The Silver Way by Stephen Silver
Contents
What is Character Design?
Character + Design
- Character
- A personality, a simplified/exaggerated representation of a person as presented for a story
- Design
- the organization of visual elements for a desired effect
therefore
- Character Design
- generating a personality with feeling through the organization of shapes
The character is the core of the story, their design is the basis for IPs (the legally protected identity of that story)
Getting to Know Your Character
Collect info about the character
- Name
- Sex/Gender if applicable
- Age
- Any specific appearance required
- Role or occupation
- Where do they live
- What time period/genre
- Personality
- Attitude
- etc. Anything to get you an understanding of what sort of character they are at the point they are being designed for.
- Display format - the medium or show style determines how detailed is appropriate.
The Ingredients That Make or Break a Design
- Design Elements
- Design Principles
- Shape Language
- Caricature
Sharpening Your Observation Skills
Observing for design will help build your library for actual design work.
Nature is Character Design
The book says design is everywhere, but what's implied by the pictures and examples is - what stands out to you in the field of view is a cue to what works as good design.
Designing With Wood Chips
Scatter and rearrange various shapes of craft wood shapes, to look for combinations that are appealing, to have a random starting point for design
Everyday Sketching Techniques
Passion, Practice, Persistence, and Patience
Draw every day, what you see or what you dream.
Sketchbook is a journal, a place to experiment. Take your time to really explore ideas. Train for your intent, build a portfolio that is really you.
Drawing Exercises
- Random Unconscious Doodling
- Whatever comes to mind with no goal, have fun!
- TV Drawing Nights
- Watch shows or streams, recall or draw the main thing, no need to pause unless you want to study something specific
- Throwing up on the page
- Sketch freely without erasing, let the mistakes and random shapes inspire new ideas, brainstorming - esp for clients!
- Memory Sketching
- Draw someone you saw without referring back - even after a few minutes to relocate to another space
- Zone-Out Method
- Don't even focus your eyes, sketch loosely along the idea, just scribble with your hand on the page. Then cleanup the sketches you get
- Blind feeling method
- blind contour, but focus on the feeling/movement/exaggeration not the actual contours. Maybe the same subject starting different places
Caricature Fun
- Identify the head's shape.
- Assess the four quadrants
- forehead
- bridge and nose
- upper lip
- lower lip & chin
- determine contrasting features
Flip-It Tip
Flipping horizontally helps identify balance/construction flaws, but you can use it to see how to push it better - so flip and redraw!
Bring Inanimate Objects to Life
Use the forms of various household objects as the base of a character or characters
Generate Dummies for Practice
NOT for portfolio, but take an existing character and apply their shapes to a new character as a test dummy. Using someone else's basis helps you discover new forms to use in yours.
Change Mediums
Different mediusm/brushes etc. to get you out of existing habits.
