Author: FERDINAND ENGLÄNDER
Blue pencil digital art translation manuscript, please indicate the source.
When designing a character, we need to reflect not only the character and story background of the character, but also the attractive appearance as much as possible. This often requires reference to the standard of beautiful (or human) appearance. In this article, I want to discuss why it is often counterproductive to follow aesthetic standards alone, and to point out other factors that make the characters interesting and interesting.
External beauty makes people visually tired
The left side of the picture below is a well-known male model, and the right side is a famous movie actor. Please refer to it.
The obvious point is their age difference, but if you ignore this, you will find that the models are more similar than the actors. Interestingly, in addition to the appearance of the outside (eyebrows, nose, face, etc.), the model also gives people the similar characteristics of the speculation. We will feel that they have some common characteristics: full of confidence, frosty, arrogant.
The reason is simple – the advertising industry uses a single ideal aesthetic standard to shape these models to attract the majority, and the actor's success is mainly due to its own superior acting (at least a bonus point).
The easiest conclusion is that for film characters with different personality traits, sincere performances, common lines and content-rich stories are far more important than a single aesthetic standard. Hollywood and major TV stations always try to rely on young and beautiful actors to sell, but such movies and TVs will be forgotten in a few years, because aesthetic standards alone can not shape a good role.
External beauty does not increase the realism of the character.
It’s amazing that every actor has the same face but can play a variety of roles! Of course, different character traits also need to rely on scripts and costumes, but good actors can always use a different set of expressions to interpret different characters, and then highlight one of the traits, while hiding another trait. Although the character design can fully display these qualities, it is ultimately convincing by the wonderful performance of the actors, so the appearance is just a performance tool.
Have you seen "Little Red Riding Hood" (Hoodwinked)? Take a look at the characters in the picture below:
Let's take a look at the little brother in the picture below.
This is a deliberately ugly character, but Gollum still has its appealing qualities. I just watched the latest release of "Hobbit 1" and I was very sympathetic to this character during the viewing process, especially when he showed the warm side of his character and the extreme despair of losing his ring. It is precisely because of his ugly appearance that combines aesthetic standards—such as the pitiful big eyes that can enhance the expression—to make this character extraordinarily fascinating.
This introduces a core issue of character design – how to deal with aesthetic issues. You must use a reasonable display of the beautiful and cute appearance of the character, and it depends on the need, otherwise it will only create a superficial character with glamorous but no features.
Constantly trying and changing is the key
Not only beginners, but also experienced character designers tend to design all the characters to be the ones they are best at and confuse them with their personal style. Therefore, you need to constantly ask yourself: Have I applied the same aesthetic standards many times? Are the noses, eyes, and faces of all the characters I design very similar? Is this the result I want? Many people tend to make different hairstyles for the same character, put on different clothes, and think that they are creating different characters (the male characters in the picture below, the essence has not changed), but it is not.
Therefore, we should always come out of the fixed framework that we think is reasonable and beautiful, to explore new methods, new forms and new ideas to design interesting characters.
Maybe you will wonder why I didn't show the female supermodel and the contrast picture after the movie, then take a look at the two pictures below.
Unfortunately, the actress is under more pressure than the actor in terms of sensuality and beauty. Therefore, when designing female characters, we need to conform to the aesthetic standards, but we can't make the characters too similar, so that they are flashy.
Let's take a look at Disney's various princesses.
Is the eye-catching character more attractive? I admit that a large part of the reason is the ethnic genetic problem, but I personally think that compared to Bella and Cinderella, Mulan and Baojia Conti's character shaping and story background are more brilliant, because the information provided by these two roles Far more than "She is a stunner", and such information is the key to character design.
The character design of "Psychic Boy Norman" is a good example because it provides a very rich amount of information, the character itself is also very beautiful, and it has successfully escaped the shackles of Disney/Pixar aesthetic standards.
I am deeply shocked by the "honesty" of this design. For example, the role of the mother - this design is never possible in Disney animation. Her once beautiful face has become slack and her body has been out of shape, far less than the ideal body standard. But we often see such people in real life, this is the realistic design - there are shortcomings in beauty.
Look at the corner of Norman - the asymmetrical body, the thick eyebrows, the eye-catching ears, the messy hairstyle in the wind... If such a boy can only run the dragon in the Disney movie, this does not hinder The film is successful, because the role is good or not is not the core of the film.
summary
Remember, you will design a “good-looking†role as a guide to action, and try to design interesting characters that appeal to the audience. Because we need the character to be authentic and require the audience to resonate, this is a more important factor than the classic aesthetic standards. The more you abandon the staleness and pursue the originality, the closer it is to success, so look at aesthetics as one of many tools.
I saw it here, and I liked it. (/ω・\)
Blue pencil digital art, sharing the bits and pieces of professional animators.
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