Character Design Fundamentals Part 1: Shape Language and Basic Construction

Take your designs from chaotic and confusing to streamlined and meaningful! This is part one of a three part series on the fundamentals of character design! In this series I share with you all that I learned about character design in art school. In this class we will be designing two contrasting characters: a hero and a villain. In the next classes you will then take those designs and improve on them by learning gesture and expression, and then finally taking them to finish with color and line art. By the end of this series you will have all the tools you need to create amazing designs and to tell powerful stories!

In this first class in my series you will learn basic construction and shape language. The principles in this class are the most foundational and important principles that you need to get you started on your journey as a character designer. You will learn the psychology behind character design and how to use it to your greatest advantage in designing compelling characters. 

What we'll be covering:

• How images affect the human brain
• How to speak shape language
• Motifs and how to achieve harmony
• The principle of Big, Medium and Small
• How to use the ladder exercise to add variety in your design
• What Baby Face Bias means
• How to use areas of rest 

I will then do a demonstration of designing a hero and villain combination to show you how I use all of these principles.

Your assignment is to design a protagonist and antagonist (a hero and a villain) in a static pose. Don't worry too much about keeping your drawings tight and finished- in the next classes in my fundamentals series we will be improving on these designs with a few more fundamentals and expressive poses and gestures, and then finally polish them off with linework and color.

Share your preliminary designs in the Discussion tab if you want feedback and/or critique!

Please share your character designs, basic shapes draw-over and ladder exercise in the project gallery.

I can't wait to see what you accomplish in this class! Don't forget to tag me @emmagilletteart on Instagram or Twitter if you end up sharing your work there.

If you have any questions or feedback, please don’t be afraid to reach out in the Discussions tab. I can’t wait to see your projects!

Resources:

• Download the .jpg's of my basic shape draw over and ladder exercise to use as examples.

I used the Gesture Brush from the Retro Max Pack on Procreate.