Character Design Commentary

Quick comments on user-submitted character designs.

[chardesigncommentary]

Marie from Splatoon 2

I assume this ask was specifically asking about Marie’s kimono look from the sequel and not her main cosutme.  The outfit is cute, but it’s not as cohesive and recognizable as her main outfit.  Apart from some small details, this looks like an outfit anyone could wear.

I like this design better because it’s simpler, goes with the “fishy” theme better, and the two main colors contrast nicely.

[chardesigncommentary]

Susanoo from Blazblue

A bit busy, but some elements are interesting.  The way his pauldrons are a similar size and shape as his helmet make it look like he has 3 heads, which is neat.  I can tell that the green highlights are supposed to form a kind of internal silhouette that helps the player see where this guy is and what he’s about to do, but the shapes of the highlights are haphazard and thus not very useful.

[chardesigncommentary]

Raven from Teen Titans

I like the silhouette her cloak gives her, and the way her face gets simpler and more expressive when shaded by the hood is an interesting design choice.  On one hand, I know why her legs are uncovered like that - there’s a lot of detail going on in the top half of the design and it needs to be balanced out by an eye catching lighter color.  On the other hand, none of the guys on the team are without pants despite being more acrobatic and thus more warranting of leotards.  For the sake of equality, I’d say either find a way to convert Raven’s belt into a pair of pants or get Robin some red panties to go with his green leggings.

[chardesigncommentary]

Top Cat from Top Cat

Simple, recognizable, and the bright complementary colors make him stand out.  It occurred to me that I keep talking about complementing colors, but I never really explained what those are.  Here’s a color wheel:

The three primary colors are red, blue, and yellow.  The three secondary colors are green, orange, and violet.  When you arrange them in a wheel like the example above, any colors that are directly across from each other are known as complementary colors.  So, if you have a character that is a bright yellow cat and you want the colors of his accessories to “pop” as much as possible, you’ll go with violet.  Sometimes that works, sometimes it looks garish.  Once you understand the basics of color theory, you can start experimenting and subverting.

[chardesigncommentary]

Kula Diamond from King of Fighters

From what I read about her, she’s a weapon with ice powers, and also a child.  The only one of those traits I guessed right away was the ice powers because of her light blue hair.  She uses ice skates when fighting, but they don’t seem to be out all of the time.  The pink and blue color scheme is interesting but the outfit is nothing special.  They might have missed an opportunity to make her look like a petite figure skater.  It’s not hard to design a pretty girl, but it takes more thought than this to design a striking one.

[chardesigncommentary]

Gaius from Shadow of the Colossus

The colossi are creatures that you have to figure out how to kill despite the size difference.  This means that the designs of them are both puzzles and hints.  Little exists for decoration - everything that sticks out in your mind is supposed to stick out.  The stony architecture gives the impression of something ancient and carefully constructed, while the fur is a reminder that this is a living thing.  Also, did you notice that his legs look a bit short compared to his torso?

It’s because you’re looking UP at these things for most of the game!  The perspective ends up balancing them out.  The legs are like that for most of the humanoid colossi.

[chardesigncommentary]

Claire from Motorcity

The geometric shapes in this design and the clean, minimalist outfit indicate that this character is not from the titular Motorcity, which is gritty and chaotic.  She’s easy to recognize and you can get an idea of the character just by looking at her.

I also included concept art because I think it’s neat!  These outfits are cool, but a bit too busy to be animated cheaply.  The more details there are, the more time it takes to draw, and time is money.

[chardesigncommentary]

Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty

Awesome silhouette - it’s immediately distinguishable from all of the other characters.  The points on her horns, collars, and facial features indicate danger and general unfriendliness.  Yellow (a warm color) sclera make her eyes stand out from the cool colors (green and purple) of her skin and eye shadow.

Her dragon form keeps all of the elements of her human design too!  I love it!

[chardesigncommentary]

Herr Frederick von Twirlenkiller from MadWorld

He doesn’t have anything I haven’t seen before, but he’s alright.  The turbines on his arms definitely contribute to the silhouette, and he’s pretty tall so it’s not too hard to see him in the game.  He’s an early boss that doesn’t say much and just exists to get shredded, so he serves his purpose.  The neat thing about this game is that all the models and settings are monochrome and cel-shaded.  Colors come from blood and sound effects.  Very stylish, but since I’ve never gotten the chance to play it, I don’t know if it affects visibility.

[chardesigncommentary]

Kaiki Deishu from the Monogatari series

Akio Watanabe is the main character designer for the Monogatari series.  This means that the majority of the characters are colorful, cutesy, toy-like girls.  And then here’s goth Christopher Walken.  The character is great, but he doesn't really fit in stylistically.  The hair and clothes are fine and even give him a recognizable silhouette, but his face is far too detailed compared to the other characters.  The poor quality of inevitable off-model shots is usually amplified by how many details a design has.

[chardesigncommentary]

Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb

Speaking of mascot characters, let’s examine a successful one.  The orange and teal contrast nicely.  He’s weird enough to draw attention, but cute enough to be suitable for merchandise.  Mascot characters and good character design aren't mutually exclusive, but they usually go together.

[chardesigncommentary]

Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2

This guy doesn't quite give you the same feeling of disgust/fear at first glance like some of the other Silent Hill monsters, but I still like him.  His silhouette is easy to recognize and the red of his helmet stands out against dark and foggy settings.  His design was much more marketable than most of the other characters in the series, which is why he was drafted into mascot status.  The humanoid design plus the iconic helmet presents an image that is more suited to merchandise than the other fleshy, veiny abominations.  That’s also something to consider when designing a character: “Did I just draw a mascot?”  

[chardesigncommentary]

Lord Dominator From Wander Over Yonder

There are two main reasons why I loathe this design.  One is that it’s just Lord Hater’s design but minus everything that made it good.  The plot reasoning for this is flimsy.  The other reason is that the artists on the show have made it very clear that they’re capable of something better.  Look at how much effort and thought went into designing the other main characters of the show and how they all fit together:

Then scroll back up and look at that clunky mess up top.  Her main design attribute is “DUHHH, GIRL” because somebody, like so many others, placed sex appeal over good form.  This show was made by talented people, so there’s no reason they couldn’t have taken an easy concept (a sexy, mean, dangerous, punk/biker lady) and turned them into something that is consistent with the rest of the designs on the show.

[chardesigncommentary]

Sasha Nein from Psychonauts

I loved Psychonauts for many reasons, one of which was the awesome style.  Sasha’s clean, angular design tells you a lot about the character before he even speaks.  When he makes facial expressions in the game, his glasses change shape and size just as eyes would.  This is an acceptable sacrifice of realism because of how stylized the game’s world is.

[chardesigncommentary]

Cyrus from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl

I don’t hate this design, but I don’t love it either.  He’s supposed to be a cold, creepy nihilist, so the lack of eyebrows works in his favor.  If his organization is “Team Galactic,” I think I can see the astronaut influences.  If I squint.  I might like this one better if he had some sort of helmet that added more to the silhouette and the theme.

[chardesigncommentary]

Pearl from Battlerite

She’s cute, but kind of generic.  Nothing about this design really tells me that she’s a “sage able to control the oceans and whatever creatures lurk below.”  The artist didn't make use of the potential of the premise.  The silhouette isn't very distinct because there’s so many bits coming off of it.  

[chardesigncommentary]

Camille Ferros from League of Legends

Her hair and shoulder pads provide a clean-cut upper silhouette and the color scheme is tidy and uncomplicated. I think it was the artist’s intent to show that Camille is both an older woman and a cyborg by giving her wide hips, but they might have exaggerated a little too much because they’re kind of distracting.  While I was looking up the character, I saw this promo image in the search results:

and I thought her coattails and those ropes were extra legs. I initially thought she had a robot spider butt.  That might have been a cooler design choice, and would probably look better than the weird proportions.