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EarthnAshes — Saturday Short Tips: Shape Language
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Published: 2019-05-04 18:12:20 +0000 UTC; Views: 40974; Favourites: 1801; Downloads: 0
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Allllllrighty! So a lot of folks asked for a variety of things for me to give tips on, but character design was the one that I saw the most. So, that's gonna be our first venture into this whole short tips thing! I'm tentatively calling it Saturday Short Tips. <:
While I’ve posted this one up here, the rest will most likely remain on my Patreon only. But don’t worry! The patreon is entirely open to the public so you don’t need to subscribe to view the content there, but of course the option is there (with benefits of course) should you decide you’d like to feed this hungry artist. uwu
But enough about that! Here’s some extra tips regarding this page:
-One of the biggest foundations in anything art/design related comes in the form of simplistic shapes. Simple shapes are used so universally because they're clear and easy to understand.
-When designing a character, shape language is important. Shape language is using shapes to give the viewer information without words. The most familiar of shapes have meanings to them that's generally universal and understood by the audience on an instinctual level, and in character design this can be used to your advantage.
-Learn what each shape can represent and choose the shapes that best fits the character you're designing.
Exercise:
-Choose an animal to use for this exercise: choose only 1 animal for simplicity's sake!
-Draw a whole bunch of simple shapes in varying degrees. Don't try to make them perfect!
-Give them features that mimics the main shape of their body (square eyes and noses for square bodies, triangles for triangles, circles for circles)
-Experiment! A big part of designing a character is experimenting; don't settle on the first design you make. So play around! Turn a shape on its side or upside down, squish it or stretch it out!
-Keep the exercise rough, simple, and quick. The name of the game is exploration, not perfection! For these exercises I recommend doing 6-12 quick sketches.
If you are so inclined, you're free to show me the exercise if you do it! If you do, you can comment below with the exercise. uwu
Hope this helps at least a little! The next tip will move on to the next thing, which for me is Silhouette. <:
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Comments: 37
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It's going to be really cool to see these bite-sized tips; I'm excited to see how you approach the various subjects.
As for shape language, that's something I'm trying to work on more myself lately. I adore exaggerated and fun shapes, but I don't have quite as much 'focus' or control over it yet in my own work. It's a great reminder to see the fundamental 'personalities' of some of the basic shapes boiled down (especially being someone who is easily overloaded by too much information at once), and using dogs is a good way to convey what you mean without distracting from the point.
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Thank you! Honestly, I'm a little surprised by the response to this though; I debated against uploading it because I always saw the advice I could give kinda pale to the advice of folks who worked/works in the industry. But, if ya'll find it at least marginally helpful, I'll continue making the pages!
Designing is pretty hard though, I agree with you there. The best way I find to design something is to go straight silhouette first with the shapes in mind: little to no detail at all and figure out how the overall form works, then go back and add sketchy/light detail to give them some features; that's actually something I wanna show in the next page, so hopefully that'll be helpful. <:
Speaking of though, I personally think your design work is fantastic, especially what you showcase for your monsters. They're all full of character but with a level of believability that make look as though they truly could exist, and I LOVE that in designs. <:
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I've often felt the same way; I have a handful of 'tips/tutorial' scripts I've wanted to put out but haven't quite settled on how to approach yet since there are so many already out there. For myself, I want to focus less on 'how to's' and more on the process I personally have when approaching certain problems or subjects. I think that's partially what makes your tips work is that they aren't just "do this" but give insight into how to approach things that aren't talked about as commonly. And since they're bite-sized pages talking about them, people just being introduced to the ideas you're presenting won't be overwhelmed by 7 pages of detailed explanation. And even for people who are familiar, it's a good reminder of the bare basics while giving a fresh perspective on it.
As an aside, the little exercises you've been including are also wonderful! I should probably do a few myself when I get the chance, hahaha.
Oh gosh, I'm really honored that you think so- I really am proud of my designs, and it always brightens me up just a little bit when other people can get the same fun from them I do. Even the dud designs still give me something to learn from.
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Wow! I actually learned this from a video game design class I took last year.
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Excuse me, you said different shapes read different characters, but i only see 3 good boys.
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OOH!! totally adding this to a reference folder!
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Okay, this is nice.
Very easy to understand!
(Also, everyone needs to stop advertising on this :/)
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dont advertise your art on other peoples pieces. thank you.
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Please don't use my page to advertise your artwork.
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Ok. I'll post once (cuz ur out there) & if u don't ban me that's fine. You'll never see me again.
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Sorry, but I won't allow my page to be used as advertising. What you're doing is a bit on the inconsiderate side and also. Ya know. Rude? Since I asked you not to and you did it anyway. So, yep, I'm afraid you'll have to be banned.
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Man, I wanna just hug that squishy round samoyed
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Thanks for the tip! I'll keep this in mind when drawing character designs.
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Pearl, Garnet, and Amethys.
Maybe not as much for Pearl, but the other two are pretty spot-on with the characteristics listed.
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...what?
I think you meant to comment on Earthsong's picture? You replied to me.
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It's a common glitch for mobile users, where when they try to comment the website puts it at a reply.
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I know, I just was not certain if it was that, or an actual reply ^^"
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Oh no Pearl is absolutely the triangle. A lot of her biggest traits fits into it: she's the quickest, she's the sharpest in the literal and figurative sense, and she's hella resolved in her actions despite her anxiety.
But a character design is more than just one shape, which is why a design typically uses more than just one shape to better define the character in question. Garnet, for example, is mostly square, but there's a softness to her to better belly her approachable and motherly personality. That sort of stuff would be better explained in my Silhouette page though, which is next Saturday.
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Aye, but she is not exactly dangerous...well, not more than the others. Reading those adjetives, I feel inclined to think the character is also violent, but that may just be me.
I am trying to think of another set of characters that follow the same route, but nothing comes to mind at the moment.
Actually! Carl Fredricksen and Russel from Up are certainly a square and a circle.
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Dangerous does not necessarily have to mean physically dangerous or consistently dangerous. It isn't always a negative trait either.
Villainous example: Jafar. Big time threat to everyone around him but he himself is not physically imposing, nor does he have weaponry or use brute force to get his way. But he is always clearly a danger in the way he uses his magic, his deceit and his wit, his motives, the way he carries himself.
Another example from Ratatouille, the food critic: he's the main antagonist, who's overall shape association is the triangle. He isn't evil, BUT he poses a threat to the protagonist in that he holds the power to ruin them should he want to, just by writing a bad review on their restaurant.
But remember, just because there's one thing a shape is mostly associated with doesn't mean it's the only thing it's associated with. Triangles are more than just danger, and the character doesn't have to be dangerous to use this shape as their main basis.
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Yaaaasss!!<3 This is something I've forgotten to consider with character designs, thankfully one I've been working on I've subconsciously been doing this with!! Thanks for the reminder moving forward!^ ^
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Symbolism seems sound: nature is made of curves, we make squares when we want something stable, we make triangles when we want something stabby.
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To an extent. There's just as much that goes against this though. Cannonballs are destructive weapons, but round. Pyramids are quite a bit more stable than cubes, but square.
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