33 CHARACTER DESIGN TIPS

PANELISTS
-​ Todd Stevenson
-​ Ben Balisteri

Ben’s Personal Art Journey

-​ Business Major @ Tusan
-​ Fell in love with the Disney Renaissance features, but couldn’t draw
-​ Worked HARD drawing animals at the zoo and studying character design
-​ Eventually got accepted to CalArts > First job was Little Mermaid 2
-​ Worked on WANDER OVER YONDER and TANGLED THE SHOW

THE 33 TIPS!!!

1.​ ADD CENTERLINES

a.​ Helps keep balance within the design
b.​ Important for volume
2.​ REPITITION W/ VARIATION
a.​ Keep the details consistent
b.​ Have a heart on the belt? Why give him a skull necklace, then?
c.​ Theming is important to character design.
3.​ USE HORIZONTAL FLIP TOOL
a.​ You will catch your mistakes if you flip it
b.​ It’s a lifesaver
4.​ BALANCE DETAIL vs CLEAR SPACE
a.​ Focus should be pulled towards the face
b.​ Balanced Approach places the details in significant areas you want to highlight
c.​ Radial Approach makes it so the detail in a design flow in a consistent direction
(Top to Bottom = High to Low detail for example)
5.​ AVOID DETAILS IN HIGH MOVING SPACES
a.​ For TV Animation, no one wants to think extra hard about how a certain limb
moves
b.​ EX. Lord Dominator’s big shoulder pads are cool, but are tough to work around
when the character raises her arm.
c.​ Make it easy on yourself/the animators
6.​ USE TANGENTS WISELY
a.​ Tangents are points when two lines intersect on a design
b.​ They can help draw the eye to a specific point, but can also be distracting
c.​ Use them if you want a very specifically flat design
7.​ STRAIGHTS VS CURVES
a.​ Offset a straight line with a curve opposite. Helps avoid twinning and parallel
lines on limbs specifically
 b.​ Straights = Areas of Tension/Bones/ Places the Eye Should Speed Past
c.​ Curves = Relaxed Areas/Flab/Slowing Eye Down
8.​ MAINTAIN SHAPE INTEGRITY WHEN BREAKING UP HAIR
a.​ Use big shapes to use as the form and break it up from there
b.​ Avoid hair going all over the place
9.​ AVOID “THE SAWTOOTH EFFECT”
a.​ More natural art styles have the negative space in hair particles be varied
b.​ Even spikes are cool for more graphic styles
10.​PAY ATTENTION TO SPACE BETWEEN EYES
a.​ Normally, human eyes are one eyeball’s length apart from each other
b.​ Play with the spacing to create different types of personalities
11.​PAY ATTENTION TO PUPIL TO IRIS RATIO
a.​ Pupils are the most expressive part of the eye and irises should be minimally
showing for expression’s sake/non-existent if that’s your style
b.​ Shrink the pupil for a crazy look
12.​EYE HIGHLIGHT RULES
a.​ Avoid pupil highlights lol. They’re very tricky for animators to get right
b.​ If you MUST, make sure both highlights are on the same side of the eyeballs
c.​ Don’t make the highlights too big, lest they deaden the expression of your
character
13.​EYEBROWS SHOULD WORK TOGETHER
a.​ Think of them like a unibrow always. They work as one unit
b.​ Think in terms of S-Curves
14.​DE-EMPHASIZE PERSPECTIVE ON EYES IN ¾
a.​ Forced perspective looks odd on eyes in the ¾ view. Make them as even as
possible
15.​ADJUST EYELINE TO GET VARIETY IN DESIGN
a.​ Vary the proportions to play with appeal and personality
16.​DON’T FORGET BACK OF HEAD IN PROFILE VIEW
a.​ You gotta account for the brain
b.​ Normally, the ear is in the center of the head in a profile view
17.​¾ REAR CAN BE TRACED FROM ¾ FRONT VIEW
a.​ If you do things right, the silhouette should be the exact same
b.​ Make less work for yourself by tracing. Work smarter, not harder!
18.​NO PARALLEL FABRIC FOLDS
a.​ Study how real clothing wraps around bodies and avoid making it all straight and
parallel
19.​PAY ATTENTION TO WEIGHT ON CLOTHES
a.​ Be conscious to natural clothing weight and how it folds
20.​STYLIZED ARM RULES
a.​ Watch where the Forearm Bump is positioned (it lives up with the top of the
hand)
b.​ Stylization still has to play by the rules of normal arms. Study them too!
 21.​THE BICEP/SHOULDER = TO THE FOREARM/HAND
a.​ The forearm is shorter than the bicep/shoulder
22.​TOP OF THIGH TO KNEE = CALF TO BOTTOM OF FOOT
a.​ Thigh is about the same length as calf
23.​VARY SHAPES ON HANDS
a.​ Hands are hard to draw, but also can add character
b.​ Think about the type of character you’re drawing and what kind of hands they
would have.
c.​ Play around with proportions and shapes to add variety!
24.​THE WRIST ATTACHES IN THE MIDDLE OF PALM NOT THUMB
25.​EYES AT AN ANGLE CAN INCREASE FLOW + APPEAL
26.​WRINKLES AND FOLDS SHOULD BE UNEVEN
a.​ Look more natural than a parallel curve
b.​ Eyebags should radiate from center of the head
27.​COMPLEX VS SIMPLE CURVES
a.​ Complex Curves have asymmetry and hints of straights
b.​ CC are more natural, but simple curves can be utilized if the style calls for it
28.​OVERLAPPING LINES MATTER
a.​ Double check that all your lines make sense where they are placed
b.​ One misplaced line can make the whole thing look awkward.
29.​LOOK FOR ANGLES TO HELP IMPROVE FLOW OF DESIGN
a.​ Perpendicular is BORING!
b.​ Angles help improve the flow of design and keeps from looking too stiff
30.​4 FINGERS VS 5 FINGERS
a.​ Personal Preference but more realistic characters should have all five fingers.
b.​ Simple cartoon characters can more easily get away with four
31.​CHOOSE BOLD STRAIGHTS AND CURVES
a.​ Bold straights and curves give off a graphic look!
b.​ Make your choices! Be BOLD!
32.​DON’T SETTLE FOR THE FIRST DESIGN
a.​ Draw, draw, draw! Doodle out dozens of variations till you find the one that works
the most
b.​ Think about everything when you make a new character.
c.​ The more you draw, the more refined they’ll be
33.​RESEARCH!!!!
a.​ Look at pictures from real life and artists you admire
b.​ Don’t just copy someone else’s visual language. Incorporate it all into your own
sense of style
c.​ Artists are supposed to be super observant sponges that take in EVERYTHING!

All these rules are neat, but you DON’T HAVE TO FOLLOW THEM ALL!
Come to your own conclusions and experiment. Art is subjective and our influences vary wildly
Above all else, have your own BOLD UNIQUE VISION for yourself and your art!