Struggling to Design Characters 🤔

Your problem is still that you’re trying to do the last part of your process first. You can’t make an abstract character, you need to know who they are and why. You need to understand their place in your fictional world.

What you need to be thinking about is this- what is the plot of your video? Why? What’s the setting? How long will it be? Does it have music, dialogue? What’s the art style and artistic inspirations? What’s the mood of the video? And most importantly- what happens in it?

Your comparison to a “dream partner” is very fitting, because just like this, it’s entirely dependent on context. My dream partner is nothing like yours because of my life experiences. It’s our context in life that determines the partners we choose. Your character is the same. Without context, you’re correct, it’s impossible, you have nothing to guide you, just nebulous ideation that can never go anywhere.

I’m begging you- write a script for your video, or at the very least, write down some kind of framework for your video.

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With threads like this, for me I get to the point that I feel like the poster has not first answered the most fundamental question.

Am I asking for help?

Is there something I really need to learn?

Will I be willing to listen to and try some of the suggestions?

Or am I just venting?

Am I really just seeking attention?

Because after how many days and so many experienced artists have given you good, useful advice, still, here you are, frustrated. Trying the same thing.

It’s like that definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Now maybe you are not just venting and trying for attention.

Maybe you are missing the more fundamental thing which is you need to be able to evaluate suggestions given. Stop what you are trying. Do some of the suggestions. Stop doing the same thing over and over again.

You are not a special case. Every designer has this issue. I manage a team of designers. I have been a designer.

I know how this is supposed to work.

But I am not going to repeat myself only to have you post back a week later saying how frustrated you are.

The only advice I can give is, learn how to take advice.

Or don’t. And just enroll in an online design course.

But this method your are trying now, (coming here to vent and ignoring advice )has proven time and time again, not to work.

You are not the first.

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Let’s return to the beginning for a moment:

Why?

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In fact in retrospect it’s already in the first sentence:

Being creative is something one can not learn by taking advices…

…

It’s something different if taking advices for learning techniques to “pilot” or “keep record” of the creativity process.

If one can’t say, decide, come up with concepts and ideas and also doing so with some general decription of “mood” and purpose for the thing to be created then one is simply not a creator / designer. At least not then/ at this time.


Back to the original problem:

Well… you have to use your time and do not waste it with other things.

:thinking: …you have to use your time and do not waste it with other things.

You can not have a vision (as you call it) when looking at other characters (that’s what AI is doing).

For example someone may got inspired by looking at some driftwood and then made some figures out of them… maybe ending up with some alien character like Groot.

And this “simply” by taking a walk… :thinking: maybe there was even a racoon playing with that driftwood and some other “technical” gear at that shore ?? So that idea all “rocketed” up to the Guardians of the Galaxy characters ??? ( In fact for the “rocky” character is was a beatles song…)

( And by the way: Even knowing all this doesn’t mean that one is more creative. :smile_cat: )

Well, I’ll rephrase and use that sentence as a starting point.

Is this creative project a voluntary passion project, or an assignment project associated with an employer.

IE, why are you diving into this project?

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Some mascots or characters seem unrelated to their context, like “The CrafsMan” from the YouTube channel The Crafsman Steady Craftin (TheCrafsMan), which I enjoy.

I’m still figuring out “who” the character is (what kind of creature), but the main one would become the mascot or identity of my channel—and hopefully, my brand. So far, I only have a clear idea of the styles I like and don’t like.

I really like this one—it’s simple, cute, and likable, with proportions I enjoy. It’s perfect:
tumblr_c39ce82271e7e0c9ab6240144677f008_197da5c9_500
(source)

I’d like the main character to be my avatar, but it doesn’t have to resemble me or be like me in real life. It could even reflect my inner child or be an anthropomorphic animal. I want the proportions to be small, similar to Big Nose in Pink Panther (just as an example).

I like creating animations and want to start an entertainment YouTube channel with the goal of growing it into something popular, eventually living off it. I also hope to sell merch and maybe even create a video game in the future. To achieve this, I need a unique, distinct design that stands out and becomes a memorable icon and brand—an intellectual property I can build on and benefit from over time.

As for the purpose and video concept, I’d like it to be a kind of vlog featuring my character doing various things in a cozy, comforting environment. The videos would also aim to be ASMR-like—satisfying to both watch and listen to. I’m not planning to include music or dialogue for now. Ideally, the videos would be 10–12 minutes long, but I think starting with 5–8 minutes is more realistic.

The setting could resemble stop-motion or Claymation-style environments, but to start, a simple room with some items and the character would work just fine. The videos should feel cozy, comfy, and both satisfying and relaxing to watch.

These are some of my artistic inspirations:

  • Simon’s Cat (simplicity, proportions)
  • Doraemon (cheeriness, proportions)
  • Doodley (cheeriness, proportions)
  • Muppets/Sesame Street (e.g., Kermit) (simplicity, cheeriness)
  • Duo (Duolingo) (cheeriness, proportions, simplicity)
  • South Park (proportions)
  • Garfield (proportions)
  • Les Shadoks (simplicity, proportions)
  • Peep and the Big Wide World (simplicity, proportions)
  • The Minions (cheeriness, simplicity)
  • Joey Carlino (proportions)
  • SavannahXYZ (simplicity, proportions)
  • Mina (JellyJam) (simplicity, proportions)
  • Hilda (simplicity, proportions)
  • SouthernShottty characters (simplicity)
  • Gumby (simplicity, proportions)
  • Big Nose & The Ant (Pink Panther) (simplicity, proportions)
  • Pingu (simplicity, proportions)
  • The Ruff Ruffman Show (simplicity, proportions)

The channel will feature a series of videos with different stories, not just one. I think the most important aspect is how everything in the video looks, rather than the script itself. I’ve already noted a few ideas for the main themes of some videos.

Yes, I’m asking for help, and I dislike venting as much as you probably do. I hesitated to ask here because of similar concerns.

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You’re still missing my point, so I’m going to say it one last time and hope you can parse it- write a script for your video. Not this vague marketing pitch. A script. Write a script for your video and then you will know how to make your character. Write a script. Write a script for your video. Write a script for your video and then design your character. Write a script. Write a script. Write a script.

Ok, I’m out, good luck :slight_smile:

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OK, it is a good place to start.

I am not sure this format is working for you. Maybe you should enrol in a one on one course. Or hire a mentor.

There is just too much guessing and presumtions going on here, and while you seem to have an idea of what you want to do, your request for help is all over the place. I think you need to start with one simple thing. Get that answered. Go to the next thing.

The design steps are allways the same.

Write a simple character brief that can be acted on.

Research of what you like, what you want to emulate. Other art that is similar, that will fill your brief.

Draw your own concepts from that that can fit the brief.

Now if you can’t do that, then you are missing something even more basic. And I suggest you are not ready to be desinging and you need to start with just duplicating other designs and study more about the design process without immediately getting wrapped up in trying to solve this dream design problem.

After you graduate from this “design school” you will be ready.

Which should include study about how other designers work and also you do some designs - not for this dream project. Just designs to get the idea of how to design and complete something.

It could be you will have to deisgn a dozen other projects before you are ready to design this one.

That is the best advice I can give not knowing you.

Good luck.

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Character design is HARD man. like, years of study hard.

here is my progress as a beginner. I’ve been doing lots of heads and I still mess stuff up every time. The youtubers make it look easy.

You might think that we have an instinctive idea of how to put faces together but we don’t - quite the opposite. Evolution has made us attuned to things like health and physical intimidation rather than objective proportions of a face. Anatomy needs to be memorized and/or copied from references

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Or a concept artist.

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Yes, totally agree. I’m always looking for new ideas and different ways to create. Here’s one for ya. Take a photograph and slice it in half. Use that half and duplicate it. Now flip it horizontally and join the other half. Sometimes you get great characters as the symmetry works well to create faces.

As for AI, Isn’t it nice to have the machine write the code. I’m not a coder.
It seems I’m learning faster with AI. Some people say AI is going to take over. I say it’s not AI that’s going to take over, it’s the people who use it will.