After today’s lecture, I was left thinking more about diversity and different body types and shapes a character can have.
The character designs I’ve created in the past for my personal project(s) do have different body types and face shapes in my mind, but I feel that my current skill level isn’t high enough to show it well.
As a result, the majority of the differences in build, face shape/structure etc. is lost due to the way I tend to stylise my work.
This week I want to work on showing these differences better in my drawings and make an effort to more actively challenge why I draw in the way I do.
For this week’s rotation I decided to pick these two artists to focus on for inspiration: Takegarou 竹画廊 (Take, 竹) and Ramdaram (람다람).
For a long time these two artists have been a source of inspiration for my art style in general, but this week I want to look more specifically into the way they choose their colours and shapes for their character designs.
Both their designs are used in animation, (Take’s work is also used in video games) which is different to what I’ve made my character designs for in the past (which was more for comics and conveying a narrative through illustration rather than animation). I want to start practicing making designs for animations and thinking more about what to consider when making characters more suited for this medium.
Firstly, Takegarou 竹画廊’s character design work can be seen in Pokémon Sword and Shield and World’s End Club:
Even though I know the bare minimum about World’s End Club, I can still infer what each character’s personality is just by looking at their design due to her effective use of shape and colour.
Next, 람다람’s work features characters that they use in animated music videos that tell vague stories. I think their work has a strong aesthetic I would like to draw inspiration from.
The characters themselves have a wide range of different colours and outfits/accessories which is the focal point of what makes them unique, rather than a range of different body types & skin tones (this is seen better in Take’s work). The coloured outlines are effective for making the design stand out too.