Basic Character Design

Designing a character for a project, apart from the technical aspect when we model it in a 3D software, involves a process of creating it. This is where everything begins. We need to decide where he is coming from and how he is going to look. Speaking about the look of the character, we need realize how important it is. Visible features are reflection of his behaviour. Human eye, determined by socialization and biases, will quickly recognize if the character is a hero or a villain. However, the most crucial is the story behind him. The story and storytelling are the key to understand the character.  

Tilman Brayan in a Creative Character Design (2011)¹ writes about the 6 questions people are going to ask about the character and questions every character designer must answer thoughtfully.  

1. WHO? Who is the character? 

2. WHAT? What does he do in the story? 

3. WHEN? When does the story take place? 

4. WHERE? Where does the story take place? 

5. WHY? Why is the character motivated to do what he does in the story? 

6. HOW? How does your character do what he does? (can be answered in the why question). 

Answering these questions, makes the whole creating process easier and allows to see the development of the character. 

During one of our course classes, our task was to think of our favourite animated character and to answer the 6 questions, to generate a brief description of he or she. Here is what I have written down about my chosen character. 

1. WHO? Oh (his name); Boov (an alien) from the HOME movie (DreamWorks Animation, 2015); he’s short and purple, turns green when not telling the truth.  

2. WHAT? Generally, causes trouble, ruins everything accidentally. Oh is trying to save himself but in the end, there is a twist to the movie and Oh is a hero. Boov always run away, when the danger is close; they’ll evacuate and leave the planet they live on and find another one. Decided to live on the Earth and managed to relocate all the humans to Australia. Boov think that people are super simple and not very intelligent; they produced an A5 leaflet as human’s manual. 
   Oh accidentally sent an email to the whole galaxy (a party invitation), including Boov’s greatest enemy, Gorg. It looks like they won’t be staying on the Earth for too long.  

3. WHEN? We don’t really know; but looks like current times or near future on the Earth. 

4. WHERE? Space in general, the Earth next. 

5. WHY? Because he is different from the others Boov; Oh follows his path, without worrying about other’s opinion. At the same time, he feels lonely and wants and needs close social relations.  

This exercise let me to reflect on the character and understand the part he plays inside the story. I looked at him from his own point of view, but also from a bigger perspective.  

It was a short introduction to the character design. A very useful activity that encouraged me to reach to the recommended book, I’ve referred to, Creative Character Design (2011). 

¹ Tillman, B. (2011). Creative Character Design. Routledge. APA (American Psychological Assoc.)