Forums » Smalltalk » Character designer needed for interview!

Hello! I'm doing a school project on character design and would love to interview some character designers to ask a few question! you don't have to be a professional, but I'm looking for people with a lot of experience. Thank you!

Heh, glad to help out!
I'm not a professional but I do put a lot of work into my chatacters...


First off, you may not want to have any Cliche names such as "Jack,James, Sarah" or anything like that...

You may want to use a Name Generator, until you find one that you like... Alternatively, you may want to look at your character for inspiration on their name...


Now, characters should not be super bland or plain, some Quirks and Unique Personalities can come into play here...

That's all the time I have, I'm afraid... But you can PM me for more tips! I'd be happy to help!

By "character designer," do you mean anyone who creates characters, or something more specific?

Yes but someone who also draws characters.

I'd be glad to answer character design questions. I went to college for game art, which was half prop design and half character design as far as curriculum goes, both in a 2d environment and 3d. Shoot me a PM if you'd like!

The art board might be a better place to ask, then.

It might also be worth asking ConnanBell. He's cross-media: writer, illustrator, and minor filmmaker (mostly YouTube reviews, but in-character). Having seen his creative process enough, I actually told him outright, "You're not an artist, you're a designer." He agreed.

(Yes, I know that artist and designer are not mutually exclusive.)

Characters are my life, lol.
I have had some education and professional training specifically in the realm of visual character design, and tons of experience (around 10 years) in both the visual and written aspects. I'm not a professional though. It's just a hobby that I considered turning into a career at one point.

I'll take any questions you want to throw at me.

Someone say my name here? Well, anyway, I have decades of experience in designing characters visually and narratively. I'd be happy to help out if you're still looking. On DeviantArt I am Connan-Bell if that helps any.

I may be too late for this but I design my characters. I haven't gotten to all of them but once I do I am hoping to put them as their Profile Pics. My Profile Pic is something I colored and helped create. I also am a Graphic Designer. I graduate college in like a week so I will officially have a degree for this.

As for my creative process? I usually come up with a character first.

What are they going to be

Their style

Personality

And things to this nature

Depending on the character I will either start rough sketches of what I would like him or her to look like. Either that or look on Pinterest mostly to get pics of what I like more and what best fit the character.

Then I go into more details with the background.

her or his backstory

where she lived

who she was

and the list goes on

Finally, once I have all this I go into designing her/him in pencil first. Once the final sketch is done I will bring the design into a program called Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Draw. Then comes my final product.

I'm fairly new to character designs, but I know a few things. Typically when designing a character, I think of their personality and ideals. Like, they may be a really kind person, so I'd draw their body very round with a wide and soft face, but perhaps they like gothic fashion, for which I may give them layered black hair with a cute crop top that I saw at Hot Topic one time. Also be sure to add some small details, like a hairpin or earrings with a reoccurring design throughout the character, for example, a cat or a star. Or, if you just want to draw a certain thing, make a character around that thing, for example, I want to draw a big tutu, so I make a short ballerina, then put a huge tutu on them so she looks even smaller then they would have otherwise. Though this is just the way I do it, and some other artists may do it differently, so don't do these if you don't think they'd help you. Also, sorry for writing so much, I'm prone to rambling.