Unit
- Reference collection: Gather high-quality images from multiple angles including front, side, three-quarter views, and dynamic poses. This comprehensive set helps you understand the character's form and proportions from every perspective. Include both real-world photographs for realism and concept art for design intent.
- Style identification: Determine whether the character belongs to a realistic, semi-realistic, or cartoony style. Each style imposes different proportion rules, surface detail levels, and modeling techniques. For example, cartoon characters often use exaggerated features and simplified anatomy.
- Anatomical references: Depending on style, study real anatomy for realism or stylized anatomy for exaggerated designs. Use medical references, life drawings, or works by established character designers. Understanding underlying bone and muscle structure ensures believable volume.
- Mood boards: Compile a digital mood board with textures, color palettes, fabric examples, and lighting references. This visual library becomes a constant reference during texturing and shading, ensuring consistency across the final asset.
- Silhouette analysis: Isolate the character's silhouette in your mind or using editing software to evaluate readability. A clear, distinct silhouette makes the character recognizable at a glance, which is critical for game characters viewed from afar or in motion.
- Proportion breakdown: Use measurement grids or head-count systems to establish consistent body proportions. Mark key landmarks like shoulder width, waist narrowness, and limb lengths on your reference images to guide block-in.
- Expression references: Collect references showing the character's emotional range, noting how wrinkles, eye shape, and mouth position change. This helps plan blendshapes if the character will be animated.
- Accessory details: Gather separate references for clothing, armor, or props. Study how fabric folds, hard surfaces interact with soft skin, and how accessories attach to the body. This informs modeling decisions later.
Design Principle
Principle: Silhouette Readability
Definition: The overall outer shape of a character must be distinct and easily recognizable even when rendered as a solid black shape. This principle ensures that a character's identity communicates instantly without relying on internal details.
Application: During concept analysis, trace the silhouette and ask whether you can identify the character by shape alone. Adjust proportions to emphasize key features such as a broad chest or long limbs. Exaggerating shoulder width in a warrior character creates a stronger silhouette.
Quick Revision
- Collect references from multiple angles covering full body and details.
- Identify the character's style to guide proportion and detail decisions.
- Study anatomy appropriate to the style for believable volume.
- Create mood boards to unify texture and color choices later.
- Evaluate silhouette readability for instant recognition.
- Use proportion systems like head counts for consistency.
- Gather expression and accessory references for animation and completeness.