Characters with signature design trait?

Posted 5 years, 3 months ago (Edited 5 years, 3 months ago) by Kogami

(Apologies if this thread have been created but why didn't I have ideas for threads when I still had my premium/search button lol)

So! One of my favorite part of a character design is them having a certain design trait or accessory (or just anything like hairstyle, clothing, item, etc) that are strongly associated with a character--they wear/hold them most of the time regardless of outfits, situations (or heck, you can spot it even if the character appears as a silhouette) or they absolutely have that as a part of their character and it's either rare or looks strange if they are seen without one? As one would say, well, their "signature" or "trademark" in a form of design.

Do share as many characters as you want here, I'd love to know! (Also feel free to share if the said design trait is just an extra addition to their design or have a certain story or reason to them)

Prime examples would be: Any form of hats, plushes, hair clips/necklace/bracelets, maybe the character is always seen with a ponytail? And many others

Kogami

I can't reply to everyone but it was fun reading everyone's reply!! And yes I understand that some detail are literally a cardinal sin if it's removed from the character lol

(Also thank you @Wormancer sdfdfsfs I'm happy to hear that ;-;)

You know if I tried to look hard enough in my characters' designs I feel like almost everyone have their trademark design trait, intentionally or not?? I could try listing them like, literally now but I'll try to summarize them this time-- On mobile rn so I'll link images later. 

  • Kureha often use the same ribbon-like hairband(?) for his ponytail? Either when its tied as low or high ponytail. Also he often cover his arms with any type of wristband. Not that both are that important or iconic, but he's just never change the color/type of his hairband thingy and I often feel odd if Kureha's arms were exposed despite there's nothing underneath it hahah
    • My friend also point out that his blue eyes stand out in contrast with his monotonous color scheme...I believe that's also goes for Reika's bright orange hair when everything else about her is just purple
  • Ahoge team: (You know, the antennae/sprout-like hair on top of their hair) Kozue, Sakane, Kiyo, Yunosuke
  • Choker team: Kiyo and Inugami
  • I consider Kiyo's sharp eyes is a trademark and basically the reason I'm super picky on commissioning him because making his eyes any bigger or smaller is just not him sgdfdfdfs
  • Inugami's black nail polish was an addition by my friend that I made canon, and now I highly associate it with him lol
  • Ayumu had a drastic appearance change during her past but two things she kept are her pink sweater and hairclips (Spoiler image here....)
  • Saki and Kazuki have matching necklaces/lockets for unknown reasons, I sometines forget to draw them because of how small they are but I should draw it more often because I feel like that's the only remaining proof that they're close (as siblings), despite how things have gotten downhill for them now

In all honesty though most of them will never be as iconic as my association of Kokoro and her ear flaps?? I'm willing to collect any ear flaps I ever find physically and almost considered ordering a custom one if I could find any makers for them hahah

Edit: Added links and more description for some of them!

Smiley PicklePantry

Biggest offender of this for my characters is Smiley with his paper bag mask. He never substitutes his paper bags and never changes the smiley faces on them (willingly and knowingly). 

Others are:
Frederick (and Charlotte) with their family heirloom of gloves. They both just don't feel right without them on. Even when Charlotte's wearing them, Freddy has some replacement gloves just because he feels so off without them.

Jackson and his red bandanna. No matter how he's dressed, he'll have that on. It's from his grandfather and he believes it to be a good luck charm.

Armageddon and his blue coat. It was made by someone he loved dearly and he always wears it to remind himself of her. Even after centuries it still carries a trace of her scent, which always comforts him.

Claude Lovelace Caine

OH I HAVE A LOT so I'll probably post here once in a while since I think in this thread it's nicer if you can actually see the character in the image 

Anyway for Claude it's his eyes first and foremost, since they're pretty much always in this kind of narrow state + he has sanpaku eyes so the white part of his eyes shows under his iris. Sometimes this obviously can't be seen, like if he's looking down etc and even that makes me wildly uncomfortable like whose boy is ??? this is a different boy 

He also always has his hair in the style showing in the picture, with the ponytail resting on his shoulders (99% time right) and with the curls on the sides of his head! 

Fossil CallmeKomodo

Fossil's heart <3 it's just... Idk it kinda makes him who he is, and almost wraps his design up. Like, yeah he's basically like a skullsona when you look at him, but there's a heart pined to his chest! And I feel like it kinda reminds the artist that he's not a skullsona, he's a living skeleton that was broken for a while and in some bitter sweet way is now made whole. 

Also it's hecking adorable. 

Prisma Jade-Everstone

(I have a bunch for her lol)

Not really one solid thing, but how she rarely wears anything that isn't holographic or shimmery (or at least blue/pink/purple/white) A lot of characters notice that when describing her and infact it draws in a lot of attention

Outside of that it's her eyes, especially bc her pupils & irises aren't just drawn that way as a stylistic choice, that's just how they look. They're also noted as "scary and intimidating" whenever she's mad or upset about something. Also cool little detail I made while working on this AU: as an android her iris is actually a lens

Nicholas Arayes Caine

The headpiece is honestly very impractical in many situations but I just can't imagine Nicholas without having anything there? Like if it's not roses it's some other kind of (often floral) decoration, and I feel like Nicholas probably feels the same and feels strange if he doesn't wear anything lmao 

Marcia circlejourney

This is such a fun question. I do sometimes draw Marcia without her helmet, but she just doesn't look right. Sometimes, when I'm scribbling her, I'll add a pair of horns just to keep her silhouette "right". Even her band AU self, who has no reason to be wearing a horned helmet, wears a pair of plastic horns. Just because.

Same with Mort and her hat. Some draw her without the hat and she looks...not Mort.

 Artillery Xen

This guy's bandanna is so strongly attached to this character that I literally cannot draw him without it. Even amongst my friends, all I have to do is draw a magenta line and they know who I'm talking about.

Snap Almondlover

her undereye eyelids are THE signature of her design. without them, she's practically not even the same character. i first added them in her design on creation to parralel my (at the time) fursona's constantly drooping eyelids.... which led to me and my friends making a crack ship which is currently canon.

candy's little sprinkle whisker-holes, or whatever they're called in real life. also her eyelashes. and her heart nose. and her heart pupil. and like. everything about her design, tbh.

chaddick's emo fringe. 

dogfather specifically has twelve eyes, six on each side. the placement is EXACT for them and its a signature of his design! also his translator collar and his anime hair. 

fuse's 'butterfly wings' and 'beak' markings! he's had them since his first design and its always a constant for me.

jonas's extra eye tattoos and his nail bat are a must.

lyran's subtly evil eyes. they look precious blue, but zoom in and.... EVIL

myev's necklace! it had her goblin hand on it

ribs' two collarbone spots and her cloak, they're a must.

jim's neck fluff is always there, even in jim 1.0 and 1.5. it's the only recognizable part of his old design.

tidbit and her pink lemon insides, as well as her bat nose. the bat nose is newer, but its a key part of her design.

target's red accents! 

x-dee's 5 mouths, especially his big leech mouth.

Zakki atempause

I actually had someone compliment his silhouette before? Which is nice because that's apparently a thing you should consider when making a character and I literally never bother to think about lmao oops

guess I'd say it's the stupid edgelord coat along with his horns and pointy ears

Vivian Linden Caine

Vivian and her,,, entire nun attire,,, which I guess makes sense because she DOES wear it a lot but it's by all means not the only thing she wears but everything else just feels wrong!! Especially if I draw her without the headpiece and her hair shows properly and not just the sides 

 TJ BRADLEY

if TJ doesn't have a mane of hair at any given time, what am I even doing

AlleycatIrony

rahart's had this weird red ratstail since i made him like six years ago and i haven't been able to get rid of it bc it's like... his Thing (tm)

the hardest thing i ever did was change it to white for the human AU as u can see here (it's still red in the troll AU) as it being naturally white makes more sense than being naturally red (like... it's p common weirdly enough)

i'm still not used to it tho