Ok, this is gonna be a broad topic. I thought of it as I was sketching out designs for some new characters.

Questions are:

How does everyone go about designing and creating new characters?

What makes a really good character design?

What are some of your favorite character designs in either print comics, web comics, or other design media? And why?

I know it's a broad topic, just curious to everyone's opinions on this.

Oh, I like it! What a fun topic ^.^

I'll see someone out and about on the town (or, in one case, in the DD picture thread!) that I just have to draw. Either they have a cool hat or a cool look overall or whatever. I'll have sketches and colored pencil scribbles for coloring, and then, when I have the need for a character, I'll flip through the book and find the one who'll fill the need.

Personality traits come directly from their specific roles in the story, but I'll throw in a few quirks or traits that kind of make it harder for me down the line, but their personalities round out a bit.

I also like meeting people I don't necessarily care for - then writing a story about how that person got to be that particular way (crotchety, miserly, what-have-you).

The jury's still out on the specifics of a good character design. One of my favorite characters (among a huge list) is Lemon from Ruby .

it really much depends on what kind of story you wan't to make, or more accurately in which background will they develop, the character design will offer you the ability to highlight certain characteristics of the factions the characters represent, their ideals, their personality overall of everything they are and mean, on a more of an artistic point of view, this can be a little (a little ??) tricky, since only one element out of place and the character may ruin the feeling or message you want to be delivered.

i also know that many other times, the characters themselves are the one that shape the plot, sure, they in fact are the central pieces of the game, but unlike the scenario i treated above there are times when the characters build the plot since the very beginning of the story as an example, many times people want to start a comic regarding certain themes, then they create the characters according to the guidelines they set, this way could be hard because it is like finding and putting the pieces of a puzzle, the other way, first creating the characters and then developing the plot and context for them is more like a flowing current.

How do I design my characters?

I usually start with the personality of a character and create based on what I think looks best for that personality. I go searching for different pictures of hair, clothes, or other characters and pick out what I like best about them and put it all together in my own way. Sometimes they come from random doodles and sketches from notebooks.

I think part of a good character design is unique-ness. They should be distinguishable from other characters.

As for favorite design, I like the Team Fortress 2 characters. I like the way they're drawn and animated, lots of personality.

How does everyone go about designing and creating new characters?
- High school yearbooks and Newspapers. They got lots of pictures of faces. I take a face then I slightly modify it so I won't get sued.

- MMORPGs. Since they allow character customization, you can use that as a basis to create a new character.

- Anime or comic characters I like. Copy them then modify.


What makes a really good character design?
- One that doesn't have conflicting colors and such. Review your color theory.

- One that accurately represents the character's personality. Something in where you could tell right away if he/she is a good guy or a bad guy or the funny one or the idiot or the strong silent type or the cold calculating villain, etc.

- Less could be more. Because its more difficult if there's more accessories on their costume. That's why I keep my character designs very simple that if you are to cosplay ANY of my characters (that resemble humans) you won't be spending alot of money. :)


What are some of your favorite character designs in either print comics, web comics, or other design media? And why?

- hard to decide. But anything that's easy to draw.

How do you go about designing and creating new characters?

I map out the characters personality first, then from there i google haircuts that would suit them and outfits off polyvore or yesstyle. From the personality it's easy to pick an eye type and i suck at body types so idk


What makes a really good character design?

I personally like recognizable ones, i'm probably not going to remember all their names so i'd at least like some signature to know them by. I also appreciate characters that wear cool clothes and not the typical formless shirt/formless pant combo every other webcomic character seems to like.

What are some of your favorite character designs in either print comics, web comics, or other design media? And why?
uhhhhhhh...the guys from bakuman are unique yet normal looking, and the girls of subnormality are always fun to look at.

How does everyone go about designing and creating new characters?
It starts with a plot need/idea. I need a shop-keeper or a certain kind of henchman or a former love interest to stir up trouble...

Then, I plan his current place in the world, sometimes detailed, sometimes vague (and it doesn't even matter if it's a minor or major role; I just get into it sometimes). I consider his quirks usually. I extend it to his relationships with the existing cast and how he would react to them. Btw, I write these brainstorms as I think. (One time, I needed a psychiatrist and spent a whole day pondering different ages and genders and how a certain character would relate to them, if she would open up to them, etc.)

*Sometimes* I consider some important events in his past (especially if he's a major character). But often I just stick with his current attitude and relationships and develop his past and other details as the story progresses. I also make future plans for the character, but these get modified or completely reversed sometimes. As long as the character evolves naturally, I actually get a kick out of that kind of thing.

For the art, I usually just draw whatever I picture in my head. I'm not sure the process of that development. I think I probably think of the personality and some traits come to mine (confident and devious, things usually go his way, cool head, evil=tidy appearance, always smiling, etc.) then I draw from people I've seen in life or TV or whatever. Some people and traits make me feel warm; some make me feel creepy. -- Oh, and if he is related to other characters, I try to make him resemble his kin a bit.

What makes a really good character design?
In terms of personality, unless you are writing a silly story or one that is going for some purpose other than realism, they need to have depth. I like characters that I can relate to on some level. Even if they are pure evil, I find that I can hate them and fear them more if that evil is presented realistically. I want to picture them as people I might actually meet. It helps me cheer for them or hate them or feel anxiety or sadness when bad things happen to them. Depth is as easy as putting yourself in their mindset when writing for them (lines and actions). -- Along with depth goes consistency. If at any point you find yourself thinking, "He wouldn't say/do that!" Then rewrite the page.

For appearance, the character should be unique enough to recognize. Somewhere I heard the "cosplay rule." If someone was cosplaying the character, could others recognize it? Also, the outfit shouldn't make the man. The character should be able to change his clothes and hair and still be recognizable. Even if it was a cheap/poor costume? It's also nice if the physical appearance reflects the character -- not to the point of metaphor (though that too can be fun), but if the guy is a lazy and careless guy, he probably shouldn't be in an immaculate tailored suit.

Personally, I don't get into complex costumes or whatever, but I think that might be a personal art style preference more than anything else. (I get distracted by detail and relate better to simplified designs/expressions.)

What are some of your favorite character designs in either print comics, web comics, or other design media? And why?
I don't read a lot of comics offline, just Detective Conan. My favorite character in that is Wataru Takagi, a semi-minor cop character. I like him because he reminds me of myself. He's clumsy and spazzy and a hopeless romantic. He screws things up sometimes, but he also has brilliant moments. His art design has changed over time, and I'm not crazy about the newest way he's drawn, but I still like the character and get excited when he's playing a big role for the arc/episode.

Most of the comics I read online are because I like the characters. If I were to generalize for protagonists it would be that they react to situations with a lot of cleverness and resolution without too much drama. The (major) villains are usually just as clever. In a fight, you don't know who will win because they are evenly matched (even if one side has only luck and no skill -- but they have a LOT of luck). -- Also, the characters I like most are ones I personally relate to, single adult women.

For appearance, I could pick any one of them out in a cameo or fanart drawn by another person. I don't think they have any other traits in common.

How does everyone go about designing and creating new characters?

Usually I start with what function or role they'll have in the story. Then I construct a personality for them- pretty bare bones at first, just a couple likes/dislikes or notable characteristics. I figure out what their main motivation for serving their "function" is, how they interact with others, and what caused/ causes them to be that way. Once I get that stuff down, the rest of the personality just kinda falls into place.
One thing I pay a lot of attention to is how the characters speak. I test myself by thinking, "Okay, if these speech bubbles were disembodied, could I tell who was saying what?". I try to give everyone little verbal tics, or very the ways characters contract words, or where/when they drop 'G's, how often they use "filler" words ('um', 'uh', 'like', etc.).

As far as design-
I try to make each character as memorable as possible. Most times I don't try to draw "attractive" or pretty people. I try to give each character at least one interesting or memorable feature. Try not to use the same jawlines, noses, eyes, lips, hair, body types, skin tones (although you can't really tell most of the time what with the B & W), etc. ...Although sometimes I totally fail. Two of my main characters have the same frickin' nose. Somebody forgot the "profile test". Clothing I'm not too concerned with- I just try to keep it simple enough that I won't kick myself when I have to draw it 200 times in a row.

I'd love to be able to say I'm economical with character design, and keep the main characters simple and easy to draw. But... no. (Dudes, the snake-haired chick? C'mon. I swear it takes me 45 minutes to ink just her, every time she appears!)

What makes a really good character design?

You have to be able to recognize that character immediately!!! I think that's most important. Also like any other good design, it needs to be as simple and streamlined as possible- how much can you convey about the character, or how interesting/memorable/distinct/whatever can you make them using the least amount of visual information. Everything has to be there for a reason, and has to makes sense.

What are some of your favorite character designs in either print comics, web comics, or other design media? And why?

Ooooooh, so many. Probably my favorite comic character/character design of all time is Warren Ellis' Spider Jerusalem, from Transmetropolitan (drawn by Derick Robertson). Or at least that's who pops into my head first and foremost, so let's roll with it.

Cartoons:
I think Matt Groening is a frickin' master at character design.
"The Venture Brothers".
"Metalocalypse".

As far as webcomics, for some reason Lil Nyet comes to mind. I think that's a good example of "less is more".
I also like Subnormality ; I think that dude does a pretty good job making interesting/ unique characters.

I'm sure I'm forgettin' stuff, but... meh.

How does everyone go about designing and creating new characters?

That depends. For my "super secret djinn saga thing" (super secret since I won't be able to draw it this year most likely so no point to spoil the plot/concepts) I just wrote things as they happened, going from a short outline. So the characters were created on the spot and I just let them write themselves with minor tweaks here and there to push them in the right direction (this is also how I like to write plots, put a character in spot A and then figure out what obstacles I need to put in this character's way to get him or her to the spot B). Art for these will come later, once I'm in full design mode.

In Ravensrook (which is a sequel to Din Krakatau) I pulled out a batch of previously drawn characters (basically just a raw idea of how they're supposed to look like), and as I was approaching the bit where they were supposed to debut, I sat down and wrote down something like this for each of the six new characters popping up at that point...

(name deleted).. a bit grim looking guy, he tends to be ratehr unpleasant in conversations with strangers but he has some sort of an affection for (other name deleted) and thus is much nicer to her... uses a gun that shoots (weapon description removed cause it's a spoiler, followed by the description of the unusual ammo and its effect on demons/machines).
(name deleted)'s motivation is quite simple. He dresses as a demon and uses supernatural weapons against these creatures to "fight fire with fire", as he says quite often himself. His appearance is most likely not scaring the enemies at all, but it gives him a psychological edge that allows to push beyond what he could do as a human.

(basically a batman knockoff with supernatural weapons, I know, shut up, haha)

This is written on the spot... and mostly ignored :D
Only when I'm stuck, I look back at these notes and they give me some ideas where I could push the story.


What makes a really good character design?

Multidimensionality. I don't know if I do achieve this, but to avoid flat, one or two dimensional characters I focus on things they wouldn't do or say rather than things they would. It's not about most often used saying or some peculiar quirk.

what I'm trying to say here? Instead of making your character speak only specific sentences you should rather see where their limits are. This character never swears, that character dislikes using "smart" words, another character never says thank you. This way you're still open for a million of possibilities in dialogue for that character, while at the same time you can smartly use the limits to give him or her a distinct voice.
The same can be used for other things than just dialogue. Are there people who just dance all the time? Nope. But there are people who won't dance no matter what.
I hope I'm making sense :D

Also, what's important is how they interact with each other. Character A and character B both "fight evil". Character B doesn't like guns and thus uses blades (this character's specialty), meanwhile character A uses a nonlethal gun to... avoid killing humans (as this character is fighting for all of humanity) and to avoid pissing off the character B.

(technically it's built on DON'Ts right there... don't kill, don't use guns, don't piss off your partner).

I don't know if it works for anyone else, but working this way I found out that I'm fairly unconstrained while writing, meanwhile the random notes on characters give me ideas for plot points that at the same time push the plot forward AND give some info on characters.

You can also base characters on people you know.

What are some of your favorite character designs in either print comics, web comics, or other design media? And why?

A best off type of question... hmm. Ahh, skip it. These things ALWAYS make my brain freeze :D


Edit: I see I totally forgot to cover visuals. Oh well, maybe later :)

Many of my characters are based on friends of mine, both in personality and depiction. It makes character creation easy since the characters are already fleshed out and ready to go. It also really helps in writing scenes because I just imagine what my friends would do in a certain situation and the scene sorta' just writes itself. Plus it's fun drawing some of my knuckle-head buddies.

How does everyone go about designing and creating new characters?

I usually start with a doodle. I'll get an idea how the character will look before I go into personalities. At that point they wouldn't be characters but just sketches of people.

I'll sit down, and I'll be like, I want a napolean-ish dude, or a fully armored knight. Whatever goes through my head.

I'll then slap on a personality. Sounds like a bad idea, but I do it anyways. Usually I'd run a scenario through my head, and wonder how would the character act in the situation.

And then shape their personality and appearance from there.

That's what I did with the emperor in cqb. I was like, i want something king-like and the imperial and rulerly.

it went from this to this
to what ever he looks like now.

and then the other thing i do is pick and pull stuff from one design and mash it into another.
i had this one character that i thought i was done with the whole designing part. and then i was sketching this biker character. and then i tried swapped the 'personality' over and then it was "hey, this works!"

What makes a really good character design?

to be honest, i don't know. it's like a mix of looks and character. sometimes, a conflict between the two can be beneficial to a character design.

What are some of your favorite character designs in either print comics, web comics, or other design media? And why?

i liked how the concept of ghost rider came to be. he was originally meant to be a villain for dare devil, and then the writers were like, this guy can have his own comic.

Since I don't do art I have to rely on text, so I write something similar to what I'd tend to do for an rpg sourcebook. I create a visual look, a personality (specific traits) and a fully fleshed out background. From there, Reva usually takes what I write and transforms it into the character design.

How do I go about designing?

First I have an idea along the lines of "hay, that would be cool!" or "I think I need to add in a character here who is like this...", I'll mull that over for a while, decide what race they ought to be and what their personality is like etc (though that's normally pretty self evident with the type of character it is and where they fit in the story)

Then I spend some time trying to draw them with a pencil. This leads to me swearing and getting angry when I cant get it right (this is especially true when some new race shows up I haven't drawn before...I swear God deliberately made animals look the way they do so they would be hard for me to draw so he could laugh at my failure! What? Its a possibility!)
The hardest part is translating what I can see in my head onto the page.

harkovast
The hardest part is translating what I can see in my head onto the page.

Heh. But when that does happen, don't ya feel like a rock star? ;)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my favourite character designs.
Off the top of my head....SWAT KATS!
I don't care that they were short and had big feet, the two main characters had seriously bad ass outfits!

Why does every answer I give about comics always come back to Swat Kats? It wasn't even a comic!

One thing I've noticed is that just about everyone thinks of a character and tailors the design to fit the personality. I notice this because I'm apparently doing things ass-backwards! I usually start with a very generalized concept other times I don't even do that, then I'll just draw something. After that I start to think of details like who the character is his or her personality, name etc. Afterward I'll usually try to simplify the character design down a bit and try to refine details afterward. I tend to draw very simplified faces but I like having there be differences in face shape and features.
As for what makes a good character design, I'd pretty much say what everyone else said: Easily recognizable and memorable.
As for my favorite character designs, I'd say that Zebra Girl and Batman the Animated Series are pretty far up there. I also liked Spiral Bound because the characters were rather simple-looking cartoon animals but they had a lot of personality, the author also picked some odd choices for animal species.

Hyena, good point! It is nice when things work!
So far I've been really happy with all my characters looks so far.
I especially like Chen-Chen's look, I think she looks really friendly for a big lizard.
The Speaker was a nightmare to draw! If you think hes evil in the comic, he was twice as evil to draw!

Patrickdevine, oh yeah, I forgot about batman! The whole look of that show was amazing. Dark Deco, as the shows creators called. Hooray for that show!
I have every episode on DVD. Pure class!

I have a method kind of...well, I usually have ideas in mind for the character. Then, I get some motivation. And then I usually sketch out a few different ideas.
And boom.

I wish my method was cooler to explain, but it's really it. lol.

Heh. I thought about mentioning Batman as good character design, but I always figure superhero types pretty much go without sayin', ya know? But if we're goin' that route, I'll add Wolverine to my list. :)

I use a couple of methods for designing a character. I either give a personality to some scribble I thought looked neat, or I draw a character with certain visual traits in accordance with a character description.

As I've been thinking more and more about character design, I've been trying to make my characters recognizable. In any one comic, I try not to give every character the same chin or the same nose. I've also been playing around more with speech patterns.
King Crab in Timothy Green , for example, never uses contractions (won't, can't, don't, etc.).

I also try to avoid making a character recognizably evil or good. This is something that's always bugged me about the character design in a lot of animation. Personally, I like turning things on their head, and reversing roles. I like making characters who look evil, but are actually good guys, or vise verse. If I do decide to make a character look evil, I try to make it as subtle as I can. I prefer to show the audience whether the character is good or bad through that character's actions, not their looks.


To me, the best character designs are usually deceptively simple, but memorable.

My absolute favorite character designs are all from Jeff Smith's BONE. Every single character in that comic is distinguishable from the next: the Red Dragon, Fone Bone, you name it. There's somewhat of an exception when it comes to the rat creatures, but even then, the two rat creatures that show up the most are picked out from the crowd by their speech patterns.

Character design is pretty easy.

For me it starts with an image. If I think this person I've drawn looks unique enough I'll give them a personality and story... Then ad them to a story of comic if there's a place for them.

Sometimes it's different. With my character "Ace Kincaid", I stared with a name and a story. There was a ridiculous tale of some heroically named American adventurer in a footnote in an old issue of the Fortean times. Someone said they'd found the diaries of this guy. The fellow had apparently found a secret lost Inca city in the early 1900s in some caves near the Amazon. Sounded like the funniest bullshit to me, because the fellow has such a silly adventurer name.
SO a freind and I invented one for ourselves, and out of that was born Ace.

How does everyone go about designing and creating new characters?
eh...sketching, seeing what fits, etc.

What makes a really good character design?
something that is both appealing to look at and iconic...you want your character to leave an impression on the reader.

What are some of your favorite character designs in either print comics, web comics, or other design media? And why?
the best designs are those that stick in your head....so my favorite character design wise would be superman...instant classic that everyone is still mimicking off of even to this day.

i really dont have any set way of making characters. Bones's character never really change although the story did a few times, it revolves around him instead of the other way around. actually now that i think about it, most if not all my characters seem to go that way, but Bones has always been much more static. the other characters, i'd come up with the idea for em somewhere or anything, and mold em a little bit to fit in if i had too, but i very rarely write a story and THEN think up a character.

as for one of my favorite character designs...that'd have to be Judge dredd, one of my favorites anyways.
he's such a stoic character and it just works so well! i ADORE the judge.

Hyena, not just any batman! The animated series Batman! His giant chin of justice was awesome!

harkovast
Hyena, not just any batman! The animated series Batman! His giant chin of justice was awesome!

Well, sure I can't argue that! ;) Batman in general has a pretty slick design.

I personally admire cartoonists that can design a really cool and memorable costume, just because I feel I have trouble with that. When I design a character I try to give them a characteristic that's easy to remember, whether it's hair or their clothing or whatever (in Naruto's case it's def the whiskers!).

zaymac
Ok, this is gonna be a broad topic. I thought of it as I was sketching out designs for some new characters.

Questions are:

How does everyone go about designing and creating new characters?

What makes a really good character design?

What are some of your favorite character designs in either print comics, web comics, or other design media? And why?

I know it's a broad topic, just curious to everyone's opinions on this.

Honestly the best thing to do is have talent and know what your talent is.

Anyone can draw a character based on a detailed list of their personality and traits, but it takes a firm understanding of your own talents to bring out something special in the character that will make it stand above the rest.

Look to yourself first, the details second. Ask yourself what you can do to be ahead of the curve.

It also helps not to make a character overly gimmicky. Sometimes a strange quirk about the character will overshadow the character, and that's no good. Make sure they can at least cover a wide base of emotions, styles, and poses.

zaymac
How does everyone go about designing and creating new characters?

Interesting that you should ask. Well, my comic is based off of a story I wrote for class. And I wanted to get an idea of what my characters looked like, and so I sketched them out; I think it helped me get better physical descriptions than I would have otherwise. And so I actually was reeeally pleased with how they looked-- Kazimieras looked like the kid from.. ohh the title is too long.

And Eva from The Adventures of Katmandi . Cute, cute, cute.

I typically start out just by doodling and then later look at the list of traits I want the character to meet. Then I pick a doodle that seems to fit the bill and begin refining it. I typically wait until I've finished sketching it to bring in the personality and make it a well-rounded human feeling character.

I'd say overall, what makes a good character is how well they fit their world. If they're supposed to be mysterious, being a flat undefined character might be a plausible choice.

I'd hold up Sam of Sam and fuzzy. He's a coward, but it's not his only trait and his main traits don't define him. A bad example of character design would be the characters of Questionable Content. They have lazy looking proportions and are generally pretty flat personalities, which is why they're constantly disappearing for long periods of time as he runs out of material to write on them, I think.

lba
A bad example of character design would be the characters of Questionable Content. They have lazy looking proportions and are generally pretty flat personalities, which is why they're constantly disappearing for long periods of time as he runs out of material to write on them, I think.

Word.

Gah! Whyyyyy do I reeeeeead that strip?!?