I
thought a long time about what the first post on this blog would be. I resisted my initial urge to talk about my
obsession with curse word replacements (ex. #%$&@@!) and their
evolution and significance in webcomic development.
You’re
welcome.
Instead
I started where most of us start, character design. If you’ve ever looked into this with even the
slightest bit of interest you'll have
probably come across a character or model sheet of some kind or
another.
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| Barbarian Character Sheet - Paolo Giandoso |
The
rest of us will likely be creating these pages ourselves (or, at least, the
content that these pages contain). When
I first started Dreamstruck I had an
experience with character design that I don’t think is that uncommon amongst
beginning webcomic authors. In short, I
didn’t plan anything; I just went for it.
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| This should look familiar… I posted it last time too. |
In
a lot of ways impulsivity can be a healthy creative process, but it should by
no means be the only method employed.
That’s where I went wrong. I got
really excited about making a webcomic and threw caution (and any preparation,
forethought, or planning) to the wind.
Don’t
let this be your legacy.
After
several months of experience in working with my webcomic the flaws of my
character design surfaced like pimples on prom night; horrifying little
monsters that I couldn’t ignore. I
eventually undertook a redesign which only recently (nearly a year after I
began the webcomic) took effect.
So,
in an effort to help you bypass my unfortunate misstep, let’s look at some
basic principles involved in character design and some resources that you can
check out as you work through the process (Sidenote: The ideas expressed here
are a combination of various artistic ideologies from a wide range sources filtered
through my personal experiences in this field.
The contributing resources have been cited when and where they have been
employed. In brief, all the smart stuff
should be linked back to the website where I found it.)
What is your
Webcomic about?
Are
you answering life’s big questions? Are
you interested in portraying a very specific lifestyle or culture? Are you telling a story with a specific moral
or ethical truth that is important to you?
Are you just trying to be funny?
All of these can be valid explanations for what your comic is about and
all of them will leave an imprint on how your characters are portrayed.
For
example, if you’re writing a dramatic webcomic about a frog that is on an epic
quest to rescue a captive princess you might angle towards a more serious look
(i.e. harder lines, more realistic anatomy, darker colors, etc.). However, if this story is colored through a
humorous lens (Maybe the frog is trying to rescue her to get a kiss to turn
into a prince or maybe she owes him five bucks) your character modeling might
be a bit more whimsical (i.e. softer and curvier lines, some anatomical
license, lighter and brighter colors, etc.).
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| Hasty Sketch - Bill Kloppenburg |
Whatever
you come up with, the answer to WHAT your webcomic is about is paramount. It will inform EVERY choice that you make in
the construction and distribution of your work.
If you haven’t asked yourself this question or if you've yet to
formulate an answer, sit down with a cup of coffee/tea/grog and figure it
out.
It’s important.
What type of
Webcomic are you writing?
Are
you writing a journal webcomic? Are you writing a gag-a-day webcomic? Are you writing a webcomic aimed at aspecific niche or culture? Are you writing a faux-drama webcomic that
includes references to giant toy-dogs and baby seals?
The
type of webcomic you’re writing may not influence how your characters LOOK as much
as how you choose to DESIGN them. If
you’re writing a journal webcomic then you’re going to be drawing your main
character (i.e. yourself) a LOT. You
don’t want the design to be overly ornate and cumbersome. In Alan Moore’s comic series Top 10 illustrator Gene Ha talks about an early character design for his character Irma “Irmageddon” Wornow. He says that her outfit (which was a full-body battlesuit) was so
complex that by the end of the first issue he dreaded any page where she
appeared.
"There are two things I really hate drawing in this series: King Peacock's pants and Irma Geddon. But I really have no one to blame because I designed them. If I get to continue...King Peacock gets new pants and Irma Geddon's weaponry will be retractable."
The
type of webcomic you have created WILL impact your character design. Learn from the mistakes of others! Read the omens in the sky! Create your characters so that your
webcomicing experience remains fun instead of turning into a job where you
detail every single hair on your fur-ball of a main character.
Design Criteria
So,
you’ve decided to write your epic frog-explorer webcomic that you always dreamed
of. Where do you start? For this section I’ve drawn my criteria of
effective character design from Dresden Codak’s author
Aaron Diaz (Also, his top
ten list of favorite character designs linked here is an
interesting and informative sampling of what has worked across the wide
landscape of comics).
Silhouette – This is
exactly what it sounds like. Does the
design of your character cast a unique silhouette? Several visual specialists from a variety of
fields advocate drawing your character and then filling the figure in with
black to get a clear shot of the silhouette.
If the silhouette doesn’t read as unique (i.e. it looks like it could be
anybody or, what’s worse, misread as another cartoonists work) then it may be
time to go back to the drawing board.
That being said, there are a few notable exceptions, but they
excel in every other category on this list.
Value – Value, in
this context, refers to the percentage of light versus dark. This is not necessarily color (the topic
below), but more of a grayscale effect. It
was initially very difficult for me to understand this concept until I started
looking at professional black and white photography.
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| Children at Puppet Theatre, Paris – Alfred Eisenstaedt |
This
photograph is an
excellent example of proportional and striking value. The richness of the coats on the two children
in the center serves to balance out the lighter tones surrounding them. Also, the roof-like structure in the back is
an even balance of light and dark whereas, if it were just open sky, the
brightness might distract from the rest of the picture.
But
I’m making characters, not taking photographs!
Of
course you are, but the principles are the same. If your character is a wash of dark values
with little or no light values then they might not pop from the background. If your character is a combination of lighter
values with no dark then you run the risk of little visual interest. Calvin and Hobbes are an
excellent example of proportional and striking value (they are also awesome).
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| Calvin and Hobbes - Bill Watterson |
If
your webcomic is colored, the best way to check your values level is to open the
finished webcomic in your coloring platform of choice (mine is Photoshop) and
change all the colors to grayscale. All the colors will be translated into their
inherent value sets and you’ll be able to more clearly see what, if anything,
you need to change.
Color – This is an
area where personal preference and style can have a heavy influence on the final
product. However, if you’re like me and
you don’t know anything about color, don’t worry. There are resources for us to use.
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| Not a new version of Twister |
This
is a color wheel. If you plan on using
color, learn to love it. The general
idea here is that complimentary colors (i.e. colors on OPPOSITE sides from one
another) will work better together by emphasizing each other. Red stands out against green very well and
vice-versa (probably why we use them for stop lights [but don’t forget
yellow!]). Colors too close to one
another on the color wheel can become muddy or visually uninteresting (similar
problems to our value concerns up above).
These
people are all good examples of excellent color theory at work.
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| If not for that orange background they would almost all be slapping you in the face with their color |
This
particular subject could actually stand as a blog post on its own (and maybe
someday it will!), but as we have other topics to cover I will direct you to
where I learned almost everything about color and value theory. Brian McLachlan (no relation to Sarah) who is the
creator of The Princess Planet has written an
extensive and super helpful tutorial on color theory here. Don’t say I never did anything for you.
Versatility – I read ‘versatility’
as a fancy way of saying ‘character construction.’
This was perhaps my biggest stumbling block on the bumpy road of
character design. When I began my webcomic
I just sort of threw my characters down on the page with little regard as to
their construction.
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| What a sad little bunch of monsters. |
The
problem with that came later when I wanted Herman to dance and run and express
things with his hands. I’d never
imagined that he (or I) would want to do any of those things and I hadn’t
prepared the design of his character to handle any of them.
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| This is what it felt and looked like. |
At
that point I was basically super-imposing a complex character anatomy over my
original images which is like writing a forty-page paper and then looking for sources
to back up what you said. Two life
lessons here: Always find sources BEFORE
you write and always design characters BEFORE you make them the focus of your
webcomic. You’ll be happier in the long
run.
For
an excellent explanation of character construction have a look at this section from Larry Lauria’s Toon Institute. There’s a lot of great stuff here, so feel
free to get lost.
Iconic – How the hell
do you do this? It’s a question that’s
been asked, and asked, and asked. I think the last link might be a place to
start, no matter how vague it may seem.
“Does it
completely CAPTURE an event or
artistic style?”
Maybe then it’s
iconic? I don't know.
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| This is iconic...right? |
I’d
say this ISN'T something you can necessarily expect out of yourself right from
the get-go. It’s something we should all
strive for, but don’t let it cloud up your artistic pursuit. Go for what is most effective for your
story/form, not what you think would look great on a movie poster.
Other Design
Considerations
In
addition to the previous criteria for design there are other elements that can shape
your webcomic characters. These didn’t
really fit in any of the previous sections, so I’m cramming them in here before
it’s too late.
Anything Will Eisner ever said is true – You can pretty
much inscribe this into a stone and install it on your front lawn (put it in-between
the ceramic gnome and that creepy, orange-purplely, glass ball on a pedestal). On this particular topic Mr. Eisner (in his
book Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative) makes two very good
points.
1: Let stereotypes work for you. Stereotypes, in general, probably aren’t the
most politically correct devices to access in your daily life. However, given our (i.e. human) instinct to
group people into certain roles and classes based on appearance, stereotype can
assist the quick proliferation of ideas without a lengthy explanation. I’ll let him tell it; he says it better anyway.
“In film, there
is plenty of time to develop a character within an occupation. In comics, there is little time or
space. The image or caricature must
settle the matter instantly.”
If
your character is a plumber you can spend two pages showing us (the audience)
where he goes to work, his customer base, and a day in his life OR you can put
him in a pair of overalls and slap a plunger in his hand.
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| He doesn’t even need a plunger…you can just tell what he does. |
It’s
up to you. There’s no shame in using a
visual language in which we’re all (from society to society) conversant. There is only shame in using a stereotype to
perpetuate a negative or hurtful message.
2. Access primal visual instincts. This one’s pretty simple. If you’re having trouble finding a way to
visually represent a character consider using features from an animal that is
traditionally associated with that character’s personality. For example, you have a wise old man. Maybe he takes on some characteristics of an
owl. You have a smooth-talking car salesman. Perhaps he is reminiscent of a fox. I would include Mr. Eisner’s illustrations
here, but they are not to be found on the interent (at least by me). I conclude that the internet (as a
collective) has too much respect for his work and (like me) would encourage you
to consider buying his oeuvre.
My Own Thoughts – I’m generally
apprehensive to include these, but I’m going to anyway because that’s what this
blog is all about.
1:
Keep it simple. This maxim will spread
throughout many of my blog posts and it is no less important here than
elsewhere. Start from a place of honesty
and truth within yourself and build from there.
Whittle your character down to its basic fundamentals and use those
ideas to begin the visual representation.
In some cases you’ll start simple and end with a complex product, but
you’ll at least have a nuanced knowledge of the FOUNDATION of that character
and that’s important.
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| Hellboy – Mike Mignola |
Hellboy, while not
being one of my all-time favorite comics, is an excellent example of
simplicity. There is an efficiency of
line and function paired with a complexity in content that has drawn people
into its world in droves. Others on this
list include Charlie Brown by Charles Schulz and Bone by Jeff Smith.
2:
Try everything. I didn’t discuss model
sheets much past the first part of this blog entry, but there is a lot to be
said. The reason you make a model sheet
is to have a visual reference for pretty much everything that you’d ever want
your character to be able to do. This is
everything from standing still to doing the Macarena. The bush I’m beating around here is try
EVERYTHING. Draw your character from
every conceivable perspective. Work out all the
anatomical thing-a-ma-bobs. Make them
run, jump, collapse. Do it all. If it all works then you’ve got yourself a
living, breathing cartoon. Then just
write a story and get famous.
3:
Do what you want. If you’re following
all the rules, but you don’t like what you’re doing then what’s the point? Take this advice like you take everything, in
moderation. Have fun. Don’t get bogged down in rules. Do what is effective for YOU and you’ll
likely be successful and, if you’re one of the lucky few, even innovative.
Resources and
Help
We
all need help. I know I sure did. Here’s what I’ve found on the internet that’s
worked for me. Maybe it will help you
too. If it does, please share it and
give credit to these great people who have provided (FOR FREE) all this amazing
information.
Cloudscape – A British-Columbian
comics collective that discusses all manner of comic theory while providing a
venue for their own work. This
particular entry by Anise is a
superior, in-depth look at some of the challenges that character design poses
and some possible solutions.
Comicrazys – An interesting
comic website (temporarily on hiatus…eek!) that provides pdfs of older comics to
peruse at your leisure. This site also
offers pdfs of The Famous Artists Cartoon Course which (while
dated and a bit sexist) is very useful.
This section entitled ‘Special Types’ is probably
the closest to character design that you’ll get for this publication.
Larry’s Toon Institute – I referenced this above, but
there’s a lot of stuff here, so make sure you check out all of it (or at least
this on model
sheets).
The 25
Expressions Challenge – This is an activity that I was not made aware of
until very recently, but it appears the frenzied hordes at deviantart (being the
talent laden folks that they are) have set up a bit of an obstacle course for
aspiring webcomic characters. The basic
idea is to take this sheet and have your
character make each of the expressions.
Just like eating your vegetables.
That’s all I got
Okay,
so what do you think? This blog is
called a study in ink and not a thesis in ink because I know
I don’t have all the answers. I’m sure
there are things I didn’t talk about and sources I didn’t cite (mostly because
I don’t know about them).
That’s
where you come in. This blog can be
satisfactory with my manic rambling, but it can be sensational with your unique
input. If you have questions, then ask
them. If you have answers, then post
them below. If you like what you see,
but don’t quite agree with something then say so.
At
the end of the day we’re a community and, like I once read on Wikipedia, it takes a
whole village to make a webcomic. Let’s
do it together.
Until
next time, spend your time doing something inspirational.
