Charater design mini crit {closed}

zidanetribal

So my initial reaction was to say to just take inspiration from cosplayers who make enhanced/fancy versions of rather basic character designs, but I see that you still wanna keep it simple so we wont go that route. I'm not sure exactly what to do with him since he already has a strong "protagonist" look to him. If you lined him up with the official characters I'd honestly not be able to tell the difference. I'm not familiar at all with the games, otherwise, I'd suggest specific elements to incorporate into his look, but that is something you do know and I'm sure you'll use.

If you really wanna change his look try playing around with his shilloette a bit, he already has the distinct clothing shape down but maybe try moving the shapes around like puffy top shoulders or dropping it down into drop shaped sleeves, just little things like that. I'm looking at the game and it seems to favor the rounded shape look just cuz thsts how it's rendered, I'm betting you already have that in mind. Try drawing him just as his "shadow" so you can build a look without thinking much about all the details.

If you do wanna go the fancy cosplay route I'd check out: Raine Emery, funnily enough I think Homestuck cosplayers started the trend so thoes are good to look at, also I'm realizing I'm blanking on names now.

He already has such a strong look I'm exited to see what you do with him next

thank you so much! i'll try the silhouette method if i've got some time :) i'm glad his design struck a chord with you! ❤

szarkai

Really interesting concept with this dude and by extension his group. Their outfits kinda remind me of the musical SIX, mostly due to the color palates being black with their one bold color. Futuristic versions of the past can be really fun to play around with costume wise, I'm not sure if you're going for our 1400s or one you made up for style inspiration, but I think Lez Brotherston's costumes for the Merry Wives of Windsor, albeit a few decades later in the 1500s, would be interesting to look at if you ever wanted to play around with clothing fusions. ( Specific images bc I can't point at a general google search: X X X) 

Fidel does have that bookish vibe to him, he has those traits that a lot of us have come to associate with it albeit subconsciously (The generally thinner face +body, more stern/neutral expressions, even age). My only note would be about the bowtie since that's like extremely modern, yet dated, idea of nerdy and its shape had me thinking more of a priest's clerical collar than book/bowtie (I am aware he has clergy ties so it can still work with that motif). Though I'd might move it down to his chain of office since they typically have a centerpiece 'charm' on them either inline or dangling from it. 

So pretty solid for the kind of character he is   

Clubbingclown tysm this was so helpful!!

seawhore

So general first impressions I got from them just based on looks was. Caesar is some kind of 60s spy/investigator kinda guy, Oscar seems to be working at a club/bar, and Wesley is a talk show host/serial killer. So that's before reading anything.

Going individually now, Ceasar looks to fit his typing well, being disguised and all, very strong sense of the time period he appears to be from. I see the note that says he has a wide build but his otherwise spindly proportions make him appear thin. Maybe square him up a bit to have that shape be more apparent. I think I generally have the same notes for Wesley (I think he's the dude that lead me to your acc a while ago haha. Haven't had a chance to read his bio fully until now). Essentially I think he's fine, his egotistical personality is coming out nicely. I'm not sure if I missed something while reading his story but he comes off more like the killer and not the victim of said killing. I noticed the use of the microphone with him. Character props are extensions of them and can be used to show them off in other ways, most radio microphones share the similar blocky look we still have today, but if he's more animated while talking, he might invest in a hand mic that he could walk around his studio with. Maybe a headset might be a fun accessory too. 

I'm a bit of a casino enthusiast myself so I think I can be pretty helpful with Oscar. He can quickly be identified as a dealer just by the uniform which is good, but what stands out is that long hair during the '70s was seen as more of a hippie/slacker thing (hence why we have phrases like "cut your hair hippie" and "long hair on a guy is bad in the business"), and casinos back then used to have insanely strict dress codes for both workers and patrons so I don't think he'd be allowed to keep it that long. Like in general yes long hair was the trend but it generally never made it past the shoulders in business situations. Also, I'd love to see his own personal style show, uniforms are restricting, what does he wear on his days off? Let him express through personal style. 

zidanetribal badmuses You're both welcome! :0)

szarkai Don't worry we've all been there one way or another, I haven't seen much of the show but I hope that wasn't taken as a negative comment since I did think those costumes were pretty cool looking and meant that as a like "oh hey cool" yk

Oxyhocin Yhea totally, like I haven't looked into it much myself past just general searching around for hairstyles that would work for Astarte, but generally I do know that locks existed but I've just been finding more examples of braids being more frequent/popular. And yhea A blouse could be fun for him, lots of different styles available with that option.

Hypnomaly

This thread is primarily for the design aspect of characters not their stories; I get that I said I'd be reading bios, but that was in relation to how it would affect how someone looks. But like don't stress, it's totally chill tho I don't mind. I did look over Plumber and I think he's pretty sick looking, kinda gives me a Dr. Suess/Sally Cruikshank kinda vibe. I don't have any other notes about looks since he is just a fun looking dude. Ya know not all characters need to have detailed backstories and all that, they can exist like Garfield; you know their behaviors/personality, you know what they like/dislike, who they interact with, where they live, etc etc. He can exist in a slice of life kinda way. You already have everything there that builds the whole picture of his personality written down, I don't think it needs to be as extensive as the chart you're using so I wouldn't stress over minor details like "What does the character consider his/her best physical characteristic?". If you want a story for him and the other dudes he interacts with I'd focus on that as the kinda "big idea" to focus on and that starts with knowing just generally what story you want to tell with these characters. 

Also, do you mind if I ask how you got this effect on this image, like the texture/pixelating?

Waiting til this opens again to drop an oc here :D 

Groxx I think I should be re-opening within the next day or two. I think I have one more from the first round of people and like following up with any responses they have to my comments since it is a discussion kinda thread after all :0)

Alright got it :DD Ping me when it's open, I do have a character I REALLY need some design critique on but I don't wanna comment until it's open again

seawhore Don't even worry about long responses this is what I built this thread for. But yhea like my first line was about initial thoughts based on pure visuals, not yet reading anything about them so that was to help be like "this might be how some people will view this character without context" Everything after that is with context. 

For Cesar his fashion totally works, he's an alien so him being behind on trends is a good way to show that somethings off with him. And I get what you mean with the wide thing now, that's a broad-shouldered frame/inverted triangle look. So yhea you're good I think then.  With Oscar, I get that it is very anti-system since it is why most people had the style, I'm just saying that the stigma from that alone would probably have him barred from even entering the building because casinos used to be regarded as like classy places to go and had an image to uphold, no exceptions. Also, I just re-scanned his page. He's a pit boss, he'd probably be in a suit ( I can see he has a suit but the majority of his pictures show the dealer's uniform) since it's a higher-up supervisor position If you wanna keep the fit and him actually handling cards demote him to just a dealer. 

Hypnomaly Yhea I can totally see the Sneetches inspo I love it! And like experimenting like that is such a good way to get out of a creative funk so good going :0)

And again don't stress about the whole story thing, I'm just not in the brain space for it right now so I'm not as much of a help as I could be. But thank you for the help with the dithering, I've been dying forever to figure out how people do it and was happy to see that you were the one who made the image so I was like "ah finally I can ask someone!"