GOOD vs BAD Character Design: Tips and Tricks!

Summary

本视频脚本探讨了什么是优秀的角色设计。强调了角色设计的主观性，并提出了三个关键原则：轮廓清晰、调色板清晰和夸张的清晰度。通过案例分析，展示了如何通过简化形状、选择主导颜色和利用形状语言来增强角色的可识别性。同时，讨论了如何通过夸张和情感连接来增强角色设计的故事性，以及如何根据不同的艺术风格调整设计。

Takeaways

• 🎨 **角色设计的主观性**：角色设计是主观的，不同的人或故事有不同的标准。
• 📏 **清晰性三原则**：好的设计应具有清晰的轮廓、色彩和夸张度。
• 🖋️ **轮廓的重要性**：角色设计应通过轮廓就能被识别，使用大的、可识别的形状来传达个性。
• 🌈 **色彩层次**：选择一个主色并让其他颜色辅助，避免色彩竞争。
• 🔆 **色彩值的作用**：通过调整色彩值来增强设计的清晰度和对比度。
• 🌟 **色彩和形状的情感**：色彩和形状可以传达情感和故事背景。
• 🤔 **观察与夸张**：设计师应观察并放大能增强角色情感的特征。
• 💪 **身体比例和姿势**：角色的身体比例和姿势可以讲述故事，增强情感表达。
• 👥 **角色组合**：在设计多个角色时，要考虑它们之间的比例和动态对比。
• 🔍 **参考资料的重要性**：收集参考资料有助于探索和实现角色设计的多样性和故事性。

Q & A

什么是好的人物设计？

好的人物设计是主观的，但通常应该具备清晰的轮廓、色彩和夸张。这些设计原则使得人物在任何艺术风格中都能被快速识别。

为什么说人物设计是主观的？

人物设计是主观的，因为不同的人或故事对好设计的定义不同。设计的好坏取决于它如何服务于故事和观众的感受。

BAM节目中提到了哪三个人物设计的原则？

BAM节目中提到的三个人物设计原则是：轮廓的清晰度、色彩的清晰度和夸张的清晰度。

为什么人物设计需要清晰的轮廓？

清晰的轮廓有助于人物在任何艺术风格中都能被快速识别，即使在只有黑色的情况下，人物也应该能够被认出。

色彩清晰度在人物设计中扮演什么角色？

色彩清晰度帮助人物在视觉上与其他元素区分开来，通过选择主导色彩和辅助色彩，可以增强人物的识别度。

如何通过夸张来增强人物设计？

夸张是通过夸大人物的某些特征来强化其个性和情感，使人物更加生动和有趣。

为什么说人物设计应该在一秒钟内传达所有信息？

人物设计应该在一秒钟内传达所有信息，因为这样可以迅速抓住观众的注意力，并推动故事的发展。

人物设计的'形状语言'是什么？

'形状语言'是指通过人物的形状和轮廓来传达其性格特征，例如圆形可能传达友好和柔软，而尖锐的形状可能传达危险和强度。

为什么在设计人物时要考虑色彩和价值？

色彩和价值有助于定义人物的情绪和环境背景，同时也影响人物在场景中的突出程度和视觉层次感。

如何通过人物设计来增强故事性？

通过人物设计来增强故事性，设计师需要观察、反映并夸大人物的特征，以强化观众对人物情感的共鸣。

为什么说人物设计中的简单性很重要？

简单性鼓励动画师发挥创意，避免因复杂的设计而限制他们的工作。简单、执行良好的设计往往更能持久。

Outlines

00:00

🎨 角色设计的三大原则

本段讨论了角色设计的好坏并非由设计的复杂性决定，而是取决于设计的清晰度。提出了三个关键原则：轮廓清晰度、调色板清晰度和夸张的清晰度。强调了角色设计应能在任何艺术风格中被识别，并且应该在一秒钟内通过视觉传达角色的所有信息。通过一个反面教材展示了如何避免设计上的混乱，并强调了清晰的角色设计能够推动故事发展，而不是阻碍它。

05:06

🖌️ 优化轮廓和调色板

本段深入探讨了如何通过简化轮廓和选择合适的调色板来提高角色设计的清晰度。强调了从黑色轮廓中识别角色的重要性，并提出了通过调整形状来增强标志性的建议。讨论了调色板的选择，建议选择一种主导颜色，并让其他颜色辅助而不竞争。还介绍了如何通过调整色彩的明暗度来增强设计的清晰度，并通过背景和环境来增强角色的识别度。

10:08

🤔 情感共鸣与夸张表现

本段讨论了如何通过观察和放大现实中的特征来设计能够引起观众情感共鸣的角色。强调了艺术家应该通过简化细节、夸大比例和增强色彩来直接与观众的情感建立联系。讨论了姿势作为夸张的一种形式，以及如何通过不同的身体类型来讲述故事。提出了通过动态的线条和重新绘制来增强角色设计的吸引力，并鼓励设计师在设计角色时考虑故事和情感。

15:09

🔍 参考与故事的力量

本段强调了收集参考资料的重要性，以及如何通过理解故事来增强角色设计的夸张效果。讨论了好的叙事者如何通过故事来传达角色设计的意义，并强调了设计中的简单性是关键。提出了角色设计应该像一首简单的歌曲，通过独特的执行来闪耀，而不是通过添加额外的元素。最后，鼓励设计师学习不同的风格，并根据每个项目背后的意义来改变他们的艺术风格。

Keywords

💡角色设计

角色设计是创造一个角色的外观和特征的过程。在视频中，角色设计被强调为一个主观的话题，它依赖于个人或故事的需求。角色设计的好坏并不取决于设计的时间长短或简单复杂，而是取决于设计的清晰度、色彩搭配和夸张程度。例如，视频中提到，一个好的角色设计应该在一秒钟内就能让人理解角色，这强调了清晰度的重要性。

💡清晰度

清晰度是角色设计中的一个重要概念，它包括轮廓清晰度、色彩清晰度和夸张的清晰度。视频中提到，一个清晰的角色设计应该在任何艺术风格中都能被识别。例如，通过简化角色到只有黑色轮廓时，角色仍然应该能够被识别，这展示了轮廓清晰度的重要性。

💡轮廓

轮廓是指角色设计中的形状和线条，它决定了角色的基本外观。视频中强调，即使在没有颜色的情况下，角色的轮廓也应该能够清晰地传达其个性和特征。例如，视频中提到，通过简化形状和使用独特的头部设计，可以帮助角色在人群中被识别出来。

💡色彩搭配

色彩搭配涉及到角色设计中颜色的选择和组合。视频中提到，一个好的色彩搭配应该有明确的主色和辅助色，避免颜色之间的竞争。例如，通过将角色的服装颜色改为与蓝色互补的暖色调，可以提高色彩的清晰度和视觉冲击力。

💡夸张

夸张是指在角色设计中故意放大或缩小某些特征，以增强角色的个性和情感表达。视频中提到，夸张是通过艺术家对现实的解读，将比例、颜色和细节推向极致，以连接观众与角色的情感。例如，通过夸大角色的身体类型，可以增强角色的故事性和视觉吸引力。

💡情感连接

情感连接是指角色设计能够引起观众情感共鸣的能力。视频中提到，一个好的角色设计师是一个世界级的观察者，他们关注如何通过放大特定特征来增强观众对角色的情感反应。例如，通过简化角色的特征，可以让观众更容易地与角色产生共鸣。

💡故事性

故事性是指角色设计如何服务于故事的叙述。视频中强调，角色设计不仅仅是为了美观，更重要的是要推动故事的发展。例如，视频中提到，角色设计应该像一个无缝的车辆，推动故事前进，而不是阻碍它。

💡形状语言

形状语言是指通过角色的形状和轮廓来传达其性格和情感的方式。视频中提到，使用形状语言可以有效地传达角色的稳定性、信任感、顽固性等特质。例如，视频中通过比较不同形状的角色，展示了如何通过形状语言来传达不同的情感和性格。

💡色彩语言

色彩语言是指通过颜色的选择和组合来传达情感和信息的方式。视频中提到，不同的颜色可以引发不同的情绪反应，如黄色通常与快乐和幸福相关联，而红色可能让人感觉危险和性感。例如，视频中通过分析角色的色彩搭配，展示了如何通过色彩语言来增强角色的故事性。

💡价值

在角色设计中，价值指的是颜色的亮度，它影响角色在背景中的可见度和对比度。视频中提到，通过调整角色设计中的形状价值，可以提高设计的清晰度和视觉冲击力。例如，通过使远处物体的颜色更亮，可以建立大气透视，从而增强前景和背景之间的对比。

💡参考

参考是指在角色设计过程中收集和研究相关资料，以帮助设计师更好地理解故事和角色。视频中提到，通过收集参考，设计师可以探索各种可能的设计想法，找到最能增强故事的设计方式。例如，视频中建议设计师通过观察和研究现实生活中的人物或动物，来放大和强化角色的情感表达。

Highlights

角色设计的好坏是主观的，取决于个人或故事。

好的人物设计应该具备清晰的轮廓、色彩和夸张。

BAM认为，清晰的人物设计在任何艺术风格中都能被识别。

设计一个糟糕的角色，从混乱的轮廓、混乱的调色板和平淡无奇的设计开始。

好的人物设计应该是推动故事发展的无缝载体。

剥离角色到只有黑色时，角色必须是可识别的。

最著名的角色设计都遵循了从轮廓识别角色的规则。

通过检查轮廓并分离形状，可以改善设计。

选择一个形状主题可以减少混乱并强调想要强调的内容。

在更现实的艺术风格中，大的可识别形状通常以服装、头发或武器的形式出现。

为了提高调色板的清晰度，不要使用太多颜色，选择一个颜色层次。

颜色语言告诉我们很多关于这些角色的信息。

颜色可以作为角色来自环境的标志。

艺术家的工作是通过人类的镜头解释现实。

好的人物设计师是世界级的观察者，他们关注如何放大感觉。

设计角色时，不要只是使用正常的人体比例，要利用动画的全部可能性。

角色的身体通常是三个主要形状的组合，形状之间的比例差异决定了角色设计的吸引力。

设计角色时，要确保即使在不同的设计中，它们也能存在于同一个宇宙中。

最好的角色设计就像披头士乐队的歌曲，简单的旋律和独特的执行方式。

简单的设计鼓励动画师享受乐趣，不要让他们陷入复杂的图案和口袋中。

角色设计不仅仅是找到自己独特的绘画风格，而是学会以不同的风格绘画。

最好的角色设计是那些在人类集体记忆中持久的设计。

Transcripts

so what makes a character design good

this design took more time so it's good

and this is a simple design so it's bad

right well the answer is it's up to you

character design is a subjective topic

meaning that it varies wildly from

person to person or story to story here

at BAM we would argue that good

character design is about clarity

clarity of silhouette clarity of palette

and clarity of exaggeration a character

design that's clear in these three

principles will be recognizable in any

art style

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[Applause]

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BAM is the show where professional

animation artists redraw the art that

you send in and if you like supporting

that sort of thing check out our patreon

linked below let's start this off by

creating an inherently bad character

design we'll begin with a messy

silhouette a confusing palette and a

bland generic everything else wow that

stinks let's go ahead and completely

cover this design in detail that'll make

it a nightmare to redraw again and can

you imagine those overseas animators

actually trying to animate this let's

make sure all of these shapes have

tangents to no sense of 3d space

whatsoever and as a final touch I'm

never going to flip the canvas while I

draw so everything will lean awkwardly

to one side perfect all these

conflicting elements will confuse the

viewer they'll get caught up in this

visual traffic and the story will

disappear completely good character

design should be a seamless vehicle that

drives the story forward and everything

about that character should be

understood visually in 1 second or less

let's explore these three fundamentals

and see if we can use them to create

clear readable characters that aid the

story instead of hinder it

when you strip down your character to

just black the rule is your character

must be recognizable from that alone

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there isn't a single famous character

that doesn't follow this rule this

submitted artwork is looking really good

but we can improve the design simply by

examining the silhouette and separating

some of these shapes now that the shapes

are clear in silhouette they'll

definitely be clear in full color all of

the most iconic character designs have a

silhouette that's made of big

identifiable shapes big shapes are going

to visually communicate the personality

of the character using something called

[Music]

shaped language like this is already

giving you a sense of stability trust

and stubbornness in the shape here

friendly bouncy soft welcoming warm and

happy and this shape has the sharpest

corners of the three implying things

like edginess danger intensity and speed

even though this is a nice drawing this

artwork has a lot of conflicting shape

ideas we can improve this design by

making some of these shapes bigger and

committing to the shape motif of a

triangle when we choose a shape motif it

reduces clutter and emphasizes the

things we want to emphasize I'm going to

try and make every shape some type of

triangle by committing to an angular

shape language this character will read

immediately as a dangerous femme fatale

you might think that big identifiable

shapes can only work in cartoony art

styles but you'd be surprised how many

more realistic art styles follow the

same rule

usually it occurs in the form of big

clothing hair or weapons

another way to improve silhouette

clarity is to take the character's head

and add a little weird shape that is

unique to only them this is a really

useful design hack that helps identify

them in a crowd and demonstrates the

direction that they're facing every

character design works better if you can

recognize them from just the silhouette

hands look bad improve the silhouette

poses wack improve the silhouette before

you clean up your character reduce it to

just black and double check which shapes

you can push to make it more iconic for

clarity of palette don't use too many

colors

be selective choose a color hierarchy

meaning one color is the dominant one

and the other colors should support it

without competing this fan submitted

artwork has a lot of competing colors

this blue and this turquoise are both

cool colors without line art how can I

tell where the ear ends and the dress

begins if we were to turn the dress into

a warmer color it becomes the dominant

color that complements the blue instead

of competing with it but wait color is

more complicated than that

what about value on a new layer fill the

entire canvas white and set the layer

style to color this way you can toggle

the layer on and off to double check its

value which is basically the brightness

of any given color now we can see what

the real issue is this design is unclear

because all the values are very similar

let's select some of these shapes and

hit control u to adjust the value of

them an even more precise tool would be

the color balance menu under command B

this allows you to adjust the color on a

more fine-tuned level if you have a

background check the colors against the

environment don't just paint your

characters on white characters rarely

sand in a bright white room if you don't

have a background do your design against

a mid-tone that way your lights and

darks will actually stand off

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in the original artwork many of the

values compete and the character doesn't

really stand off the background by

making the values of the objects in the

distance lighter we can establish

atmospheric perspective this will create

more contrast between the foreground and

the background a value structure like

this will make the foreground will read

clearer character palette is similar to

silhouette in that a well-designed

palette is totally recognizable from

rectangular swatches alone the

combination of a good silhouette and a

good palette equals an extremely

recognizable character the choices of

your color palette are important as well

certain colors evoke certain moods the

color language is telling us a lot about

these characters for example we

associate yellow with joy and happiness

green is going to give you a feeling of

safety while red might feel dangerous

and sexy

however color language is not as clear

as shape language yellow might give you

a really happy feeling like sunshine or

a really sick and diseased feeling like

jaundice if you take a look at the globe

countries closer to the equator are

going to have more colorful clothing and

artwork

[Music]

while countries closer to the polls will

have more muted clothing and artwork

[Music]

color can act as a signifier of the

environment that the character comes

from in other words color tells a story

but how can I make that story more

meaningful this is the hardest to

explain but it is the most powerful step

of the character design process in a

nutshell your job as an artist is to

interpret reality through the lens of

being human you're a human and you make

art for other humans therefore you

should aim to create something that

connects emotionally to the viewers core

human instincts the artist has the

ability to strip down detail push the

proportions and bump up the color to

connect the viewer directly with the

feeling that a character gives you which

of these do you connect with more one is

more realistic but which one's emotion

reads clearer designing characters with

simple easy to read features will allow

us to see that characters emotion more

easily

we have empathy for characters that we

can project ourselves on to and put

ourselves into their shoes Scott McCloud

calls this the masking effect a good

character designer is a world-class

observer they pay attention to how a

real person or animal makes them feel

and focus in on the specific

characteristics that amplify that

feeling and because an artist controls a

hundred percent of the screen space

every detail will strengthen the feeling

that they want you to read which means

animation can be more powerful than live

action pose is a form of exaggeration

is your character feminine or masculine

extroverted or introverted lazy or

focused a standard human body is capable

of telling the story with pose alone

when you design a character don't just

use the normal proportions

textbook Anatomy for everybody oh yeah

animating comics do that all the time

this design approach doesn't use the

full range of possibilities that the

medium of animation allows there are so

many different body types in the world

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take a look at this weightlifter versus

this basketball player humans have the

same core structure but vary wildly from

individual to individual

what kind of utility does their body

have a body is a reflection of the mind

within so observe reflect exaggerate

that utility using shapes and pose let's

exaggerate this submitted design by Joel

we like this drawing because there's

clearly a goofy interaction here we just

think the actual designs are a bit

generic and we want to keep the same

poses in same art style but exaggerate

the body types to amplify the story more

first of all Joel watch out for these

tangents here they flatten the drawing a

lot it's hard to tell that the demon is

behind him now we're gonna push the

contrast more between these two

characters we're gonna make this guy's

super thin poised and intelligent and

this guy's super big intimidating and

stupid the contrast is going to aid the

joke in the interaction

[Music]

nice characters bodies are generally

made of three major shapes and the scale

difference between those shapes is what

makes the character design appealing or

not appealing notice the more dynamic

spacing is more appealing if your

character design is starting to feel

bland draw these lines on your character

group them in a more dynamic way and

redraw it these are like appeal rulers

that you can always use to double-check

your design let's take a look at some of

these designs submitted by a gay from

Turkey we really like a lot of what's

going on here the designs are simple and

the artist actually designed on a lineup

drawing on separate documents over a

white void can lead to a lot of

proportion issues when the characters

are finally lined up together when you

design on the same document within a

lineup it allows you to compare their

proportions and be more precise a great

exercise when designing in a lineup is

to create character trios using all the

lessons we've learned so far we can

create a trio of characters that are

drastically different from one another

in silhouette palette shape motif body

variety and pose so the challenge is

even with all these differences can they

exist in the same universe

lineups with good variety will feel like

a rollercoaster bad lineups will be a

boring train track

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so what's the best way to exaggerate

your characters more effectively gather

reference and that doesn't mean just

browsing through Pinterest it means all

of this clarity of exaggeration comes

from your understanding of story

having good reference is going to help

you explore every possible idea to find

the best possible way to aid the story

so it's always worth your time the best

storytellers are the ones who actually

have a story to tell what really makes a

good character design I've been working

for years in the animation industry and

my honest answer is I have no idea what

I can gather is that designs with clear

silhouettes and recognizable palettes

and some kind of exaggeration tend to

last for a long time in our human

zeitgeist and the final ingredient to

every design is story what you're really

doing is creating an actor

professionally speaking spending time

trying to find your own unique drawing

style isn't as good a goal as spending

time learning to draw in different

styles professional character designers

change their art style constantly to

best emphasize the meaning behind every

project that they're working on shows

like South Park would be bad if you

delivered the same jokes in the same

story in an overly rendered style the

show's writing is crude and silly and it

doesn't take itself too seriously and

the style reflects that perfectly you

might not like that style but it's an

example

extremely successful design and vice

versa a story like grave of the

fireflies could not be told in a style

like South Park's personally I think the

best design is like a Beatle song it's a

very simple melody but the unique

execution is what it makes it shine the

song Blackbird is an exact amount of

melody harmony and guitar and the moment

you add anything else the song is ruined

the real trick to character design is to

go with a simple idea executed well

simple designs encourage the animators

to have fun you don't want to bog them

down with a bunch of patterns and

pockets now before you go check out our

friends YouTube channel Joop is a

freelance illustrator with a fantastic

video that explores the fundamentals of

character design in great depth there's

another example of this I don't know

maybe you've heard of it it's called

that who's that Pokemon

every Pokemon has unique silhouette and

you can pretty much tell who the Pokemon

is just by its silhouette with the

exception of like to an animation is the

best animation history channel on

YouTube such quality writing and

production value action in western

animation of the 1990s and 2000's was

dominated by a realistic style fluid

motions that fed toward a character's

final stance posing was considered of

course but the action was very slow

almost brutish with Ganley spacing of

the motion is far more concise the

posing is highlighted with keyframes and

then in between this sped up so our eyes

register a longer held pose and his

Irish accent is like listening to to

butter and thanks for watching now

technically this is the end of the

original 12 videos that we plan to do on

this channel so this is the end of BAM

just kidding we love doing this so we'll

be back soon with more videos season two

back friends BAM forever 100 years a

hundred years of BAM yes I will live to

a hundred and thirty years old and then

we'll

100 years of BAM I'm going to clone my

own body and raise the clone in my image

training him day after day to edit

videos draw you know redraw that's what

the whole channel is about redrawing

people's art I'll mold him in my image

and when I die he'll hate me he'll

resent me but he will be motivated by

guilt to continue the channel therefore

for your viewing pleasure aren't all

channels motivated by guilt oh yeah yeah

especially this one yeah yeah I'm going

to train an AI BOTS by making it read a

thousand hours of BAM scripts that's

smart

yeah yeah yeah so it'll say like hey

welcome to BAM it's the show where you

BAM da redraw my this is my Wacom pen a

gmail dot mail yes yes love it cool are

we going to brand more videos they're

coming okay