00:00so what makes a character design good
00:04this design took more time so it's good
00:07and this is a simple design so it's bad
00:11right well the answer is it's up to you
00:15character design is a subjective topic
00:18meaning that it varies wildly from
00:20person to person or story to story here
00:23at BAM we would argue that good
00:24character design is about clarity
00:27clarity of silhouette clarity of palette
00:30and clarity of exaggeration a character
00:33design that's clear in these three
00:35principles will be recognizable in any
01:04BAM is the show where professional
01:06animation artists redraw the art that
01:09you send in and if you like supporting
01:11that sort of thing check out our patreon
01:13linked below let's start this off by
01:16creating an inherently bad character
01:19design we'll begin with a messy
01:29silhouette a confusing palette and a
01:31bland generic everything else wow that
01:34stinks let's go ahead and completely
01:37cover this design in detail that'll make
01:39it a nightmare to redraw again and can
01:41you imagine those overseas animators
01:43actually trying to animate this let's
01:47make sure all of these shapes have
01:48tangents to no sense of 3d space
01:51whatsoever and as a final touch I'm
01:54never going to flip the canvas while I
01:56draw so everything will lean awkwardly
01:58to one side perfect all these
02:01conflicting elements will confuse the
02:03viewer they'll get caught up in this
02:04visual traffic and the story will
02:06disappear completely good character
02:09design should be a seamless vehicle that
02:11drives the story forward and everything
02:13about that character should be
02:15understood visually in 1 second or less
02:17let's explore these three fundamentals
02:19and see if we can use them to create
02:21clear readable characters that aid the
02:23story instead of hinder it
02:28when you strip down your character to
02:29just black the rule is your character
02:32must be recognizable from that alone
02:38there isn't a single famous character
02:41that doesn't follow this rule this
02:48submitted artwork is looking really good
02:50but we can improve the design simply by
02:53examining the silhouette and separating
02:56some of these shapes now that the shapes
02:59are clear in silhouette they'll
03:00definitely be clear in full color all of
03:03the most iconic character designs have a
03:06silhouette that's made of big
03:08identifiable shapes big shapes are going
03:11to visually communicate the personality
03:14of the character using something called
03:20shaped language like this is already
03:28giving you a sense of stability trust
03:31and stubbornness in the shape here
03:35friendly bouncy soft welcoming warm and
03:38happy and this shape has the sharpest
03:43corners of the three implying things
03:45like edginess danger intensity and speed
03:49even though this is a nice drawing this
03:51artwork has a lot of conflicting shape
03:53ideas we can improve this design by
03:55making some of these shapes bigger and
03:57committing to the shape motif of a
03:58triangle when we choose a shape motif it
04:01reduces clutter and emphasizes the
04:04things we want to emphasize I'm going to
04:06try and make every shape some type of
04:08triangle by committing to an angular
04:12shape language this character will read
04:14immediately as a dangerous femme fatale
04:17you might think that big identifiable
04:20shapes can only work in cartoony art
04:23styles but you'd be surprised how many
04:25more realistic art styles follow the
04:30usually it occurs in the form of big
04:33clothing hair or weapons
04:46another way to improve silhouette
04:48clarity is to take the character's head
04:50and add a little weird shape that is
04:51unique to only them this is a really
04:56useful design hack that helps identify
04:57them in a crowd and demonstrates the
04:59direction that they're facing every
05:06character design works better if you can
05:08recognize them from just the silhouette
05:12hands look bad improve the silhouette
05:14poses wack improve the silhouette before
05:18you clean up your character reduce it to
05:19just black and double check which shapes
05:21you can push to make it more iconic for
05:27clarity of palette don't use too many
05:29be selective choose a color hierarchy
05:34meaning one color is the dominant one
05:36and the other colors should support it
05:39without competing this fan submitted
05:42artwork has a lot of competing colors
05:44this blue and this turquoise are both
05:46cool colors without line art how can I
05:50tell where the ear ends and the dress
05:52begins if we were to turn the dress into
05:54a warmer color it becomes the dominant
05:56color that complements the blue instead
05:58of competing with it but wait color is
06:01more complicated than that
06:02what about value on a new layer fill the
06:06entire canvas white and set the layer
06:08style to color this way you can toggle
06:11the layer on and off to double check its
06:13value which is basically the brightness
06:16of any given color now we can see what
06:18the real issue is this design is unclear
06:21because all the values are very similar
06:23let's select some of these shapes and
06:25hit control u to adjust the value of
06:27them an even more precise tool would be
06:29the color balance menu under command B
06:32this allows you to adjust the color on a
06:34more fine-tuned level if you have a
06:38background check the colors against the
06:40environment don't just paint your
06:42characters on white characters rarely
06:44sand in a bright white room if you don't
06:47have a background do your design against
06:48a mid-tone that way your lights and
06:50darks will actually stand off
07:19in the original artwork many of the
07:22values compete and the character doesn't
07:24really stand off the background by
07:27making the values of the objects in the
07:29distance lighter we can establish
07:31atmospheric perspective this will create
07:33more contrast between the foreground and
07:35the background a value structure like
07:37this will make the foreground will read
07:39clearer character palette is similar to
07:44silhouette in that a well-designed
07:46palette is totally recognizable from
07:49rectangular swatches alone the
07:56combination of a good silhouette and a
07:58good palette equals an extremely
08:01recognizable character the choices of
08:10your color palette are important as well
08:11certain colors evoke certain moods the
08:15color language is telling us a lot about
08:17these characters for example we
08:20associate yellow with joy and happiness
08:22green is going to give you a feeling of
08:25safety while red might feel dangerous
08:27however color language is not as clear
08:29as shape language yellow might give you
08:32a really happy feeling like sunshine or
08:34a really sick and diseased feeling like
08:36jaundice if you take a look at the globe
08:41countries closer to the equator are
08:43going to have more colorful clothing and
08:49while countries closer to the polls will
08:52have more muted clothing and artwork
09:00color can act as a signifier of the
09:03environment that the character comes
09:04from in other words color tells a story
09:09but how can I make that story more
09:13meaningful this is the hardest to
09:17explain but it is the most powerful step
09:19of the character design process in a
09:22nutshell your job as an artist is to
09:24interpret reality through the lens of
09:26being human you're a human and you make
09:31art for other humans therefore you
09:33should aim to create something that
09:35connects emotionally to the viewers core
09:37human instincts the artist has the
09:42ability to strip down detail push the
09:44proportions and bump up the color to
09:46connect the viewer directly with the
09:48feeling that a character gives you which
09:51of these do you connect with more one is
09:56more realistic but which one's emotion
09:59reads clearer designing characters with
10:02simple easy to read features will allow
10:05us to see that characters emotion more
10:09we have empathy for characters that we
10:10can project ourselves on to and put
10:13ourselves into their shoes Scott McCloud
10:17calls this the masking effect a good
10:20character designer is a world-class
10:22observer they pay attention to how a
10:24real person or animal makes them feel
10:26and focus in on the specific
10:28characteristics that amplify that
10:30feeling and because an artist controls a
10:33hundred percent of the screen space
10:35every detail will strengthen the feeling
10:38that they want you to read which means
10:41animation can be more powerful than live
10:44action pose is a form of exaggeration
10:52is your character feminine or masculine
10:56extroverted or introverted lazy or
11:00focused a standard human body is capable
11:04of telling the story with pose alone
11:07when you design a character don't just
11:10use the normal proportions
11:12textbook Anatomy for everybody oh yeah
11:15animating comics do that all the time
11:17this design approach doesn't use the
11:20full range of possibilities that the
11:22medium of animation allows there are so
11:25many different body types in the world
11:30take a look at this weightlifter versus
11:33this basketball player humans have the
11:36same core structure but vary wildly from
11:39individual to individual
11:41what kind of utility does their body
11:43have a body is a reflection of the mind
11:45within so observe reflect exaggerate
11:49that utility using shapes and pose let's
11:56exaggerate this submitted design by Joel
11:57we like this drawing because there's
11:59clearly a goofy interaction here we just
12:02think the actual designs are a bit
12:04generic and we want to keep the same
12:06poses in same art style but exaggerate
12:08the body types to amplify the story more
12:10first of all Joel watch out for these
12:13tangents here they flatten the drawing a
12:15lot it's hard to tell that the demon is
12:18behind him now we're gonna push the
12:20contrast more between these two
12:22characters we're gonna make this guy's
12:23super thin poised and intelligent and
12:26this guy's super big intimidating and
12:28stupid the contrast is going to aid the
12:31joke in the interaction
12:40nice characters bodies are generally
12:49made of three major shapes and the scale
12:52difference between those shapes is what
12:53makes the character design appealing or
12:55not appealing notice the more dynamic
12:59spacing is more appealing if your
13:04character design is starting to feel
13:05bland draw these lines on your character
13:07group them in a more dynamic way and
13:09redraw it these are like appeal rulers
13:14that you can always use to double-check
13:16your design let's take a look at some of
13:22these designs submitted by a gay from
13:24Turkey we really like a lot of what's
13:27going on here the designs are simple and
13:29the artist actually designed on a lineup
13:31drawing on separate documents over a
13:34white void can lead to a lot of
13:36proportion issues when the characters
13:38are finally lined up together when you
13:40design on the same document within a
13:42lineup it allows you to compare their
13:44proportions and be more precise a great
13:48exercise when designing in a lineup is
13:50to create character trios using all the
13:53lessons we've learned so far we can
13:55create a trio of characters that are
13:57drastically different from one another
13:59in silhouette palette shape motif body
14:02variety and pose so the challenge is
14:05even with all these differences can they
14:07exist in the same universe
14:23lineups with good variety will feel like
14:26a rollercoaster bad lineups will be a
15:09so what's the best way to exaggerate
15:11your characters more effectively gather
15:17reference and that doesn't mean just
15:23browsing through Pinterest it means all
15:25of this clarity of exaggeration comes
15:36from your understanding of story
15:39having good reference is going to help
15:40you explore every possible idea to find
15:43the best possible way to aid the story
15:46so it's always worth your time the best
15:50storytellers are the ones who actually
15:52have a story to tell what really makes a
16:05good character design I've been working
16:08for years in the animation industry and
16:09my honest answer is I have no idea what
16:13I can gather is that designs with clear
16:15silhouettes and recognizable palettes
16:17and some kind of exaggeration tend to
16:20last for a long time in our human
16:23zeitgeist and the final ingredient to
16:27every design is story what you're really
16:30doing is creating an actor
16:31professionally speaking spending time
16:34trying to find your own unique drawing
16:36style isn't as good a goal as spending
16:39time learning to draw in different
16:41styles professional character designers
16:43change their art style constantly to
16:46best emphasize the meaning behind every
16:48project that they're working on shows
16:51like South Park would be bad if you
16:53delivered the same jokes in the same
16:55story in an overly rendered style the
16:58show's writing is crude and silly and it
17:00doesn't take itself too seriously and
17:02the style reflects that perfectly you
17:05might not like that style but it's an
17:07extremely successful design and vice
17:10versa a story like grave of the
17:12fireflies could not be told in a style
17:14like South Park's personally I think the
17:17best design is like a Beatle song it's a
17:19very simple melody but the unique
17:21execution is what it makes it shine the
17:24song Blackbird is an exact amount of
17:26melody harmony and guitar and the moment
17:29you add anything else the song is ruined
17:32the real trick to character design is to
17:34go with a simple idea executed well
17:36simple designs encourage the animators
17:39to have fun you don't want to bog them
17:41down with a bunch of patterns and
17:42pockets now before you go check out our
17:45friends YouTube channel Joop is a
17:47freelance illustrator with a fantastic
17:49video that explores the fundamentals of
17:51character design in great depth there's
17:53another example of this I don't know
17:56maybe you've heard of it it's called
17:57that who's that Pokemon
18:00every Pokemon has unique silhouette and
18:02you can pretty much tell who the Pokemon
18:04is just by its silhouette with the
18:06exception of like to an animation is the
18:10best animation history channel on
18:12YouTube such quality writing and
18:15production value action in western
18:17animation of the 1990s and 2000's was
18:20dominated by a realistic style fluid
18:23motions that fed toward a character's
18:25final stance posing was considered of
18:28course but the action was very slow
18:30almost brutish with Ganley spacing of
18:34the motion is far more concise the
18:37posing is highlighted with keyframes and
18:40then in between this sped up so our eyes
18:42register a longer held pose and his
18:46Irish accent is like listening to to
18:48butter and thanks for watching now
18:51technically this is the end of the
18:53original 12 videos that we plan to do on
18:55this channel so this is the end of BAM
19:00just kidding we love doing this so we'll
19:03be back soon with more videos season two
19:06back friends BAM forever 100 years a
19:09hundred years of BAM yes I will live to
19:12a hundred and thirty years old and then
19:14100 years of BAM I'm going to clone my
19:16own body and raise the clone in my image
19:19training him day after day to edit
19:23videos draw you know redraw that's what
19:27the whole channel is about redrawing
19:28people's art I'll mold him in my image
19:30and when I die he'll hate me he'll
19:33resent me but he will be motivated by
19:36guilt to continue the channel therefore
19:38for your viewing pleasure aren't all
19:39channels motivated by guilt oh yeah yeah
19:42especially this one yeah yeah I'm going
19:44to train an AI BOTS by making it read a
19:46thousand hours of BAM scripts that's
19:49yeah yeah yeah so it'll say like hey
19:52welcome to BAM it's the show where you
19:56BAM da redraw my this is my Wacom pen a
19:59gmail dot mail yes yes love it cool are
20:06we going to brand more videos they're
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