on the topic of attractive character design
since it has come into my inbox a few times, and since i have been told i'm pretty good at drawing attractive characters, let's briefly explore this topic.
I am aroace, and also autistic, so this is all taken from my weird little observations of allegedly normal human attraction. i won't bother with any explanation of what counts as "conventional" or "unconventional" in terms of attractiveness. this is about making non human characters look attractive to a human audience.
(image description: text on image says "What makes characters 'attractive'? Is the elf man hot? What about the sapient wasp?" also in the image there is a portrait of a humanoid elf man with long dark hair, and a portrait of a wasp-like creature. end description.)
for most people, the baseline of "attraction" is going to be "looks like an attractive human" and anything less humanoid will be less attractive. yes, most people, because we are not just talking about the niche of monsterfuckers. they are in fact not the majority of humans. so for the average human, the elf man here is going to be more attractive than the sapient wasp. he has humanoid features, humanoid expression, and therefore he's easier to imagine in a real human situation where attraction would develop. the sapient wasp is harder to relate to, with its lack of humanoid features.
(image description: text in image says "The real answer is that 'attractive' is a very subjective category and everyone has different tastes. Someone out there thinks this thing is too conventional for a 'hear me out'." an arrow from the text points to a character that has a floating dog skull for a head and a dark feathery cloak for a body. It is holding one skeletal arm out to wave hello. It also has a gold collar with red feathers attached, as well as a little head decoration made of red and black feathers of some kind, which sort of resembles a ponytail. end description)
this is Death, one of my least humanoid characters. It could be considered attractive by some people! Maybe even too boringly conventional for the real freaks (affectionate). It's really quite impossible to find a universal definition for "attractive" when everyone has different tastes. what makes a character attractive? depends on who you ask.
(image description: text in image says "But here's a longer answer: Characters are most attractive when they have a visible personality." Below this, there are four portraits. on one side, labeled "boring", there is a porcine orc and a froggy goblin. They have no extra traits or accessories, just being colored in a generic way and also having no expression. on the other side, labeled "hot!", an orc and a goblin are shown with expressive faces, jewelry, age lines, and differently styled clothing. This orc has a beard with a tied tuft at his chin and the rest of his hair in a tight bun, as well as a few different piercings, and he appears to be laughing. The goblin has more age lines, an earring, and a scar in the middle of their face, and they appear to be having a light conversation. end description.)
personality! maybe I'm biased because attraction means so little to me, but regardless of anything else about a character's appearance, the one thing you can count on to draw people in and create that sense of attraction is making them look like they have a life beyond that one drawing. Who are they? Why do they dress this way? What are they smiling about? what makes them angry? all of that. They have to be People! and they don't need humanoid expressions for that, as long as you can convey some sort of personhood through their appearance and behavior. That's how you get people invested enough to make the heart eyes at your characters. more than just a "dang that's sexy", giving them personality will be attractive on multiple levels. "they look so friend shaped" is something i hear about my characters all the time. this too is a form of attraction.
(image description: text in image says "... or when they're so inhumanly awe-inspiring that it circles back to being incredibly sexy." below this is a massive creature formed of bone and decay, having the bones of many different creatures and a huge animalistic skull mouthjutting out from the trails of decayed matter. a small humanoid figure has fallen to their knees before this thing. end description.)
this is Primal Death, asking some random mortal to become a new Death entity. Exactly the type of shifting mass of a creature some folks find very attractive indeed. there is something about fear and the unknown that can trigger feelings of attraction, though I don't fully understand it myself.
and that is why you really can't make a character attractive on purpose. the audience will decide whether that thing is hot or not, and you can't change their minds lol.
