Hi everyone. In this video,
let's talk about character design.
Let's apply the same principles we've seen on our composition video and try to apply
this principles now to characters as we did with environments in our previous video.
So, let's get started. Whenever we have a shape,
let's say we have a square.
Okay, let's draw a square here.
If we have three equal shapes,
we have a perfect example of unity.
We don't have any kind of variation,
not even in size.
Now, let's see what happens if we change,
for example, the size of this squares.
Let's begin with the principle of big, medium, and small.
So, if we have a big square and we change the shape of
this square inch or a rectangle and have a medium and a small one,
we have a much more interesting composition,
one which we can combine in several different ways,
as you can see from the demonstration,
and apply the principles of unity and variety.
Unity comes from the rectangular and square shapes,
and variety from the sizes.
So, let's mark this squares and rectangles as B for big,
M for medium, and S for small.
So we have a medium,
small, and a big shape.
And this makes for a much better way to combine shapes than to have three equal shapes.
Now, let's see how this applies to characters.
Let's say we have a head,
a torso and a hip,
and you can see that it's pretty boring when we have the three equal shapes,
one on top of each other.
So, if we change the size and the proportions of each square and rectangle,
you'll see that we have a much more dynamic set up for the figure.
So, let's play with the shapes and come up with an interesting figure.
Let's use a big shape for the head,
a small shape for the torso and a medium shape for the hip for example.
And we have a more interesting configuration than the one above with three equal shapes.
So let's mark it big, small, and medium.
Okay? And let's try another combination with these shapes,
and you can see that these shapes provide you
the ability to combine in many different ways.
So, let's have this set up for the head,
let's please the ice here just for the sake of representation,
and let's have a big torso and a small hip.
You can see that this is pretty much the setup for
strong and heroic characters with
a little bit of exaggeration but with a much better design.
So, let's try to come up with a design for our character, for our game.
Since it's a female character,
let's go for a small torso,
medium hip, and a big shape for the head.
And if we add a couple of triangles here,
you'll see that we immediately have an interesting figure with
good proportions and much more dynamic than if it was just like square on top of squares.
So, you can see that I can complete here
the waistline with two triangles opposed to each other,
a small rectangle for the neck,
and I'm following the same principles of just opposing different proportionate shapes.
And we can apply the same principles for the design of the hand of the character.
We can have a square shape for the head,
round shapes for the eyes which gives us contrast in shape,
and a small triangle for the nose and we can have
more triangles for the front portion of the hair and then a big irregular shape.
We are having contrast in unity in the design of the head of the character.
So, let's begin refining our character now.
Still exploring the design of the character,
let's turn off this layer and by creating a new layer,
let me redraw the character with
the better proportions we came up with on our last section.
So, a bigger shape for the head,
small shape for the torso,
and medium shape for the hips,
slightly triangular shapes for the legs,
and we have variation in sizes and shapes,
a larger shape for the hair to break up with the evenness of the shapes of the head,
round eyes, and small nose.
So, you can see that we have a pretty good design for a cartoony character,
and now, of course, we can add details such as the feet and the arms.
All very simple. You can see that,
in order to design a good character,
you don't need to be a master of the anatomy or the human figure.
Even though you need to know that it's a good knowledge to have,
you don't need to be a master of drawing,
you can practice drawing all your life but you need to understand
the design principles to design a good character.
So, let's create a profile view of our character so we can explore more of the design.
By keeping the same proportions, big head,
small torso and medium hip,
and larger shape for the hair.
Following the same principles,
let's suppose curved and straight lines for
the profile of the legs and a small shape for the feet.