Forums » Art & Creativity » What are your thoughts on character design?

This is just a tread where I wan't people to give their thoughts about character designs. What they love seeing used in character designs, pet peeves, realism vs fantasy, what they think is cliche, their toughs on particular wordings seen in character descriptions etc. ^w^

For instance I try keeping my characters shapes and color schemes as varied as I can and have hints of their personalities and lifestories showing, yet I can't keep myself from giving all of them pronounced cheekbones and somewhat plush lips.
When it comes to my pet peeves however I tend to, with some exceptions, dislike character designs in medieval settings with unnatural hair- and eyecolors, females with extremely voluptuous figures who just don't have a waist that could support their upper bodies, unpractical or too complicated clothes and armor, character designs which go out of their way to look 'edgy' etc.

I guess I like if their story kinda shows, their likes, or some of their personality.
I don't mind colored hair if it makes sense, (magic or some sort of species or it's dyed),
and I like both simple and complex designs as long as it fits the character.
Like.. a simple blacksmith probably would have some leather and armor.
But not a huge super-detailed kimono or something.
But say it's an RPG-based character or maybe fantasy? Or a performer?
They'd have much more complex clothes and it would make sense!

I don't really like characters with huge boobs and super tiny waists that don't make sense.
But any other body shape is fine. Small/petite, skinny, chubby, curvy, athletic, sexy, beastly/muscley. I like them all! As long as it makes sense to the character! Like a slave who was locked in a basement for two years wouldn't be chubby or athletic for example. Probably skinny or underweight.

I'm very open minded to character designs. I guess the only ones I don't like...
Are like if the character is 'emo' and has black and red and torn clothes and leather...
and a name like 'Shade' or 'Shadow'. Then it makes me cringe.
I guess or things like cat-girl angels. (Or Cat-girl Angel Vampires, ugh)
Cat-girls are fine, angels are fine... please pick one.
Really cliche things I guess basically.

But I like characters with a lot of detail. Just not overwhelming.
Enough that you'd recognize them easily, but not be like "Oh gosh no"
if you were asked to draw them.

Ahh, character design. Probably the object of more love/hate relationships than anything else in the art field. Some of my pet peeves are roughly the same as what's already been mentioned, AND THEN SOME. Hoho. Except unnatural hair color, that's almost a -requirement- for me, hah. c': (I feel you on the cheekbones + lips thing though, hngh.)

Aside from the previously mentioned, I dislike when someone's characters all look alike. For example, I have nothing against pretty blonde girls, but when you only have a handful of characters listed on your profile and they all fall under that category, they're no fun to go through. This one might just be me but I'm also not a huge fan of characters that don't have any references that AREN'T a celebrity/model/whatever. Maybe that's just because I don't like plain ol' human characters, though. I guess I'm starting to like well-done anthro/nonhuman characters more and more lately. I've also been in sort of a weird limbo with kemonomimi/monster people type characters: on the one hand I LOVE them and think they're great as long as the design itself is done well, but then at the same time I turn around and berate myself for having similar characters for the most part? It makes no sense! As for pet peeves in character descriptions? People talking about their characters mid-drift and stalkings. Midriff. MIDRIFF. Use your words! Preferably real ones.

It kind of annoys me when a character has references of a celebrity I know of, because I can't help but see the character as that celebrity.

Some's already been said, but:

I can't stand the faceclaims/model pictures. Can not STAND it, and generally won't RP with someone who uses them (or, at least, excessively so). In fact, I find using photos of real people for your characters (we're not talking about characters from TVs/movies, etc) to be really weird and offputting, and SUPER FREAKING CREEPY if you like to ERP with that character. Like, beyond creepy. Even worse when they pull photos off of what's obviously someone's personal net account, rather than a paid model. .... Went a bit off topic, but yes, I don't like 'character design' that uses photos!!

Characters with wings for no reason: I can't stand them, it makes their design feel cheap and bad.

Avian, reptile.... non-mammalian characters with breasts. It makes no sense, and it makes me heavily roll my eyes.

Also can't stand the whole red/black THIS IS A POWERFUL CHARACTER/this is an EMO CHARACTER/I AM SO EDGY crap.

One thing that really gets me, that bothers me, is when someone's characters are all....similar. But not JUST to the extreme of 'blonde and pretty' like Goo mentioned. It bothers me when someone's characters are ALL white, or are ALL skinny, or ALL pretty. When they lack any real diversity. Oh, what's that, you have a brunette, two blondes, and a redhead? But they are all skinny, conventionally attractive people? WOW HOW ORIGINAL.

Names-wise, oh my goodness the long fancy hoity toity names for every single character. Victoria Rose Howell, Veronica Estrella Jones, or some other pretty flowery long name. Blegh!

I dislike over the top markings on a character (usually furries). They honestly look bad outside of that one pretty picture you had done for them, and it's jarring for every single character to be hyper detailed marked. OOF.

Has anyone mentioned just the plain existence of Sparkle Dogs yet? I have no further explanation than 'they exist'.

Lol I'm guilty of the using models and all that for characters I make(And yeah a lot of them are pretty, what can I say, I'm a sucker for a pretty face.) usually it's easier (But I almost always get around to getting art or doing it myself of what the character truly looks like, face claims are just place holders Usually). That's normally just an Idea of the character, not always them to me. Also not everyone can draw, or afford art of their own. And face claims are some folks' only way for a visual representation of their character.

Anyways I like unique ideas, I like to see people take cliche things and turn it around and make it into something new, take you into a new direction. I like characters that have interesting pasts, things that build on and make a character real I suppose.

I like broken characters, I don't mean the ones who are all tragedy all the time(Though even this can be done very well). But broken characters are more interesting, they don't have life figured out and are trying their best to make it in their respective world despite things that have happened to them, cause that's life and I like to see it reflected in art. Even in fantasy worlds where magic exists you can't fix your problems, cause where is the fun in that? I like when people use names that mean something, maybe give you a subtle clue as to who this character is.

Going back a bit, I like when someone takes a tried and true idea, maybe a vampire or an elf (Anything really) and totally flips the rule book over and makes it their own. Elves that are cyberpunk and build spaceships or vampires who are demonic monsters one second and normal the next and trying to figure out how to live with this demon in them that forces them to drink blood. Random ideas off the top of my head but I love when someone can do that, surprise me.
There are other things I love in character designs but it's late and my brain is dying on me.

While there are many things I consider bad in character designs, I've decided not to list them. We have enough threads about pet peeves, and while I have my fair share of them. I'd rather list the things I like and admire in rpers and characters, instead of being negative about what other people like that I personally don't.

I'm going to nudge in and say that IRL faceclaims are useful not only as reference material as an artist ("Their face looks like this") but also as a visual stand-in until and if the individual gets art of their character. Not everyone can afford to get images of their character commissioned immediately after making them, so having a 'stand in' for people to look at and go 'Ok, so it's that facial structure with X hair and X eyes' is alarmingly handy.

I haven't even found an artist yet who can draw Sam the way I envision her. I and several friends of mine use MorphThing.com to get our facial references to make the faces we imagined. Yeah, Sam still resembles the women whose faces I used a lot, but we all have doppelgangers/people who resemble us uncannily much, so I don't find it as weird.

I really like the collages people make of their characters when they first get started. Like photos of their body shape, faces, hair styles, clothes, accessories and so forth. It really helps to put a picture together in your head when the player hasn't any artwork available.

This 100%. Faceclaims make it easier to get consistent art of your character.

(My original post got eaten, sigh. Tl;dr, I like faceclaims.)

I get why people use them, believe me there's no lack of understanding there, and it is useful for reference, yes. But knowing and understanding a thing = / = liking that thing. Heck I joke about Avan Jogia being a faceclaim for one of my characters even though I didn't even know he EXISTED until I had already been drawing said character for a couple years. But when I see a character with nothing but pictures of a celebrity/whoever I don't think 'oh okay their character looks like this person' I just think 'But that's not your character, that's ____' But yeah! To each their own, I'm not knocking anybody that does it, just saying that I, personally, am not a fan. But speaking of the photo collage thing, there's this thing that's pretty handy: http://www.pureref.com/

Honestly my biggest character design-related pet peeve is just bad design in general. That's kinda subjective I guess, but there aren't really any particular design trends that really stand out to me as being ones I like, it's sort of a case-by-case basis for me.

Oooh that sounds very useful! Thank you so much for sharing.

I'm generally not too picky about playing with a character based on its design. Whether it's a stereotypical bombshell blonde genius or a short noodle-armed simpleton, what matters to me is how the character is played and portrayed. One thing that bothers me is when a character is repeatedly described as "handsome" or "beautiful", as if to impose the opinion on the reader. Saying that "they had beautiful blonde hair" sounds a little shallow, where as using a less opinionated, fact-based adjective such as "they had well-maintained/well-kept/silken hair" makes it easier for me to interpret what the writer is suggesting.

I also like to mingle fantasy with reality, scene permitting! I have a character that keeps his hair very long because he was born in London during the 1500s. There was a terrible epidemic of syphilis during that time so a lot of folks were going bald. Having long healthy hair was a trendy status symbol, so I decided long hair would befit a noble
But he's also an albino with a weird name because I made him when I was like 12 and I thought albinism was very pretty. Suum cuique!

I generally try to avoid passing judgment on someone else's characters, even if it's not a concept I would personally enjoy, because if it makes them happy to RP... that's their business. People who enjoy a similar theme will want to RP with them. Face claims don't bother me for art reference purposes. Drawing from references is an industry standard and priding oneself on not using them is quite silly. However, I would not use photos of someone else on my RPR - only for bone structure, lighting ref, etc. when painting. The exception to that is guestbook gif silliness.

I mostly look for someone who has a similar writing style/flow as me, and where we go from there is something that evolves organically.

My own characters usually start as a sketch or a name and just sort of bloom from there. I do notice that I tend to play grey monster/mutant girls a lot, though they've come in all shapes and sizes over the years.

I'm always noting down concepts I'd like to explore, visuals I'd like to use; the actual design part comes whenever I get the feeling/inspiration some of those pieces will go well together and try to make a character. The most important thing is I like whatever I come up with, and after a bit of RP (or lack thereof) I'll know whether other people do too. If the concept clears both those hurdles I've got a character, and if not, I quietly recycle their ideas and try again later.

I don't think it's my business to be peeved at how other people choose to make their characters, but it's always a bummer when their designs offer no indication of their personality/past/occupation/social standing/all sorts of possible things uniquely them. It's a wasted opportunity (and kind of inevitable with faceclaims, which is one reason I'm not a big fan, but that's a discussion for another thread).

Here's to hoping this doesn't come off as too negative, but in my experience (i.e. almost a decade of RP on LJ/xanga/tumblr, where faceclaims are rampant), people who use original character designs instead of faceclaims generally tend to be more invested in their characters, which makes me think they'll be more invested in the RP. They take ownership of their character; they're willing to invest the time and/or money for artwork, which implies that they're going to keep playing on that character and not just bail on me once they find a new celebrity/fan favourite/model to make a character for.

Obviously that's my personal (and possibly provocative) opinion; luckily, there's a flourishing community of people who very much enjoy faceclaim characters, and I'm happy to let them do their own thing.

With regard to good character design, I love it when the writer does their research. Oh, so your character is a high-functioning sociopath? And -- oh dear, they behave in a way that conforms to the current literature on sociopaths? Hells yeah. It's proof that the player is willing to go the extra mile, which implies that the RP will be amazing. (I suppose this means I prefer realism over "fantasy", at least when it comes to character behaviour and personalities.)

With regard to physical descriptions of characters, I enjoy clear, lucid writing. Furc descriptions are notorious for purple prose and omissions of definite articles. To be honest, I don't even care about purple prose -- if you refer to your characters' hair as "tresses" or "locks" or whatnot, that's your prerogative. What does bother me is a furcadia desc full of omitted definite articles (e.g. "Eyes were green; boots were leather; dress was blue", instead of "Her eyes were green; her boots were leather; her dress was blue.") How did this even become a trend?

Beyond that, I think the most essential thing for a character is to have a role. Most of the time, this becomes apparent in their occupation. Roleplay is distinct from storytelling in the sense that there is no "main protagonist", as your character is as much a protagonist as it is a foil for someone else; so it's important to make it clear what kind of roles your character can play (e.g. boss? employee? leader? follower? friend? rival?) with regard to other characters. When I make my characters (most of which I transfer to D&D CRPGs like Baldur's Gate), I'm almost always thinking about them as a "supporting actor", not as a main character, and what kinds of roles they can play to others.

oh lord. generally if i am going to be roleplaying a character with other people, i will not use a model for their 'face claim' or whatever. if i'm going to be writing the story myself, i will picture them in my mind first and then sometimes will find a model for them. it helps to keep their appearance solid in my mind as my thoughts often swim or become muggy when i try to plot for only myself, but sometimes it can really stunt whatever i'm doing. what pompeii wrote made a good deal of sense to me.

that being said, i love designing characters from scratch. sometimes the order in which i do it is different. sometimes their faces come first, sometimes a lot later. sometimes i build their entire physical design based on one object or one characteristic. i look at what types of colors they would wear as well as what kind of fashion they would subscribe to and often make pinterest boards for them. every time it's different but always a weirdly freeing experience.

I had completely forgotten about this forum...But I like how many different opinions have come to light. I'll even admit that some have slightly changed my previous ones.

Thanks for sharing everyone! owo