Story Driven Shapes: Character Design Tips with David Colman - Proko
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Date: 2022-03-14
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Comments and reviews: 7
LuneyTune72
I don-t see much personality in these monkeys, besides mouths being open. The personality comes from the expressions, pose, and the shape proportions. King Louie is one he references but Louie is heavily expressive and definitive based on his range in acting. Part of what makes a character design powerful is that the design can stand on its own, you can understand the character (whether it-s an archetype or an impression or a specific nuanced character) without any voice or movement.
The structure of personality goes beyond surface level design and fundamental drawing skills. Personality comes from the part of you that is an actor. If you can act then you can breathe personality into a design by finding the placement of the attitude. Attitude affects how you lean or stand, what muscles on your face do the most work, where the weight is displaced, and how the character-s spine bends (arch, S-curve, straight) It takes exploration to find personality then you compliment it with shape language that works with the concept you-re going for.
Look at the movie UP. It-s heavily stylistic and graphic, inspired by UPA shape language and -Disney acting. - The proportions on the characters tell you everything without a word spoken. The old man is made up of cubes, which makes him grounded and compliments his -stubborn- personality. The shape limits his animation which actually helps his character. The young boy is made up of soft, round shapes which evokes his naive and vulnerable personality, as well as his innocent optimism. Round shapes resemble baby features which makes us see vulnerability and childlike qualities. Then you have the dog who is clearly the fattest with his short tiny limbs and big body and nose. The dog is drastically more cartoony and is made up of more innocent round shapes making him stand out amongst his angular peers (the other dogs all being sharp or blocky shapes)
Now that is just ONE way of designing characters. UP in particular is very shape driven. Other movies like Jungle Book are proportion driven but loosely adheres to real anatomy. It depends on the story you-re trying to tell. Goofy comedy is better suited with simple shapes, while a more grounded story is better suited with more complex forms that give the world more grounded rules. In Jungle Book, if Baloo fell 10 stories then he-d die based on what we accept from his design. Meanwhile if a character from UP fell from 10 stories, it could follow more forgiving cartoon logic. If you-re not seeing anatomy (or bone structure) then you can forgive a lot more story wise.
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I don-t see much personality in these monkeys, besides mouths being open. The personality comes from the expressions, pose, and the shape proportions. King Louie is one he references but Louie is heavily expressive and definitive based on his range in acting. Part of what makes a character design powerful is that the design can stand on its own, you can understand the character (whether it-s an archetype or an impression or a specific nuanced character) without any voice or movement.
The structure of personality goes beyond surface level design and fundamental drawing skills. Personality comes from the part of you that is an actor. If you can act then you can breathe personality into a design by finding the placement of the attitude. Attitude affects how you lean or stand, what muscles on your face do the most work, where the weight is displaced, and how the character-s spine bends (arch, S-curve, straight) It takes exploration to find personality then you compliment it with shape language that works with the concept you-re going for.
Look at the movie UP. It-s heavily stylistic and graphic, inspired by UPA shape language and -Disney acting. - The proportions on the characters tell you everything without a word spoken. The old man is made up of cubes, which makes him grounded and compliments his -stubborn- personality. The shape limits his animation which actually helps his character. The young boy is made up of soft, round shapes which evokes his naive and vulnerable personality, as well as his innocent optimism. Round shapes resemble baby features which makes us see vulnerability and childlike qualities. Then you have the dog who is clearly the fattest with his short tiny limbs and big body and nose. The dog is drastically more cartoony and is made up of more innocent round shapes making him stand out amongst his angular peers (the other dogs all being sharp or blocky shapes)
Now that is just ONE way of designing characters. UP in particular is very shape driven. Other movies like Jungle Book are proportion driven but loosely adheres to real anatomy. It depends on the story you-re trying to tell. Goofy comedy is better suited with simple shapes, while a more grounded story is better suited with more complex forms that give the world more grounded rules. In Jungle Book, if Baloo fell 10 stories then he-d die based on what we accept from his design. Meanwhile if a character from UP fell from 10 stories, it could follow more forgiving cartoon logic. If you-re not seeing anatomy (or bone structure) then you can forgive a lot more story wise.
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Brayan
I really like this type o videos where you can see how long it takes for the drawings to be perfect. We look at their drawings and we think our favorite artists don't commit mistakes. I wish I could see the same type of videos with some Mangakas and Comic book artists.
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I really like this type o videos where you can see how long it takes for the drawings to be perfect. We look at their drawings and we think our favorite artists don't commit mistakes. I wish I could see the same type of videos with some Mangakas and Comic book artists.
reply
gray_rain
-I've worked on several bigger projects, and a lot of smaller ones -as we all have-. -
[Cries in non-professional entertainment artist]
I think most of Proko's audience, like me, can't relate to that statment. lol -. -
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-I've worked on several bigger projects, and a lot of smaller ones -as we all have-. -
[Cries in non-professional entertainment artist]
I think most of Proko's audience, like me, can't relate to that statment. lol -. -
reply
James
Some of us just want to know the brush because we think it looks good and want to incorporate it into our own work, it's not because we think it's the only brush for the job.
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Some of us just want to know the brush because we think it looks good and want to incorporate it into our own work, it's not because we think it's the only brush for the job.
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Cfan67
David Colman is one of my favorite artists ever! His art is so expressive and beautiful. I always challenge myself by trying to capture his unique styles of art.
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David Colman is one of my favorite artists ever! His art is so expressive and beautiful. I always challenge myself by trying to capture his unique styles of art.
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pogo575
Not sure which is more funny. The excellent character design or the keyboard warriors freaking out about taxonomy. Well played sir.
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Not sure which is more funny. The excellent character design or the keyboard warriors freaking out about taxonomy. Well played sir.
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Kolja
You guys are offering too many great courses this year! How am I supposed to do all of this! [pulling hair in desperation]
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You guys are offering too many great courses this year! How am I supposed to do all of this! [pulling hair in desperation]
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