Artist Q&A
This month, our frie nds at Sun & moon studios answer your animati on questi ons!
The team from Sun & Moon Studios answer your animation-themed questions.
Question What’s the best way to get an audience to quickly understand your character design’s personality? Lewis Vincent, England
Answer Sam replies
Many things have to be considered when creating an instantly relatable character. Aspects such as shape, pose and exaggeration have all played key roles in creating beloved characters throughout the years.
Every character is built out of a number of shapes, and the type of shapes you choose will help define who your character is. Circles are often attributed to things like innocence, vulnerability and cuteness, while squares are a great way to build up a strong, stubborn character. Pose helps emphasise your choice. If you want the character to seem confident and open, have them leaning back with their chest puffed out.
Finally, exaggerating some of your characters defining features will help hammer their personality home and make them seem larger than life. It helps your audience to identify the character’s main qualities and traits. Choosing one or two traits to emphasise over others is a great way to create variation and more memorable characters.
If you apply these factors, you’ll have a character design people will feel like they’ve known for years.