Character Design

Character design is the combination of physical traits and "narrative".
- Narrative/ storyline defines personality, gives context (genre, location, setting) therefore has to feed into the look and design of the character.

How to feed personality into the design:
1) The face is the primary channel to express emotion. (- A reason for the many large needed characters.)
2) A lot can be said with posture and body language. (- This allows for personality traits to be identifiable in the silhouette.)
3) Solarski Theory - states that how a character cames their physical weight can tell us about their personality - which body part they lead with is important.




(Hero leads with their chest,
Hercules from The classic disney film










                                    

Pelvis - laid back/ lazy,
Barney from The Simpsons











Head - intelligent,
RoadRunner leading character from the TV show RoadRunner










Knees - coward)
Timmy from the fairly Odd Parents








4) Cuddy Theory - power and dominance revolves around expanding power! Expand - take up space. Weakness - cover up make yourself smaller