Wanted to show you guys the steps involved in making my main character

[ColtonPhillips]

So we started with some very minimalistic Drawings. They were almost manga like, and that wasn't the style we were going for.


Then we got a more cartoony style going. Think lines. Pretty simple.


We did some practice vectorizing the character in photo shop

As well as some animation tests.

Which moved forward to this,

And with some final adjustment we have our final character. Ready to be vectorized!





So what do you guys think. How do you guys make your characters?

[Snake]

Not sure if I like it too much. Only because of how he is standing and walking. The side standing views look as if he's in the middle of getting up or sitting down. His stance and walking looks like it would be very painful after a few steps

[ColtonPhillips]

I defend my legs with sword and shield. I like em   Thanks for the criticism though.  It won't look too upsetting in the final version hopefully.

[micamic]

I don't like it - the legs bent all the time. Try to stand for 5 minutes like that and I'll say you're good.

[LRH]

I think it's fantastic. Maybe the legs are just the author's style of drawing? I mean, look at all kinds of cartoon characters, such as Arnold from "Hey Arnold" His head is...well...ridiculous! Having a head like that in real life would be absurd as well, but it's a cartoon, so the creator should be able to make things in a style he/she pleases. If the style were trying to be realistic, I would of course say otherwise, but unless I'm wrong it looks like it is trying to be cartoon-esque.

[Scavenger]

I think the problem is that it's an unbalanced pose. He looks like he's going to fall over, so if you're going for the slouching teenager look, you've got to slouch him forward to counterbalance him, and give him a more aesthetically pleasing line of action (right now it's pretty straight but with rickets. Push the pose some more!). Change that lumpy shape into a nice elongated S.

As for the design, I think it's rather generic and unappealing. The eyes look kind of dead, and it's got that "slacker guy in jeans and a t-shirt" that you see in countless adventure games, and I think you need to spice it up a little - the player is going to be looking at them for the entire game and you don't want a dull main character (unless you're making everything else outrageous). Really think about what your main character is about - their personality, what they do, what they think about the world and themselves. Don't settle for one "style" or one design, you should make a lot of them and see what fits the character best. As it happens, I'm currently doing a character design project, and I've filled up an entire sketchbook with ideas and variations on the same two characters. It takes a long time, does character design. You've got to get the appeal just right, and be able to draw their structure really easily, too. S'a long process.

[Mr Flibble]

My opinion is everything Scavenger just said; which isn't helpful in and of itself, but might lend extra weight to his words.

[Scarab]

Well apart from what has already been mentioned, in the last two images, the character is square gaiting, which will look really unbalanced and unnatural when it is animated, so I think you should change that so he moves his arms like he does in the animated walkcycle.

[ColtonPhillips]

Well apart from what has already been mentioned, in the last two images, the character is square gaiting, which will look really unbalanced and unnatural when it is animated, so I think you should change that so he moves his arms like he does in the animated walkcycle.

Holy smokes you're right I didn't even catch that.  I'll make sure to adjust when we make the walk cycles.

[ColtonPhillips]

I think the problem is that it's an unbalanced pose. He looks like he's going to fall over, so if you're going for the slouching teenager look, you've got to slouch him forward to counterbalance him, and give him a more aesthetically pleasing line of action (right now it's pretty straight but with rickets. Push the pose some more!). Change that lumpy shape into a nice elongated S.

As for the design, I think it's rather generic and unappealing. The eyes look kind of dead, and it's got that "slacker guy in jeans and a t-shirt" that you see in countless adventure games, and I think you need to spice it up a little - the player is going to be looking at them for the entire game and you don't want a dull main character (unless you're making everything else outrageous). Really think about what your main character is about - their personality, what they do, what they think about the world and themselves. Don't settle for one "style" or one design, you should make a lot of them and see what fits the character best. As it happens, I'm currently doing a character design project, and I've filled up an entire sketchbook with ideas and variations on the same two characters. It takes a long time, does character design. You've got to get the appeal just right, and be able to draw their structure really easily, too. S'a long process.

Good advice. I'll look into it for sure.  Hopefully I can get a really good artist in on the project once I complete my demo. Until them, I'm trying to keep it a bit minimalistic.  He's not a slacker either he's a genius!

[Ryan Timothy B]

He's not a slacker either he's a genius!

Well I guess that explains the man purse.


(I'm kidding, I kinda like the idea of an inventory bag)