Hi there!! So, this was a redesign for a swimmer-type character of mine that I finished just a day or two ago, and I’m pretty proud of most of it. I was trying to work hard on picking colors that harmonized well, as well as creating a more unique silhouette than he had before, such as adding the jacket around his waist.
That said - looking at it again now, I feel like the design might be a little too simple, so I’m wondering if you have any advice on how to do character design while balancing simplicity/complexity? He’s a pretty bright and outgoing character, though somewhat naive at times, if that helps at all, since I know personality is a big part of character design. That’s the part I’m most concerned with, but I’m also having difficult balancing soft versus hard shading, especially with in the clothing - so basically, it’s all just one big balancing act I’m struggling with. Thank you in advance, and thanks for running such an awesome blog!!
A quick look at the shading, maybe i just have a bias towards harder shading, but i would amp up the opacity on your shading a bit, so that the light is allowed to describe the forms more clearly to your viewer.
As for the overall distribution of the shadows, in this particular piece, i would be a little more generous with the amount. Naturally, if you are having a day-lit scene with no pointed light or shading, the amount of shadows would be much less, but since we are working with a backgroundless piece, we can take liberties and make the light-situation a little more exciting.
The complexity/simplicity of a design hardly ever determines the quality of the design as long as whatever elements are in the design are used to their full potential and with intent. Depending on the purpose of the character in a meta-media context ( whether it is used for a comic, a cartoon or a single illustration ) also determines the quality of the design in regards to how fitted it is to its intended use. So for what it’s worth, this character is by no means too simple. In fact, there’s some elements i would even remove to strengthen the design in its simplicity.
You already mentioned the use of sihlouette in the design, and i can totally see where you are coming from with the coat tied around the waist, and i think in fact- that we should use that specific feature to make for the primary shape of his sihlouette.
^ Above i’ve divided his sihlouette ( + some few key details ) into shapes, and ranked them accordingly to how dominant they appear in the design. Keeping these three rankings refers to the thumbrule of “Large, Medium, Small” which is used sometimes in characterdesigns, but also in composition. And it proposes that if you can strike a visually appealing ratio between the shapes frequency in the design ( Few large shapes, some medium shapes, more small shapes ), your design will come across as balanced.
For this character, we’ll let his shirt, the coat tied around his waist, and his shoes make for the primary shapes, those who make for the bulk of the sihlouette. These shapes are easily identifiable which will make him instantly familiar to a returning audience, and easy to read by his sihlouette.
The knot of the coat’s sleeves, and to an extent the shorts ( though not shown here for clarity’s sake ) serve as the secondary shape. Providing the “medium” shapes. And then finally the necklace and the knot itself bringing the tertiary shapes in, and rounding out the design with a bit of detailing.
When working with shapes, especially those of the Large/Medium kind, i incline you not to be shy in exageratting and stylizing the heck out of the shapes you’re working with, since these are the shapes that will make your character stand out, even if they don’t have wildly intricate pallettes or detail levels ( in fact, in some of the strongest character designs, it is exactly the intentional and precise use of shapes that makes the characters so iconic. For an example like with Sonic the Hedgehog^ )
So as you can see, i’ve taken the liberty to go back to your picture and implemented the shapes we talked about before. In practice, that meant making his shirt baggier, the coat poofier so that it really stood out from his body. And making the shorts and clogs larger as well. This means that all of the iconic shapes won’t melt in with his rather normally proportioned physique. The shapes have now become enhancors of his sihlouette, to such a degree where, if we black the whole thing out - we would be able to tell the individual shapes apart somewhat easily.
- Mod Wackart ( ko-fi )
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