Good Character Design
In anticipation of our Original Character Design Contest, we asked our artists:
If you are new to character design, look at designs that you like for inspiration and ones that you dislike. Try to pinpoint what you dislike about the design and why? Think, “How would I design it differently so that I do like it?” For instance, I have a flagship mascot character Bob Sparker. He’s a gameshow host heavily inspired by cartoony characters with long noses and sharp angles that are very bombastic. Over the years I redesigned him but he has stayed a simple design. I am a fan of keeping things simple in designing and maybe adding one or two distinct things to set them apart.
Kata Kane (robokiss):
The picture really needs to say who that character is… everything from the expression on their face, to the clothes that they are wearing, to the pose that they are in. You want the viewer to look at your character and start thinking that they think they kind of have got this character figured out … but I want to know more. Show off your heart and passion for your Original Character design so others can feel it too when they are seeing them for the first time.
Tyrone Barnes (SycrosD4)
How do you win someone one over with a character no one has seen before? That’s a real challenge. If you can make me turn my head or stop me in my tracks with an original character, you really got it going on. When I’m looking at work and have a WOW moment that makes me ask, “Where is this Character from?” Then I found out it’s an original character… you have really impressed me. You really know how to get a design across. Wow, you understand the fundamentals of what makes for “familiar ecstatic.” […] If you can manage to make something recognizable and it’s still uniquely you got it made.
Can you intrigue our judges with your originality? Sign up for our Original Character Design Competition at Art Way Alliance’s Booth #811 Saturday, August 21, 2021 at Awesome Con!