ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มิ.ย. 2024
- We talk about how to design striking character illustrations by iterating on silhouette and body language!
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I've never seen a character design artist talk about gestures or body language as an integral part of the character design process. But now that I hear your explanation, it makes total sense.
They might call it gesture, movement, or pose. They will definitely work through it on the expression sheet, especially for a heavy cartooning style. Thanks for the comment and cheers!!
Look up Matt Rhodes, he works for BioWare and talks a lot about this stuff.
The subtle tilt of the left foot is the kind of detail that brings a gesture to life. Good job.
Thank you!! Some people say that hands are the hardest thing to get right, but I think it’s the feet! Haha
@@mapcrow Agreed! I often don't know what to do with the feet, so characters end up in a boring, straightforward stance or I just cut them off below the hip. I need to think about posture more before starting to draw.
Agreed!
That's something that I have to remember when making a character drawing - not a stable pose but a dynamic "in-between" feeling - something that conveys not only motion but also mood
I can honestly see this character in a Souls game. The hat especially gives me Abyss Watcher vibes
I get more of Darkest Dungeon vibe, but I definitely see the Souls in it. Kinda looks like tower knight from Demon's Souls.
The hat gives me solid Blasphemous vibes, but spiky metal cones are pretty universal in appearance.
Ah, men of culture, I see
It's litterally just a pointy wizard hat, not everything is tied to fromsoft games.
See, maybe a shield with a handle facing your adversary is a bad idea, but maybe a creative player might notice it and take advantage of it.
If it's magical. Maybe it's not. What if the handle burns people who grab it. Making them tempt fate.
you could make it so the handle faces the user (as a handle) and the shield is used to catch and reflect magic spells, rather than using the lid as physical protection
That handle is definitely cursed.
@@nicholaslabonte3491 it burns them and gets them stuck! You think you're gonna pull his shield off but he pulls you to the ground instead!
It could have the same damage amount as the heat metal spell. With maybe a two tier strength dc. The first just to free yourself from the shield. With the second taking it from the witch knight.
A REALLY good tip about character design: If you can identify all your characters by their shadow/silhouette alone it's good character design. A good example? Bad apple video, Tohou series is the perfect how to do.
it isn't always good, but it can be. especially in the earlier games.
That list for what you wanted to combine with your knight included so many entrances that I’d never have thought of and the execution really adds a lot of character and story! Out of interest, what is your approach when writing character stories? And do you start with the image or the story?
The images usually come first for me, and as far as I’m concerned, images are the story
Omg, that laugh about the cauldron parts being witchy and knight like was adorable haha
Absolutely love the design you ended up with!
Thank you!! It was a lot of fun!!
Oh man....I didn't realize how much I actually liked your artstyle. Do you take commissions? Haha
I really like the idea of the silhouettes, I've been struggling with my wizard character and this sounds like a great place to start
I am closed for commissions at this point, but thank you for the kind words! It helps to think of what shapes you need before thinking about costume elements would make the shape sometimes. When designing a silhouette, don't think "cape" or "trench coat", instead think, "triangle" or "box that is broader on top."
100% agree with the T-pose stuff, those are only good for reference sheet of an already designed character's visuals, and shouldn't be used for establishing a new design!
Map Crow: *I like to look at Pokemon for good silhouettes*
Meanwhile Pokemon: It's a jigglypuff viewed from above!
This is genuinely incredible. It's like unraveling arcan secrets about drawing but in such a small video. Simply incredible
Thank you!! Yeah, most things to learn about drawing for very little, they just all stack up and inter-relate.
i genuinely feel like this changed my outlook for character design. The shape iteration was an eye opening thing to learn.
I want to say thank you for making this video. I been drawing small templates sketch of my characters before finalizing it, but this crash course really help make me understand what I should look for.
I really love this video, so helpful. Also, gives tons of inspiration to do some art, thanks!
Thank you! That's wonderful to hear! Make some cool art!
i've seen tons of videos about character design but this one was honestly so efficient at explaining these 2 concepts. great job ! Just found out about your channel, love it already :)
Incredible advice!! And so succinct. And cool design at the end to boot. Thanks for putting this together. 'Crash course" really well deserved :)
This Video just randomly showed up in my feed... and I'm already in love. The vibe of it all, the easy to understand lesson, and the design are all wonderfull! Great video, I'm glad you showed up in the feed
This was by far the most helpful character design video I have seen. Thank you so much!
Really appreciate your very loose sketches as someone who taught themselves very tightly from an early stage in they're art journey. Its good to relax and have fun in early stages
I found this channel today and I really like it, like seriously keep up the great work
I like this creator because he talks a lot about character design. He’s got many years of experience, and he's really good at drawing ANYTHING. For example maps, monsters, and such. In this video he talks about character design in general. He mentions silhouettes, body language, gestures and the like. He’s also got a great art style, which I like a lot. He’s very knowledgeable about art. I love the finished design, because it’s dynamic and very interesting-looking!
Don't mind my weird comment btw. I have to write reviews in English for homework lol. Also I love all your videos!!!
Ha! I see! Well if there is anything I can do to help your assignment, let me know! I’m a teacher too, after all! Cheers!
I never though of doing silhouettes like this! Totally gonna do this next time I do concept art.
Randomly found this channel (thanks TH-cam algo!)
Just want to say thanks for breaking concepts down into easily manageable parts but not overprescribing what to do. Love your channel!!
This helped out a lot. Also I love the concept of a witch knight and think your design is awesome.
The approach I usually start off with is a very pragmatic consideration of who this character is, and how they would equip themselves as a result, prioritizing functionality over aesthetics, which I think can work quite well if you are aiming for a more grounded style.
i just found your channel through the questing beast newsletter and i backed your zine and im sooooo glad i did
Wonderful! Thank you so much!!
Moar! A speed draw of these would make amazing shorts and I would watch all of them!
I feel like i've learned a lot from a short video, and also I absolutely adore your Witch Knight
I can't stop re watching this
dude thank you! Struggling with a design for a roleplay and this is gonna help me out a lot
I love the idea of having a table for different kinds of knights!
The witch knight has a spell on the shield handle, so that anyone who grabs it is put to sleep/poisoned/hypnotized/burned that way it has a strategic element 😊
Wow. Amazing skills and finesse.
This is one of the best character design videos I’ve seen recently! Super helpful info and demonstrations, and I really like your drawing style! Please please PLEASE make more character design videos!!
Sure thing!! What is the subject on character design you feel would be most helpful for you?
I struggle with poses and variety (ie same face/body syndrome) So maybe some tips on how to add more life to my drawings or how to be more creative with my anatomy. But honestly I just love watching you draw so anything helps! Thanks!
Belo trabalho! Suas artes são incriveis e seu conteudo melhor ainda.
Team Fortess 2 has incredible silhouette and body language with its characters
What a great little video! I will for sure add this steps to my creative process. Liked and suscribed
Absolutely amazing!
This is so amazingly cool
i'd love to see more character design videos from you. I really enjoyed this video, i have more of an interest in characters than mapmaking, though you make both enjoyable
I love your witch knight it looks so cool!
Thank You
Thank You SO MUCH!
Your process was very useful and inspiring to Me
You're good on this btw
I would love to see your process of character design for a kind, intellectual, empathetic, helpful, adorable HoBo!
Map Crow, your style is lovely. I've been a defeated artist for almost a decade, completely unable to draw, and yet watching your creative process makes me want to pick up the pencil again.
Thanks for your hard work!
Heck yeah!! Love to hear that!! Do what brings you joy and fires up curiosity!!
Fantastic advice! Really helpful, thank you 🤘
Thank you! Just subscribed!
as a developing artist who works in the ttrpg sphere, i feel like i found a diamond finding your channel :)
Thank you so much for making this video very helpful liked and subscribed!!!
God I love this design. I Want to try and make a collection of sketches like that now that I'm getting into drawing.
thats so awesome bro, you inspire me to write my own story one day
i absolutely love this!
The poses really help convey intention and personality, but it's hard finding pose references by vibe... got any suggestions for finding poses by emotion? Also, I've never done thumbnail sketches before, but I'm going to start doing that! I usually do full sketches, and then the character usually changes over time until it settles, but finalizing a design prior to that seems like a good, but obvious idea
I think some of the best poses are from bronze age comics, silent films, and ballet. Try not to overlap limbs too much so you can keep a clear silhouette.
I agree with some of the other commenters, I love that silhouette isn't the end of the argument in this process, I love how you really push it with gesture and pose
Heck yeah! Thanks for watching! Also, I'm coming at this as an illustrator, so I am more worried about the final composition than animation artists who need to draw model sheets and turn arounds and tee poses. Haha. I can skip all that and just plan for an active design! Cheers!
Man be like "silhouette" and starts creating every possible combination of things my brain can't come up with.
This video is extremely helpful and I have no idea why this channel isn’t more popular now! I know I’m a little late to the party, but thanks for this vid!
I don’t care about numbers, I just care about helping some folks. And it sounds like I’ve help you! So I’m very happy!! Cheers!!
The metal witch is really interesting because it might not be the most impractical thing. The way it’s shaped is kind of like a pikeman’s helmet, with the large metal rim and a indent in the top for your head to go, of course the indent on the witch hat is definitely more pronounced. It’s just a really interesting piece of armor design.
That's an awkward way to hold a broom. I always struggle with hands holding things in my drawing.
Speaking of witch knight reminds me of an episode of The Big Knights where they start their own Knights school and all the monsters joined it.
Trio of witches in full metal armour. But the dragon had me in stitches.
Love this!
Great video. I would argue though that T poses are helpful when searching for an initial design or when you want to iterate on one specific design because it helps with seeing proportions clearly and it makes comparing designs to each other much easier.
Just found this chanel, this video is an awesome first inpression.
Thanks for artificer wizard build idea for my next dnd game
amazing as always, mate!
Thank you!!
spectacular!
that was really good, make more, i like watching while drawing
i loooooooooooooove your artstyle , amazing ✨__✨
love the art good points subscribed
Thank you!
eldritch knight? nay. tis the ill witch knight!
really cool stuff here
I really love the witch knight design
I've never felt so affirmed. I do not draw, though I would like to, but I do write and the silhouette and body language are something I consider even in a non visual medium.
One of the ideas I've had (and actually drawn) is a towering gaunt emaciated wendigo crooked and slumped over back character to a more well grown chiseled paragon style body shape.
Similar to the before and after pictures. You can tell a story with a single design, but when you include that extra dimension to characters of time, who knows what you can do?
Also, I'd like to comment on the listing technique at the start. That is exactly Neil Gaiman's technique when writing
bro good shit this is dope asf
Kobold music
yaa!! this is very cool thank you!
Amazing
Brilliantly summarized, love it! Also, is that just a standard 2b school pencil? I used to draw exclusively with Eagle 2b pencils, the lead was so soft and you would quickly get these nice thick soft lines like you're getting here. Time to pick up some more of those I say!
Yeah, I often draw with just a pack of standard HB pencils from Office Max. It's only more recently with the Monsterous videos that I've been using 6B and 8B pencils.
Witch knight is just the best prompt. I want franchises upon franchises around witch knights now…
I would totally make a broom-lance from that weapon
Hm. This is extremely useful. I’ll need to try some of these ideas…
T poses are there for the reference sheet, mostly for animation.
Correct!
This design is pretty rad. The art style especially is perfect with those heavy lines, but I think you could have had the shield be a cauldron lid that they're holding by the handle, instead of putting the handle on the outside.
This is really amazing. I wish I was at least decent at drawing.
What I learnt from this is that even good artists can also draw crappy little doodles like me. Maybe there's hope for me after all.
Do you have any advice or good videos that cover the topic of balancing your values?
nice art
The artistic genius of this man is almost… frightening.
Thank you so much!!
NICE!!!
Thank you! Cheers!
Love the laugh at 4:56 lol
For this knight I like that the shield makes them have a tactic that has temptation to grab the shield out of their hand but the opponent does not know its strapped to the arm so they pull the knight in perfect distance.
I love to see a video of a merchant adventurer or a traveling merchant concept and for the traveling merchant his backpack can fold out and become a merchant stand anywhere without magic
I think that's a cool idea for a character! It sounds like you have a very clear idea for yourself already, so I hope that you take some time to draw your own version!
@@mapcrow I will but I can not find any references material for the clothes and Google is zero help with it
i feel silly, but i learned these skills in unrelated contexts in college, but i was never a character designer, so it never occurred to me that they'd still apply here
Do you have any tips on how to design the likeness of realistic characters? For example, the last of us and uncharted kind of characters? I know in some examples, they have a model reference, but I heard in Elle's case, she was design by artists in the Last of Us 2.
Is there a high res of the thumbnail? Maybe with a watermark? It would be a sick wallpaper.
Hey Map Crow! I know this is an olderish video so idk if you'll see this comment. Understanding this is a map/art channel would we be able to get your take on how to make good written characters?
Love all your stuff! You're an inspiration of a dm.
Sure, I have a episode about NPCs coming up where I'll talk about this a little. But I'm not a writer really. What makes a character good in a novel and what makes a character good in a game may be very different sometimes. Motivation is probably the most important thing for a character, in my view.
Step aside Shovel Knight because, Witch Knight is here!
That is one very witchy knight
Never heard of starting with a silhouette before, curious
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAARRRR!🤤🤤🤤
It might be late, but cauldron pauldrons!