimes bubbly. Her strong personality makes her seem intimidating.  (In other words, she barks but has no bite.)

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Step 2) So, now we have our character! We know that Kitty is a bit edgy. What’s edgier than triangles? So, I include lots of sharp points in her design to show off her unpredictable, excitable side. Remember to think about shape language during this early step! Plus, using so many triangles in Riot’s design ensures that her silhouette is unique. Have you ever seen a character shaped quite like this? 

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Step 3) Now, we have to figure out how Riot’s face looks. Riot can be a little…well, temperamental, at times. So, a bright smile isn’t the best fit for her main expression. Still, Kitty isn’t a mean cat, either! Keeping her cute-ness will help round out her design and give the audience a hint that Kitty isn’t all bad. Her eyes are circles, which tell the viewers that she is harmless.  (This is shape language in action, too!) Keeping her tongue out shows off her punkiness while playing on her cuteness. Finally, the angry eyebrows are the finishing touch that brings her face together.  

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Step 4) Next, we can start adding more details. Now that we have the base of the character, we can add fun details. Accessories, scars, tools, clothing, and many other details bring the character to the next level. Here, they’re drawn in blue to help emphasize them. We’ll change the colors in the next step!

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5) Now, it’s time to choose Riot’s colors! (This is definitely my favorite part!) From the 3 palettes above, which do you think fits the character best? Remember to think about her personality!

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The answer? Well, there really is no right answer! As long as the colors make sense and represent the character’s personality, it works! In each of these examples, I chose the most unique color in each palette to fill Riot’s heart pendant. This makes her pendant pop, and gives a hint to the audience that despite her tough exterior, she has a loving heart. (Plus, why would a punk wear a heart necklace unless it was super important to her? It makes the audience wonder!) 

6) All that’s left to do now is have fun drawing Riot! At this point, we can experiment with her look to refine her design, too. What’s next is really up to you! 

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Well, here we are, at the end of the article. By now, you’ve learned all the secret tricks and tools that artists use. Maybe you’ve created a character along with each step, or maybe you’re about to get started. No matter what you and your characters are up to, now you have all the skills you need to create three dimensional characters out of thin air. Happy birthday to all the characters you have created!