Can you see how the big head and glasses enhance that nerdy look for this simple character design? A great way to add a distinct personality to your unique cartoon OC is to explore different body types. Because society has already attached certain stigmas or traits to certain shapes and sizes, we automatically conclude the things we know about the character by the way they look. It is important to understand that using reference images for inspiration is not cheating.

Understanding the fundamentals of good character design is key to the success of illustrations. Everything about your character needs to be planned to have the greatest effect and generate the most interest. Great character design isn’t random or happy, but is the end result of good character design processes and a lot of work. Horses don’t actually have eyebrows, but it was difficult to create the right facial expressions with a more realistic-looking horse character. This fantastic addition is a great solution if you’re stuck in a rut about how best to express your character. Mobile game characters often don’t need to have a lot of detail, as they’re not seen as close.

That said, each artist will have a different approach that works for them. If you are in the canteen, on the bus or just in the elevator with your neighbors who have just returned from the supermarket. Learn to notice these postures, body language, and expressions, and try to exaggerate them in rough sketches to convey feelings. Even the nearest contours and shapes can speak aloud about the character’s personality and make them feel real and relatable. Before a line can be drawn, character designers must study and prepare.

For children’s books, I did similar illustrations for my own benefit, but the client hadn’t asked me for that. It was so I could get a better understanding of what that character was like. References are absolutely crucial when it comes to character design. Depending on the type of character the artist will be designing, they need to do a lot of research on the real thing before starting to draw. For example, you might want to create an animal character. Whether it’s a hedgehog, a sphinx cat, or an eagle, you can try watching a documentary about the animal, reading information about it, and using Google for images.

The character’s backstory will show us ideas about what makes them unique and what kind of costumes/props they would wear. Having a strong character backstory ensures that the design follows naturally and convincingly. introduction concept art A key to learning to design characters is knowing what to exaggerate to better convey who that character is and engage your audience. Character design is rarely photorealistic, but is an abstraction of the real.

Otherwise, most cartoonish styles tend to keep the edges hard for their colors and shadows. To get an idea of how this is all done, search and study process videos by other character artists on YouTube. This is a primary visual way to communicate traits and emotions such as stability, danger, or innocence. Stephen Silver is a cartoonist and character designer best known for Kim Possible and Danny Phantom. It is well written, easy to understand and very practical. Now that visual art is going digital, even artists are still debating whether digital art is real art.

This way, you’ll know what level of quality is needed to be hired in a particular studio. Study their progress, find out how they think and solve problems. There are plenty of established character designer portfolios you can learn from. Just by getting the mentality of always dividing things into patterns and studying them, you’ll learn more from them than from any book or tutorial that exists. One of the best places to look for large portfolios is ArtStation.