Character Design in Animation: 2D, Anime & 3D Styles

Do you dream of becoming a character designer? If so, this article is for you. Discover the world of character design in animation, including insights into 2D, anime, and 3D character design styles here.

Have you ever wondered why some characters from animated movies and TV shows stay in your mind long after the story ends? Whether it is the inspiring personality of heroes like Naruto or the intimidating presence of villains like the Joker from the Batman animated series, they all leave a lasting impact. This is because of the genius character designers working behind the scenes. The profession of a character designer is as fascinating as that of a magician. They bring life to characters in animated films and TV shows through their incredible skills.

If you aspire to become a character designer, this article is for you. It explains the process of character design in animation, the tools used in the craft, and the different types of this art form. From 2D and anime to 3D, you will find details about various character design techniques used in animation here.

What is Character Design in Animation?

Character design is the process of creating characters for animated movies, TV series, video games, comics, print media copies, and other digital platforms, considering that a character represents specific personality traits, behaviors, and physical features and attributes. While designing a character, the main elements that need to be focused are the following:

1. Silhouette

This refers to the overall outline of a character. A silhouette of a character can be light or dark, influencing the overall background and storyline where it is used. It helps integrate characters into various environments.

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2. Proportions

This element shows the relationship between various body parts of a character. It can be realistic, as seen in 3D superhero movies, or exaggerated as used in shows like Popeye the Sailor Man show. Exaggerated proportions are used to make specific body parts of a character larger than others. An example of exaggerated proportions is Johnny Bravo, where the character's chest and shoulders are significantly larger than the rest of his body.

3. Facial Features

These elements refer to a character's face, including the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. These features are crucial for conveying emotions and personality. Facial features are used to communicate a character's emotions and represent their overall personality.

4. Color Palette

This involves the selection of colours used in a character's design. Colours can symbolise traits, evoke emotions, or help differentiate the character from others. For example, the predominant use of black in the creation of the Addams Family's characters emphasises their ghostly and scary traits. In contrast, the use of yellow for Belle's dress in Disney's Beauty and the Beast highlights her joyful and loving personality.

5. Clothing/Costume

This is one of the most important elements of character design, as it represents the character's profession, age, role in the story, culture, and their relationships with others. For instance, Nobita in the Doraemon cartoon series always wears a t-shirt and shorts, indicating that he is a school-going boy aged between 9 and 11 years.

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6. Body Language/Pose

It represents how a character walk, talk, sit and interact with others. Body language in character design conveys confidence, shyness, aggression, or other traits.

7. Expression

The range of facial expressions that a character can display. These expressions communicate the character's emotions and reactions to situations.

Expressions are vital for storytelling, helping to convey the character's thoughts, feelings, and reactions in a visually compelling way.

8. Details and Accessories

These include small elements such as jewellery, tattoos, scars, or unique features that add depth to the character's design. These details can be symbolic or simply add to the character's.

9. Personality

The traits and behaviors that define how the character acts and reacts. Personality influences every other element of design, from expressions to clothing choices.

A well-defined personality makes the character believable and relatable, allowing the audience to connect with them on a deeper level.

10. Cultural and Environmental Influences

The cultural background and environment that influence the character’s design. This includes cultural attire, symbols, and other elements that ground the character in a specific setting.

Incorporating cultural and environmental elements can add authenticity and depth, making the character more relevant to their story or world.

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Character Design Software Tools

The process of becoming a character designer begins with sketching characters and then transitioning to digital drawing using character design software tools or programmes. To become a character designer, it is essential to familiarise yourself with these tools used in the character design process. They are listed below:

Character Design Tool	Application
Adobe Photoshop	This tools is used for 2D character design and concept art. It includes features like brushes, layers, and advanced editing tools for detailed illustrations. Integrates well with other Adobe software like Illustrator and After Effects.
Clip Studio Paint	This character design application is used for 2D illustrations, manga, and anime character design. It has features, including extensive brushes, vector layers, and frame-by-frame animation features. Popular among manga artists for its specialised tools for comics.
Blender	This tool is best for 3D character design and animation. Its prominent features are open-source software for 3D modelling, texturing, rigging, and animating characters. It's a powerful tool for both professionals and beginners in 3D animation.
Autodesk Maya	This software helps in 3D character design, animation and rigging. It has features like the industry-standard tool for 3D modelling and animation. Offers complex rigging tools and smooth workflows for animating detailed characters.
ZBrush	This tools is used for 3D sculpting and high-detail character modelling. It is ideal for creating detailed, realistic 3D models with sculpting tools that allow for high-resolution character creation.
Adobe Illustrator	This tools has been designed for creating 2D vector-based character design. It allows designers to create scalable vector art. Ideal for clean, sharp character designs, especially for logos, comics, and animated characters.
Krita	Krita is used for 2D illustration and concept art. It iis a open-source painting software with an emphasis on 2D design. The tool also has a wide variety of brushes and customisation options.
Toon Boom Harmony	This tool has been designed for creating 2D character animation. It is used for industry-standard for 2D animation, particularly for TV shows and films. It includes tools for rigging and animating characters in 2D.
Daz 3D	As the name suggests, Daz 3D is used for 3D character creation. It focuses on realistic 3D characters, with customisable models, textures, and clothing. This tool is great for beginners looking to create 3D characters without complex modelling.
Procreate	Procreate is used for digital painting and 2D character design. It can accessed through iPad app for sketching and painting. It is popular among illustrators for its intuitive interface and wide variety of brushes.

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What is 2D Character Design?

After learning the basic concepts of character design, it is important to understand the main types of this art form. This will help you decide which type of character designer you want to become.

The primary type of character design is "2D character design". It involves creating characters in a two-dimensional space, focusing on elements such as appearance, personality, style, and other personal and cultural attributes of the characters. In 2D design, characters have height and width, but no depth. When designing a 2D character, designers mainly consider visual style, proportions, shapes, and silhouette.

2D character design techniques are used in movies and series produced using 2D animation, video games, comics, graphics, illustrations, and brand mascots. An example of 2D character design is the lead character from the classic video game "Super Mario".

What is Anime Character Design?

Anime character design is also a type of 2D character design, but the attributes of characters in this art form are distinctive. It is the process of creating characters specifically for anime, a style of animation that originated in Japan and is characterised by its distinct art style and storytelling techniques. Anime character design focuses on visual traits that define the character’s personality, role, and emotions, while staying true to the stylistic conventions of anime.

The key elements that make anime different from other animation styles are the following:

Exaggerate facial features, such as wide eyes
Highly stylised vibrant hair
Exaggerated expressions, such as extreme happiness, shyness and anger
Distintictive body proportions, such as smaller body, larger head and long legs
Constumes designed according to Japanese culture or futuristic vision
Gender roles and archetypes influenced by Japanese culture
Expressive movements and poses

Anime is a vast animation field that cannot be fully described in just a few words. To truly understand this animation style and its important, subtle aspects, one needs to watch anime.

Uses of Anime Character Design

Anime character design is used in various mediums, including the following:

Anime TV shows and movies, such as Naruto, Demon Slayer, One Piece etc.
Manga (Japanese comics)
Video games
Merchandising (figurines, posters, etc.)

An example of anime character design is "Naruto Uzumaki" from Naruto, known for his spiky blonde hair, iconic orange jumpsuit, and headband, all of which are carefully crafted to reflect his character traits and role in the story.

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What is 3D Character Design?

3D character design is the process of creating 3D characters using the 3D animation techniques, including modelling, texturing, rigging, animating, and lighting and rendering. In this character design technique, characters have width, height and depth. They are used in 3D plots or backgrounds for visual storytelling.

Uses of 3D Character Design

The 3D character design techniques are used for the media forms mentioned as follows:

Movies: 3D characters are frequently used in animated films, such as Pixar or DreamWorks productions.
Video Games: 3D models bring video game characters to life through game design techniques, allowing for complex movements and interactions within the game world.
Advertising and Marketing: Companies often use 3D characters as mascots or in advertisements for products or services.

An example of 3D character design is "Shrek" from the movie Shrek, where the character is modelled, textured, rigged, and animated to create a lifelike yet stylised ogre.

Roles and Responsibilities of a Character Designer

A character designer is one of the main team members responsible for the making of animated films and series because they are responsible for developing poratagonists and other characters. Their main roles and responsibilities also include the the following:

Conceptualising characters according to the story of the movie or show where they will be used. This process also involves understanding the target audience for the story before developing the characters.
Creating characters. The initial sketches of the characters, based on their desired personality traits and roles in the story, are developed at this stage.
Collaborating with the animation production team to discuss any details that need to be added to the characters.
Deciding the color palette, final costume design, style, accessories, and props for the characters.
Making improvements to the characters based on the story or script requirements.
Finalising the characters after making all necessary adjustments and creating them using character design software.
Creating them through the character design software.

How to Become a Character Designer?

To become a character designer, you need to follow the steps mentioned below:

Enrol in an animation course with a specialisation in character design.
Learn all the course concepts in-depth and work on practical projects simultaneously to gain hands-on experience in implementing those concepts.
Practice sketching regularly to improve your skills in drawing characters.
Apply for internships as a character designer to understand how character design skills are applied in the animation industry.
Based on your personal projects and internship experience, create a professional portfolio and resume as a character designer.
Apply for jobs as a character designer.

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