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Keys of Distinctive Character Design

May 7, 2011

In “How To Make Webcomics,” a fantastic resource for all things webcomics, written by Scott Kurtz, Kris Straub, Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar, there is a chapter on Character. Specifically, iconic characters. A trick that’s suggested is to ask yourself, “Can you identify your characters from their silhouettes?” (19). Try making a line-up and blacking them out. Can you still tell at a glance who is who?

HTMW isn’t the only source with tricks for testing a character’s look. In a recent TGT Podcast discussing the comic Amya Chronicles, the artist, Rebecca Gunter, touched on this point as well. Although Rebecca has an Anime style, she is well known for having distinctive characters. Similarly to the silhouette test, she remarked that if you can take away a character’s hair and clothes, but can still identify them by body type and face type alone, you’ve made a good character design!

So take a look at your characters. Can they pass these tests?

If the answer is “Yes,” then Huzzah! Thou art a character designing master…but what if you discover your cast isn’t quite as distinctive as you thought they’d be? Where do we start?

Having distinctive characters was something I really wanted to focus on in LeyLines. I wanted to vary everything, from face shape to body type, in my cast. However, it’s one thing to say, and quite another to do! So yesterday I sat down and decided to make a head and body chart for my main cast. I wanted each character to have a unique and consistent look, and since we’ve only just started meeting the cast, now seemed as good a time as any to get people down on paper. So here are the things I considered in my exercise:

For the Face

1. Brow Shape
Does the forehead slope backwards? Is it a fairly smooth line to the eyebrow? Does it jut out? Is the ridge above the eye socket pronounced or receded?

2. Head Shape
Is their head round? Elongated? Does it have flat spots? In LeyLines I have two races. The Timu (like Zhiro) and the Tamakepe (“Lightbringers” like Mizha and Tama). The design for Tamakepe was inspired in part by an exhibit I saw on ancient Egyptians. Many of the statues, in particular those of royalty, had elongated skulls and high cheekbones. I was fascinated by these traits and decided to include them in the Tamakepe design. Not all head shapes are made the same!

3. Face Shape
Round? Blocky? Angular? Thin? Wide? Diamond, Triangle, Rectangle, Square, Heart, Oval, Oblong, or Pear? Even if every human skull possesses the same general features of a cranium and jaw-bone, that doesn’t mean they are all going to be identical! Also consider what a shape might make you think of, and how that can be applied to a character. Raiko is a pleasant, soft-spoken, welcoming personality, so I gave her a heart-shaped face. Warren, on the other hand, can be a bit harsh, and his more rectangular face shape reflects that.

4. Nose Shape
Is it round? Flat? Does it tilt up or overhang? Does it have bumps? Has it been broken? Having a distinctive nose can go a long way to making your character recognizable. David, in Shades of Grey endured several drastic style changes mostly because of his gigantic schnoz. Even if everything else about the character changed, you still knew it was him if you saw that big round nose.

5. Eye Shape
How round is the eye shape? Do they have an epicanthic fold at the edges? Are the eyes canted at any angle, or level? Are they unusually large or small? How close or far are they to one another? In LeyLines, Timu of different regions have distinctive features. I wanted a Timu from the North or West (Zhiro) to have different traits than a Timu from the South (Anna) or East (Raiko and Kali).

6. Lip and Chin Shape
Full? Thin? Wide? Narrow? Pointed? How do these lips transition from the nose, to the lip, and to the chin? Does the chin jut out? Recede back? Does it have clefts? Is it sharp or round?

For the Body
1. Height
Height is a quick way to differentiate characters without having to change a thing about their body type. In Shades of Grey I made all my characters the same height. Sure, that made them easy to draw in a scene together, but it also made those scenes visually boring. Size can change a lot about how a character is perceived by others, and how they perceive themselves. Just considering the height of a character can be a starting point for building their personality…but that’s a whole OTHER topic of discussion, and we’re here to talk about things like –
2. Body Type
To start, try working with just the width of certain areas of the body. Shoulders. Hips. Legs. Arms. Then consider lengths for areas such as the neck and torso. Consider weight, and how curvaceous or spindly your characters might be. I don’t know about you, but most of the people I encounter on a regular basis don’t look like they walked out of a Calvin Klein ad. Thank goodness! Can you imagine how boring the world would be if everyone was a model? We are a species gifted with an incredible and mesmerizing variety of shapes. What better way to celebrate that than by drawing it?

While I’m sure there are details I’ve missed, this is the basic list I start with. I highly recommend sitting down and putting your character’s key traits on paper. Having a single go-to reference for the shapes of each character is a great way to make sure your characters keep their distinctive looks once you’ve perfected them!