@@yrratix7442 Okay that's good, I dunno where I heard it but I heard someone say that a character design shouldn't take more than a year lol glad to know they're uh kinda wrong, in this case
@@bett1826 That person was completely wrong! You can take as much time as you need to make an OC design. I’m constantly changing my OCs or giving them different styles, just to try out different stuff. Take as much time as you need playing around and developing your OC :)
You know, the moment you mentioned that you thought the teeth around his hood looked like a bear trap, I immediately thought of how foreshadowing they would be if his demise was, in fact, a bear trap snapping around his neck
@@Deadflower019 a similar thing happened to me when a book character I made (who was an elf by the way) turned out to have their name mean “ruler of the elves”
pov: you don’t have consistent oc’s and the ones you do have you feel guilty about because they are based on fandoms so it doesn’t feel real and good enough to you-
Wherever you are with character design is ok! Not everyone has ocs that they like. If you want help there are youtube videos and plenty of people who'd love to help! Not to mention, ocs aren't always needed. Also fandom ocs are perfectly fine! Have fun with it!
@@insertusernamehere3173 I'd even argue that fandom ocs are extra challenging to design, because you have to make their designs fit the other characters and world that you can't change
I've always started with the character sheet and just spend hours thinking of what they'd wear and why- I think its super interesting to start with sketching a character in a scene first though and I wanna try this! Perhaps thisll help me with characters designs for my comic! Always love watching lavendertowne videos. They always inspire me to keep trying different things and have got me thinking a lot about my own art. I've hit a creative wall recently and this video really did kinda help :)
To anyone struggling with character design or anything art related: Character design takes awhile. So does learning art, keep trying and don't give up! It's hard, but you'll get there! It took me 5 years to get to where I am, and I still have stuff to learn. Keep it up!
I'd say Genshin Impact has a good balance of "rule of cool" and practicality. For example, Barbara is an idol and adamant worshipper of Barbatos at the church in Mondstadt, so she's not dressed like someone who's ready for a fight. Venti's design has a lot of things that the wind flatters, like frills, capes and whatnot, which ties into his fondness for 'that which is light and breezy' Zhongli's also dressed in a pretty straightforward embellished suit, which ties into his almost businesslike execution of tasks and discussion around things. Given he's a character in a city of trade, exports and business, that fits pretty well.
Im sick of BOTW players roasting Genshin. I prefer BOTW because the game is jank and I love it, but the thin with anime too is nothing is original, if they stray off too far from the generic Truck-kun isekai, OP ocs, or the generic "Clueless schoolboy with blue hair and a white uniform harem", they hate the anime.
As someone who makes a lot of D&D characters, it was helpful to learn your process for a character whose personality and story you don't know right away when designing. As I find I make a character they never show their true colours until at least the first couple of sessions. So it's always the biggest struggle figuring out the look and design before getting to properly meet them!
Sometimes I have trouble even deciding on a race. I had this idea for a Changeling Warlock who's basically like that sorta Dread Pirate Roberts thing, with their main persona being one passed down through the generations (along with the pact,) but their true form is getting too old for the business. Originally, the Roberts form was going to be a dragonborn but over time, I've found Elf to fit better.
i try to redesign my ocs as often as possible. i like giving them growth and watching them grow up with me. ive got an oc ive had for 6-7 years and the way shes grown has really surprised even me
@@percy_shiield I feel You! My main five ocs changed so much, they went to Gravity falls-looking edgy kids to silly little cartoon thiefs from the 60s. in like- 4 years they changed clothes,personality, height literally some of them don't Even look alike to what they were once!
I too, make lots of mistakes when reading or hearing things. My friend drew a flag that wasn't attached to the pole. One of my other friends told him that the flag was "defying gravity." *I swear I really thought that he said "defining poverty."*
@@basilbat273 I also once read a poster that said "Rock This Test," and knowing full well what it said thought it said "Fuck This Test" for several seconds. To be fair, it was a laminated poster so the glare was pretty bad, but I still think that's an incredible feat of stupidity on my part.
I remember when I was 11 (I’m 15 now) I had a character, he had black hair and a red dog tail and ears. Then when I was 13 he was a female furry because I had a furry phase, now she’s a normal human but she has a beanie with dog ears on them as a wink and a nod to the old design. Since her first design was male she’s a trans woman, I’m also trans so she’s a bit of a comfort character. She also has a more appealing colour palette now-
One of my trans characters have a similar “backstory” where I had a group of OC’s and she was originally a male, but there where way to many male characters, so I changed her to female to balance it out a bit, and decided “hey why don’t I make them trans, I don’t have a trans character yet!” AND I LOVE HER
@@4sher234 ah, thanks, it’s noce that you like my pfp! Sadly i didn’t draw this one, i made my character on picrew. However, i do hope to make art videos sometime soon! :D
i never had to overthink what my characters would look like or who they were i would see them in my dreams or music would inspire me i saw a certain shade of pink and that inspired me to make one of my favorite characters
It's the same way for me! If I see a chracter I like from a show, see a certain color, or hear some music I like; it motivates me to create my own characters. Then I can start to create the story behind them!
When you mentioned the "rule of cool", it reminded me of the struggle I have with sticking to realistic things. That's the thing that's the hardest for me to... let go of ig. I want it to justify my culture so much that now, I struggle with giving my characters a good balance of realism and aesthetics. They seem too real, not fit for a fantasy genre. I wanna give a modern take to it, just like most comics do. For example, shorts or leggings under the bahag, hoodies, chokers, a mullet inspired by the actual hair style, etc. I'm working hard on it and hopefully in the next 2 years or so, I already have my story all planned out so that by 2025, my comic is out.
I struggle with the opposite actually- when it comes to character designs I have an INCREDIBLY hard time being creative with them. It's not even that I'm not interested in fashion- I am, I actually feel like I have a pretty good fashion sense- I'm just bad at actually designing clothes. If you gave me a bunch of clothes to choose from for my characters they would probably all look great- I just have a hard time thinking of interesting and creative outfits.
Deffinately going to apply these tips. A friend told me once that with steampunk its the functual aspects you need not the asthetics so dont go throwing random gears on, i guess it works the same way as lavendertowne mentioned.
If I were to design a steampunk character I would probably add random gears, and then have them actually do something. It can even be something absurd, like make half-caffinated coffee, or take off the characters shoes.
I feel like in almoust every story there is that one character that the author just struggles to design cause they don't know much about them. (Well for me anyway)
That's so me, but with 95% of the cast of a story I came up with two years ago that I'm still working on right now. I'm struggling with the character designs, even though I know so much about them, help...
I always struggle with making characters.. idk, ugly I guess? They're all (in my mind) way too perfect, and not in an iconic side character way, like too unrealistic. I also usually have oc's that are siblings and I make them look too similar, considering me and my brother look nothing alike.
Dnd has actually helped me a lot with character design, like it gives you really good questions to ask about your character and when you roleplay as them you may end up behaving a bit different than you expected. Not to mention the character changes in ways you didnt expect since there is some chance involved in dnd.
Dnd intimidates me haha. I'm so bad at character designing, so creating a believable character that could be roleplayed as is like... no way haha. That's so difficult. I'm not creative enough to come up with interesting stories or personalities,,
@@mimthyss The first time I played DnD, I played my character the same way I was feeling. I felt pretty out of my depth and unsure, so my wizard was an overly polite half-elf with a slightly nervous energy who asked a lot of questions. If you create a character who acts like you feel, it's a lot easier to play them cuz there's less acting involved. DnD has a bit of a learning curve, but it's a lot of fun, and character creation gets easier with practice.
@@nicolecann7840 ooh, thats actually amazing advice.. thank you! It never occurred to me to do that haha. But that makes a lot of sense since like you say the less acting involved the easier it will be to be them, because its just authentic anyways! Ahh. I'm definitely going to remember that haha, and it's nice to hear it gets easier. Maybe one day x)
One of my characters (I was redesigning) has ‘perfect’ skin but actually hadn’t really lived a life before the start of her story. She was stuck home for the first 12 years of her life and couldn’t use any technology. Basically very VERY very sheltered childhood.
I'd love to see more content like this. Not only do you give good advice on designing a solid character, but you give a real example of how you get there. Seeing how a professional does it is much more helpful :)
Basically, I once created characters by using gacha life and then I usually now redesigned them again(in gacha club) and then redesigned them again when I was drawing them until I got their final designs for the characters
Who else has practically zero experience in actual character design and is beating themselves up for not being as good at it as someone who literally majored in it in college?
I’d like to know where I could read her comics! They look so interesting just looking at the characters and the potential lore behind specific facial features and clothing items!
I personally enjoy this kind of content a lot, it's really interesting (for me, at least) to see how you design characters and things like that, it gives me just that little bit more inspiration to draw.
Meanwhile we have LavenderTowne soothing our ears with her voice inspiring us to continue drawing despite the current block or challenges… we have Ethan Becker on the other hand yelling at us “Don’t you ever, ever do that!” While Ross Draws continues his color dodge spree.
I just want to express how much I love this channel, I just finished reading all of Unfamiliar and it's absolutely insane to me how much time and effort Haley puts into her videos and how much she's improved over the years! These past few years have been rough for many of us but these videos are a light in the dark for young, aspiring artists like myself and I'm forever grateful for the fact that I have access to such helpful, inspiring, and entertaining content.
@@MooCow765 I like watching her even though it makes me feel sad Because I can’t draw anything but a single hand but I wanna be able to draw a human being 😂
Hey I dont think you'll see this but, I really really want to thank you. I have been watching you for a while now, especially in the cold days at night, with tea and my sketchbook. You always made and still make me feel better, it feels like you are a friend talking to me. It really helped me at gloomy days, I hope you are living a great life, and take enough breaks. I want you to know that you are doing amazing :D
I suck at making human character designs that still look unique and recently I needed to cause I wanted a human character so I just made a pinterest board of a bunch of people who looked similar to how I wanted her to look and that helped.
My process is quite similar to yours, only that I design my characters while writing them. It's impossible for me to finalize a design without at least 1-2 volumes worth of script. Normally after the idea for the project I want to do, I start by drawing my main cast (separately and together) and writing down a very bare-bones guide for writing their personalities (often based of an anime trope). I do this so it's easier to imagine them in my head, while writing the outline. After writing the outline, I look at my designs again and I redo them to match the more developed personalities I've given them, the world I made and the other characters. I, then, do this one final time, using my scripts as references for fully developed, well rounded personalities as a guide to creating nuanced design that speak to me. Then I design the supporting cast to compliment the main cast, which is done in 1-2 sessions depending on the size, before moving to storyboards. After storyboarding, I make a list of all the characters, locations and props that appear and draw model sheets for anything that appears more than once. Main characters get several pages, including (one for turnarounds, one for facial expressions, one for details and each important prop gets its own page, side characters get two pages (one for turnarounds and face, one for props), episodic or rarely present characters might just get a sketch of their body and face. The whole process from concept to model sheet can take me 4-6 months, since most of my time is spent writing during that period.
@Rishon Hislop my process is kind of similar to yours! The only difference is that most of my characters are inspired by my favorite video games/music/anime, etc. First, I sketch down some ideas and get a form of how many characters I want in my story/head canon/fandom. Then, I usually think about what story or concept that I want for the characters if I’m dead set on them. Thirdly, I brainstorm various aesthetics that I want the characters to have. This can be used for clothes, personalities, physical traits, etc. Pinterest is a great app to make reference and aesthetic boards, that’s what I use lol. I sometimes subtly incorporate my favorite anime art styles into my characters to give them a little piece of me, and what I like. And a tip for beginners or anyone reading this comment, always make and reference your character sheets! Practice drawing different expressions, poses, etc so you can get comfortable with drawing that character, especially if you’re going for animation, or writing a comic, or selling/doing art in general. It’s okay to reference your character sheets if you forget a certain quality that character has. Just make sure to practice, practice, and practice to improve on your skills. Soon enough, you’ll start drawing your character fluidly with muscle memory! Another tip could be making a board or a document with a list of characters or people from your favorite shows/media that you want to base your characters on. That can also give you an idea of how you want your character look, act, dress, etc.😊
As an aspiring cartoonist, I love seeing the actual process of a professional! When you said that you start out by just drawing the character in scenes and showed your messy concept sketches, I was like "Hey! That's how my brain actually works!" and it made so much more sense than all the other character design videos I've seen.
I absoulutely loved this kind of style from you. It made me start imagining up my characters in a monster hunting kind of world and what would change about their personality or looks or how they interact with different ones of my ocs and that made me happy. I would adore seeing more videos about you doing your job over prompts solely for UA-cam. It just gave me happy calm vibes.
For an example of a good balance of “Rule Of Cool” and Realism (within the story) would be My Hero Academia! All of the designs are really interesting and unique, but they still fit in practically! [EX: Bakugo’s grenade wrist things]
@@randomgrmlin mina's design after knowing her power is extremely impractical. Horikoshi loves having his female characters wearing revealing clothes but when it actually makes sense he doesn't.
Huh, yeah, maybe for the male characters of the show (except Iida who is literally a runner in a full heavy body armor like w h y) but female characters have literally the worst designs. Countless of artists have redrawn them bc seriously, the author just wants them to look sexy and that’s it.
Conversely, I think it could also be kinda cute if your character has a scar that others around them timidly speculate about but when they finally ask, they're just like "Oh, this! Yeah, I got that a couple years back when I accidentally ran into a tree branch!" Also, if the character has a 'cute dork --> hmm, hiding something? --> something dark' progression, it could be really cool to bring that back up. The audience would never expect - after hundreds of panels and many _clearly_ important plot points - that the little "joke" on page, like, TEN or something would actually be important.
Have a fandom OC in a zombie apocalypse setting. He has a scar on his face from his brow down next to his eye. He got it as a kid before the outbreak, falling out of a tree.
one webcomic i've read that does that "this is important later" really well is cursed princess club, you might see something random in episode 15 and it's important in episode 100 lol
I really enjoy these kinds of "project videos" they're very interesting to watch. The regular character design videos are entertaining, but videos like this one where you put alot of thought and time to the character and their purpose are the ones i personally enjoy the most.
Started joking around about a character design with a friend, sort of just as a fun fantasy, that was five years ago. Now we got a fully fleshed out series that we're working on and planning on releasing in a few years. Your advice really helped us finish the designs of the characters
I really love your artstyle! The faces designs, the sketches and omg the color for the shadow and the little details, so good! oh and the overall shape, design and artistic expression on your characters and anything you draw, it's so great!
"I would really appreciate it if you let me know if you are interested in this type of stuff where it's more just like me straight up showing you how I do my job-" Yes
i definitely wouldn't mind you posting these types of videos, they're really insightful, especially since they allow us to look into a real process of developing a webcomic!
As an aspiring Character Designer myself, I think this was great! I really love all the effort you put into your ocs! They look so good and I feel like this has helped me a lot!
ive been trying to plan a comic for a few years now and while ive had the main characters for over a decade now, im so back and forth about all the other characters designs lol. its such a process i am glad ive taken so long to develop it though cause ive gotten so much inspiration and learned so much about the process since i began so its pretty neat
I know that the topic is here to design, but,It’s videos like this that encourage me to just focus on writing a comic. But yeah, I’ll probably make some mistakes. But if you don’t make a good design, or try to write the story, then it never gets read.
This was really interesting! I like to hear about the more thought-out character designs rather than seeing you rush them for the sake of the video. And I'm interested in this story you're working on.
i really like this type of video!! its refreshing from the “turning ____ into a character” it shows more of the process, and that may be helpful for others; like myself haha
I love videos where you just explain and show you doing your job! It gets me motivated to draw and create stories and reminds me how satisfying finishing something can be
I would LOVE more of this type of content. I’ve been trying to design some comic characters for the first time and these types of things are really helpful
Hey, so I'm trying to make my style kind've like you're style but a bit more of my own so I was wondering if I would be allowed to refrence you're art while drawing. (Not tracing though, just you're art to the side trying to work towards more of you're style but with my own twist)
It's good that you ask permission, though I think in most cases you're fine to use art as reference. Like you said you don't intend to just trace or copy, simply to use it as reference so you should be okay. The important part is that you don't pass off any of anyone else's art as your own. Hope that makes sense ;-;
I have a hidden-world story, and a significant portion of the main cast just wears t-shirts and sweats/jeans. They are characters who don't often put much thought into clothes, and are supposed to share similarities in personalities. And two of them are kinda inspired by one, so I guess it makes sense. I was originally gonna make a "haha, my designs suck" joke, but my subconscious keeps accidentally making this stuff work.
different brands and styles can make those similar styles look different, such as a hemmed top on a t shirt, or different tightness and waist length on jeans. though, having everyone in the same general outfit isnt a very good idea. even if the characters arent really dressing themselves up modern casual clothing can still be varied, dont limit yourself. i dont know what you mean by hidden world but things like friendship bracelets or necklaces from other world materials and wear and tear from adventuring might be a nice idea
SAME! When I was first designing my characters they all had the same clothes as placeholders, but then I made it a worldbuilding reason and whoops now it’s illegal to wear unique clothes as a safety percussion :> (I do of course *try* to give them some uniqueness by the condition of their clothes tho) I’m just that avoidant of clothes design I guess lmaoo
Two of the three main members of the cast of one of my worlds wear hooded coats. One shouldn't really even be wearing one of those considering he lives in a fire kingdom. My third wears more medieval-fantasy-esque robes, but I could easily give him a fleece jacket if I wish to (and now that I think about it I kinda do).
The thing I started to do more recently is making up the story before making designs. I don't make comics or anything like that, but I sill like my characters to have an interesting story and I like to make different universes that they're in, so that really helps. For example I messed up the universe where my main oc is supposed to be in by making all the characters separately, and then deciding on their realationships, the world that they live in, etc. I made two characters of different race and I wanted to make them twins because they would be perfect as twins (I also never really had twins ocs before), but I also don't want to change their race and I have no idea what to do
Omg... with the last girl, in the sketch before the line art, the fuzzy shorts and the pigtails made her look like a moth!! The final design is good too, but now I'm in love with that concept 😭😭😭
YESS lav I love these types of videos so much! It really shows me a lot about your art process and taught me some things that I might add to my own process. never thought about drawing characters in their environment first before actually designing them, but I think that could be really useful, and I'll for sure try doing that from now on!
Okay but im loving your character design for the male character! He seems interesting and fun to try to understand, I'd almost want to be friends with this character already 😂
I actually got really excited to see this pop up! I remember you talking about this project for a while and always wanted to know more so I’d love more of this or any other content like this!
I absolutely love making stories for random characters. I listen to songs and think of characters that fit the song Also, I love the character’s outfits so much!
i love learning behind the scenes and the making process of things and could be where you add extra info that couldn't be shown to drive the plot/timing but influences what is happening
This was really useful, it really made me rethink my character designs, in a good way! I've always loved your character designs so this video was very inspiring thank you!!
I actually like this type of content and I would love it if you made more, as a young artist a lot of the things you said in this video helped me a lot.
"You can't rush art."
-that old guy from Toy Story 2
yes
I smell top comment
You are everywhere! 😂
@@sadiewhite5684 i dont think ive seen her before
FYI His name is Geri and he's also in the Pixar short "Geri's game"
Good to hear that I'm not the only one who takes actual years to settle on a character design
Lol same here, I made my OCs like 2 or 3 years ago and they’re far from finished. I think it takes time for everyone
@@yrratix7442 Okay that's good, I dunno where I heard it but I heard someone say that a character design shouldn't take more than a year lol glad to know they're uh kinda wrong, in this case
same
@@bett1826 That person was completely wrong! You can take as much time as you need to make an OC design. I’m constantly changing my OCs or giving them different styles, just to try out different stuff. Take as much time as you need playing around and developing your OC :)
Same
"scars on the face can look a little cliche"
me, having a scar on my cheek: im finally a generic brand adventurer oc, hell yeah
Me with four face scars: 🤡✨
me with none: 🏃♀️
I have one on my forehead, one on my chin, two on my jaw and probably more 💀
i have a scar from stitches on my cheek, i had like a mass of muscle or something growing there
I have one on my foot
Professional character design: *well thought, complex, everything has a purpose...*
Oc i design for fun: Give him cat ears!
me:
Lets give em rainbow hair!
Me making a oc jist for the hell of it: "omg revolutionary idea... maid dress but make it cool"
Now combine the comment and the replies and bam an uwu cat boy
@@insertunoroginalnamehere6189 Its more of a pink cat with a weird fish net outfit
Ok so cat ears, rainbow hair, male, fishnests, omw to make him 1 sec
You know, the moment you mentioned that you thought the teeth around his hood looked like a bear trap, I immediately thought of how foreshadowing they would be if his demise was, in fact, a bear trap snapping around his neck
that would be amazing
The only issue is he would have to die for that...
The curse of being a creator: "Oh my god, this would be amazing if they died by-"
@@Deadflower019 a similar thing happened to me when a book character I made (who was an elf by the way) turned out to have their name mean “ruler of the elves”
@@Portahooty Omg was their name Avery? 😂
pov: you don’t have consistent oc’s and the ones you do have you feel guilty about because they are based on fandoms so it doesn’t feel real and good enough to you-
Wherever you are with character design is ok! Not everyone has ocs that they like. If you want help there are youtube videos and plenty of people who'd love to help! Not to mention, ocs aren't always needed. Also fandom ocs are perfectly fine! Have fun with it!
@@insertusernamehere3173 I'd even argue that fandom ocs are extra challenging to design, because you have to make their designs fit the other characters and world that you can't change
@@user-nw3ol7fk1i yeah that too!
I have like the opposite problem, I find it so hard to make fanart and repeating someone else's characters without plagiarizing😭
@@satansrose1276 that sounds more like an art style problem than a design one tbh
I've always started with the character sheet and just spend hours thinking of what they'd wear and why- I think its super interesting to start with sketching a character in a scene first though and I wanna try this! Perhaps thisll help me with characters designs for my comic!
Always love watching lavendertowne videos. They always inspire me to keep trying different things and have got me thinking a lot about my own art. I've hit a creative wall recently and this video really did kinda help :)
:o This comment is exactly me, I have found my twin! But same, I also always start with a character sheet and all, but I'll try her way too
Also goodluck with art, I hope you'll have much inspiration soon
I do that too, maybe I should try this method :0
This comment is exactly me though.
I say that the vid did help me what to do for designs.
The comment is blank for me help
To anyone struggling with character design or anything art related:
Character design takes awhile. So does learning art, keep trying and don't give up! It's hard, but you'll get there! It took me 5 years to get to where I am, and I still have stuff to learn. Keep it up!
This made me feel better so thanks 😊
PHIL? AND JUNKO IS THAT YOU
It took me 5 years to draw decent looking hands...
@@mxckerei yes
@Brooklyn Westerlund no matter what you're doing great!
I'd say Genshin Impact has a good balance of "rule of cool" and practicality. For example, Barbara is an idol and adamant worshipper of Barbatos at the church in Mondstadt, so she's not dressed like someone who's ready for a fight. Venti's design has a lot of things that the wind flatters, like frills, capes and whatnot, which ties into his fondness for 'that which is light and breezy' Zhongli's also dressed in a pretty straightforward embellished suit, which ties into his almost businesslike execution of tasks and discussion around things. Given he's a character in a city of trade, exports and business, that fits pretty well.
Currently making my own Genshin characters and it’s so fun coming up with designs based on their vision and backstory!
don't forget xinqius outfit! it's so over the top and stupid i love it. totally fits his personality
GENSHIN!!!
Im sick of BOTW players roasting Genshin. I prefer BOTW because the game is jank and I love it, but the thin with anime too is nothing is original, if they stray off too far from the generic Truck-kun isekai, OP ocs, or the generic "Clueless schoolboy with blue hair and a white uniform harem", they hate the anime.
I agree 👍
As someone who makes a lot of D&D characters, it was helpful to learn your process for a character whose personality and story you don't know right away when designing. As I find I make a character they never show their true colours until at least the first couple of sessions. So it's always the biggest struggle figuring out the look and design before getting to properly meet them!
Sometimes I have trouble even deciding on a race. I had this idea for a Changeling Warlock who's basically like that sorta Dread Pirate Roberts thing, with their main persona being one passed down through the generations (along with the pact,) but their true form is getting too old for the business.
Originally, the Roberts form was going to be a dragonborn but over time, I've found Elf to fit better.
Redesigning super old characters is fun
It feels like the characters grow with you
Yesss! I have some ocs I've had since I was 9-11 and they've gone through so many different changes as I've changed and grown myself
@@boomboomboom32 Samme!
Yeah! I even have a character that I use as the "redesign character" which I'll periodically update!
i try to redesign my ocs as often as possible. i like giving them growth and watching them grow up with me. ive got an oc ive had for 6-7 years and the way shes grown has really surprised even me
@@percy_shiield I feel You!
My main five ocs changed so much, they went to Gravity falls-looking edgy kids to silly little cartoon thiefs from the 60s.
in like- 4 years they changed clothes,personality, height literally some of them don't Even look alike to what they were once!
I read poodle instead of doodle in the title and was very confused the entire time she made the character sheet. Go, no reading comprehension I guess
Man that has happened too many times to me
I too, make lots of mistakes when reading or hearing things. My friend drew a flag that wasn't attached to the pole. One of my other friends told him that the flag was "defying gravity."
*I swear I really thought that he said "defining poverty."*
@@klutzykaya6439 XD
Same
@@klutzykaya6439 the fuck
@@basilbat273 I also once read a poster that said "Rock This Test," and knowing full well what it said thought it said "Fuck This Test" for several seconds. To be fair, it was a laminated poster so the glare was pretty bad, but I still think that's an incredible feat of stupidity on my part.
I remember when I was 11 (I’m 15 now) I had a character, he had black hair and a red dog tail and ears. Then when I was 13 he was a female furry because I had a furry phase, now she’s a normal human but she has a beanie with dog ears on them as a wink and a nod to the old design. Since her first design was male she’s a trans woman, I’m also trans so she’s a bit of a comfort character. She also has a more appealing colour palette now-
Mr. Ramsay, you’re 15?!
Gordon Ramsay’s true age revealed?!
One of my trans characters have a similar “backstory” where I had a group of OC’s and she was originally a male, but there where way to many male characters, so I changed her to female to balance it out a bit, and decided “hey why don’t I make them trans, I don’t have a trans character yet!” AND I LOVE HER
It’s comforting to hear that I’m not the only one who’s own oc became their comfort character
comfort ocs are everything
This is super helpful! I love all the details you put into your sketches they look so awesome :)
agreed.
Ma’am, this is the hidden comment by popular UA-camr police. Put your hands up where I can see them.
ILY SM AND YOUR VIDS ARE SO FUNNY
Jess!
I like trains
Can we just talk about how her voice sounds so much more confident than a few years back?
The lil “Hey everybody it’s Lavendertowne” animation at the start is just so cute every time
this is my first time watching one of her videos and i saw that and was like: holy heck thats cool
I need some backstory on her OC since she has little ghosts and skull eyes,
Addison The Cat ohhh yeah! I thought it was just for ✨pretty effects✨ but if there's a reason that would be cool!
@@VVToonZ Plus if you look at her channel banner it seems as though it’s more than just for effects.
CAN WE TALK ABOUT THOSE SCENE DRAWINGS OMGGGGG THEY’RE MUY BONITA
Ikrrr! It’s beautiful
I love your pfp!! Is it your drawing? If so you should post art vids!
@@4sher234 ah, thanks, it’s noce that you like my pfp! Sadly i didn’t draw this one, i made my character on picrew. However, i do hope to make art videos sometime soon! :D
AGREED
@@4sher234 update i just changed my pfp and now it's something i drew :3
i never had to overthink what my characters would look like or who they were
i would see them in my dreams or music would inspire me
i saw a certain shade of pink and that inspired me to make one of my favorite characters
It's the same way for me! If I see a chracter I like from a show, see a certain color, or hear some music I like; it motivates me to create my own characters. Then I can start to create the story behind them!
Same for me
Same here
My characters are all pretty much born from me overthinking
@@eliseelizabeth5018 Yours too?
When you mentioned the "rule of cool", it reminded me of the struggle I have with sticking to realistic things. That's the thing that's the hardest for me to... let go of ig. I want it to justify my culture so much that now, I struggle with giving my characters a good balance of realism and aesthetics. They seem too real, not fit for a fantasy genre. I wanna give a modern take to it, just like most comics do. For example, shorts or leggings under the bahag, hoodies, chokers, a mullet inspired by the actual hair style, etc. I'm working hard on it and hopefully in the next 2 years or so, I already have my story all planned out so that by 2025, my comic is out.
I struggle with the opposite actually- when it comes to character designs I have an INCREDIBLY hard time being creative with them. It's not even that I'm not interested in fashion- I am, I actually feel like I have a pretty good fashion sense- I'm just bad at actually designing clothes. If you gave me a bunch of clothes to choose from for my characters they would probably all look great- I just have a hard time thinking of interesting and creative outfits.
Imma leave it here so I can remember this also what the comic called?
Deffinately going to apply these tips. A friend told me once that with steampunk its the functual aspects you need not the asthetics so dont go throwing random gears on, i guess it works the same way as lavendertowne mentioned.
If I were to design a steampunk character I would probably add random gears, and then have them actually do something. It can even be something absurd, like make half-caffinated coffee, or take off the characters shoes.
I feel like in almoust every story there is that one character that the author just struggles to design cause they don't know much about them. (Well for me anyway)
That's so me, but with 95% of the cast of a story I came up with two years ago that I'm still working on right now.
I'm struggling with the character designs, even though I know so much about them, help...
I’m the exact opposite, I know all of my characters favorite ice cream flavor at this point
same
Can confirm
I always struggle with making characters.. idk, ugly I guess? They're all (in my mind) way too perfect, and not in an iconic side character way, like too unrealistic.
I also usually have oc's that are siblings and I make them look too similar, considering me and my brother look nothing alike.
Dnd has actually helped me a lot with character design, like it gives you really good questions to ask about your character and when you roleplay as them you may end up behaving a bit different than you expected. Not to mention the character changes in ways you didnt expect since there is some chance involved in dnd.
Yes! The character sheets are great!
Dnd intimidates me haha. I'm so bad at character designing, so creating a believable character that could be roleplayed as is like... no way haha. That's so difficult. I'm not creative enough to come up with interesting stories or personalities,,
@@mimthyss The first time I played DnD, I played my character the same way I was feeling. I felt pretty out of my depth and unsure, so my wizard was an overly polite half-elf with a slightly nervous energy who asked a lot of questions. If you create a character who acts like you feel, it's a lot easier to play them cuz there's less acting involved. DnD has a bit of a learning curve, but it's a lot of fun, and character creation gets easier with practice.
Yesss! Rolepay characters in general (but especially DnD as you said) really do help with this process so much! 👏
@@nicolecann7840 ooh, thats actually amazing advice.. thank you! It never occurred to me to do that haha. But that makes a lot of sense since like you say the less acting involved the easier it will be to be them, because its just authentic anyways! Ahh. I'm definitely going to remember that haha, and it's nice to hear it gets easier. Maybe one day x)
Love how the old OC name is Vodka
other kids on deviantart: i'll name my character river :))
lavendertowne: hey guys this is v o d k a
kids on deviantart name their characters the same way enbies name themselves
@@stellophiliac why is this so funny
@@stellophiliachmmm... what's a random object I can find around the room...ah cigeret
I love how flexible her artstyle is. Like this looks very different from unfamilliar but you can still easily tell its her!
One of my characters (I was redesigning) has ‘perfect’ skin but actually hadn’t really lived a life before the start of her story.
She was stuck home for the first 12 years of her life and couldn’t use any technology. Basically very VERY very sheltered childhood.
If your character was as much of a clutz as I am she probably would have had some sort of scar anyway
@@yanaroos8170 yeah, I didn’t think about that. But now I’ve completely changed her story and stuff so she does have a few scars on her
Lavendertowne inspired me to keep drawing and not to give up so tysm : D
I'd love to see more content like this. Not only do you give good advice on designing a solid character, but you give a real example of how you get there. Seeing how a professional does it is much more helpful :)
Basically, I once created characters by using gacha life and then I usually now redesigned them again(in gacha club) and then redesigned them again when I was drawing them until I got their final designs for the characters
I sometimes do that,I’m Glad I’m not the only one
@@So_Indecisive same, I also thought I was the only one
That’s a good practice
Good to know I'm not the only one who does that-
Is a game?
"A girl who values being cute, but their personality is totally different."
mitsuba~
I thought the same thing
Fr tho
BEST BOI MITSUBAAA! (Also If anyone is wondering, Mitsubishi is a character from Toilet bound hanako kun. he is male lol)
I never expected fans here.
@@seraphywang4638 we're just too powerful B))
Who else has practically zero experience in actual character design and is beating themselves up for not being as good at it as someone who literally majored in it in college?
I mean technically everybody who has drawn a character has experience in character design.
Bro, are you me?
Me
I’d like to know where I could read her comics! They look so interesting just looking at the characters and the potential lore behind specific facial features and clothing items!
I mean unfamiliar is on tapas but I don’t know if this one will be or not
Unfamiliar, to my knowledge, is on both Webtoon and Tapas.
A little is on webtoon but the hasn't updated webtoon, like, eVeR.
If ya wanna read her comics go too tapas. It's free, just like webtoon.
@@Disinfectant_Wipe thanks, didn't realize that honestly ;-;
@@klutzykaya6439 no problem :p
I personally enjoy this kind of content a lot, it's really interesting (for me, at least) to see how you design characters and things like that, it gives me just that little bit more inspiration to draw.
I clicked faster than LavenderTowne could say "Hey everybody"
LMAO
XD
Meanwhile we have LavenderTowne soothing our ears with her voice inspiring us to continue drawing despite the current block or challenges… we have Ethan Becker on the other hand yelling at us “Don’t you ever, ever do that!” While Ross Draws continues his color dodge spree.
I love the duality of lavender town and either Becker sm
The healer knocks me dead every time she’s so cute
I just want to express how much I love this channel, I just finished reading all of Unfamiliar and it's absolutely insane to me how much time and effort Haley puts into her videos and how much she's improved over the years! These past few years have been rough for many of us but these videos are a light in the dark for young, aspiring artists like myself and I'm forever grateful for the fact that I have access to such helpful, inspiring, and entertaining content.
I love how when there's shading near his eyes, the scar on his cheek looks like tears streaming down from his eye
OK
Your drawing are always a masterpiece ✨💜😍💖
Yes yes yes yes
Yes
@@sssunnyd7874 but
Yea i agree
Bye :D
I like watching her when I need inspiration
@@MooCow765 I like watching her even though it makes me feel sad Because I can’t draw anything but a single hand but I wanna be able to draw a human being 😂
@@ARI100_fable I feel bad rn because I want to draw but I’m uninspired and can’t get anything down
Hey I dont think you'll see this but, I really really want to thank you. I have been watching you for a while now, especially in the cold days at night, with tea and my sketchbook. You always made and still make me feel better, it feels like you are a friend talking to me. It really helped me at gloomy days, I hope you are living a great life, and take enough breaks. I want you to know that you are doing amazing :D
I suck at making human character designs that still look unique and recently I needed to cause I wanted a human character so I just made a pinterest board of a bunch of people who looked similar to how I wanted her to look and that helped.
I cant BELIVE I haven’t said this sooner but your new animated intro is so FRICKEN CUTE I love it
I know right!
Me whenever Hailey makes a new character design video: ahAaA tHAtS my sh!T
My process is quite similar to yours, only that I design my characters while writing them. It's impossible for me to finalize a design without at least 1-2 volumes worth of script.
Normally after the idea for the project I want to do, I start by drawing my main cast (separately and together) and writing down a very bare-bones guide for writing their personalities (often based of an anime trope). I do this so it's easier to imagine them in my head, while writing the outline.
After writing the outline, I look at my designs again and I redo them to match the more developed personalities I've given them, the world I made and the other characters.
I, then, do this one final time, using my scripts as references for fully developed, well rounded personalities as a guide to creating nuanced design that speak to me.
Then I design the supporting cast to compliment the main cast, which is done in 1-2 sessions depending on the size, before moving to storyboards.
After storyboarding, I make a list of all the characters, locations and props that appear and draw model sheets for anything that appears more than once. Main characters get several pages, including (one for turnarounds, one for facial expressions, one for details and each important prop gets its own page, side characters get two pages (one for turnarounds and face, one for props), episodic or rarely present characters might just get a sketch of their body and face.
The whole process from concept to model sheet can take me 4-6 months, since most of my time is spent writing during that period.
That's intense! You're dedicated to whatever you do, huh? Consider me intrigued lol
@Rishon Hislop my process is kind of similar to yours! The only difference is that most of my characters are inspired by my favorite video games/music/anime, etc. First, I sketch down some ideas and get a form of how many characters I want in my story/head canon/fandom.
Then, I usually think about what story or concept that I want for the characters if I’m dead set on them. Thirdly, I brainstorm various aesthetics that I want the characters to have. This can be used for clothes, personalities, physical traits, etc. Pinterest is a great app to make reference and aesthetic boards, that’s what I use lol.
I sometimes subtly incorporate my favorite anime art styles into my characters to give them a little piece of me, and what I like. And a tip for beginners or anyone reading this comment, always make and reference your character sheets! Practice drawing different expressions, poses, etc so you can get comfortable with drawing that character, especially if you’re going for animation, or writing a comic, or selling/doing art in general.
It’s okay to reference your character sheets if you forget a certain quality that character has. Just make sure to practice, practice, and practice to improve on your skills. Soon enough, you’ll start drawing your character fluidly with muscle memory! Another tip could be making a board or a document with a list of characters or people from your favorite shows/media that you want to base your characters on. That can also give you an idea of how you want your character look, act, dress, etc.😊
As an aspiring cartoonist, I love seeing the actual process of a professional! When you said that you start out by just drawing the character in scenes and showed your messy concept sketches, I was like "Hey! That's how my brain actually works!" and it made so much more sense than all the other character design videos I've seen.
I absoulutely loved this kind of style from you. It made me start imagining up my characters in a monster hunting kind of world and what would change about their personality or looks or how they interact with different ones of my ocs and that made me happy. I would adore seeing more videos about you doing your job over prompts solely for UA-cam. It just gave me happy calm vibes.
I'm so glad that other people use their doodles as character designs (:
For an example of a good balance of “Rule Of Cool” and Realism (within the story) would be My Hero Academia! All of the designs are really interesting and unique, but they still fit in practically! [EX: Bakugo’s grenade wrist things]
I fail to understand how's that's your choice when there are characters like mina
@@Revsoshi ?
This is why I started making my own bnha characters because it's so fun to come up with new quirks and how it would affect their design.
@@randomgrmlin mina's design after knowing her power is extremely impractical. Horikoshi loves having his female characters wearing revealing clothes but when it actually makes sense he doesn't.
Huh, yeah, maybe for the male characters of the show (except Iida who is literally a runner in a full heavy body armor like w h y) but female characters have literally the worst designs. Countless of artists have redrawn them bc seriously, the author just wants them to look sexy and that’s it.
the third gal is so fucking cute, i love her design so much. i’m already super hyped to see how this story will go. :)
Conversely, I think it could also be kinda cute if your character has a scar that others around them timidly speculate about but when they finally ask, they're just like "Oh, this! Yeah, I got that a couple years back when I accidentally ran into a tree branch!" Also, if the character has a 'cute dork --> hmm, hiding something? --> something dark' progression, it could be really cool to bring that back up. The audience would never expect - after hundreds of panels and many _clearly_ important plot points - that the little "joke" on page, like, TEN or something would actually be important.
Have a fandom OC in a zombie apocalypse setting. He has a scar on his face from his brow down next to his eye.
He got it as a kid before the outbreak, falling out of a tree.
one webcomic i've read that does that "this is important later" really well is cursed princess club, you might see something random in episode 15 and it's important in episode 100 lol
AGHHH PLEASE SHOW MORE OF THESE CHARACTERS they are so interesting and pleasing to look at, I’m obsessed with them
I really enjoy these kinds of "project videos" they're very interesting to watch. The regular character design videos are entertaining, but videos like this one where you put alot of thought and time to the character and their purpose are the ones i personally enjoy the most.
About the spider fang things, I think the word was 'mandibles'.
(It's not. It's palps. Credit to Sedona Chapman.)
This one... they know too much O_O
It's actually chelicerae.
i thought she meant palps
oH I thought it was pincers like a crab, forgot about that word. Relearn something new every day, I guess
@@sedonachapman oh. I thought those were for the back ._. (Imma go change it.)
These kinds of videos are actually my favorite! I’m in the middle of brainstorming a comic so it’s insanely helpful to see videos like this.
Started joking around about a character design with a friend, sort of just as a fun fantasy, that was five years ago. Now we got a fully fleshed out series that we're working on and planning on releasing in a few years. Your advice really helped us finish the designs of the characters
I really love your artstyle! The faces designs, the sketches and omg the color for the shadow and the little details, so good! oh and the overall shape, design and artistic expression on your characters and anything you draw, it's so great!
"I would really appreciate it if you let me know if you are interested in this type of stuff where it's more just like me straight up showing you how I do my job-"
Yes
i definitely wouldn't mind you posting these types of videos, they're really insightful, especially since they allow us to look into a real process of developing a webcomic!
I can already tell I'm gonna simp for the guy when the comic comes out
As an aspiring Character Designer myself, I think this was great! I really love all the effort you put into your ocs! They look so good and I feel like this has helped me a lot!
ive been trying to plan a comic for a few years now and while ive had the main characters for over a decade now, im so back and forth about all the other characters designs lol. its such a process
i am glad ive taken so long to develop it though cause ive gotten so much inspiration and learned so much about the process since i began so its pretty neat
I know that the topic is here to design, but,It’s videos like this that encourage me to just focus on writing a comic. But yeah, I’ll probably make some mistakes. But if you don’t make a good design, or try to write the story, then it never gets read.
This was really interesting! I like to hear about the more thought-out character designs rather than seeing you rush them for the sake of the video. And I'm interested in this story you're working on.
Honestly this video was really fun to watch, I'd like watching this type of videos ^^
i really like this type of video!! its refreshing from the “turning ____ into a character” it shows more of the process, and that may be helpful for others; like myself haha
Me and my friends have been planning on making a UA-cam channel with oc mascots and this video has really helped me designing Quacky
Ok but the little monster hunter girl is sooo cool! Like I want a plushee of her.
i’d love to see more of this kinda stuff!!!
LavenderTowne's art is so beautiful! I'm really inspired by her art style. It gives me magical vibes💫
I love videos where you just explain and show you doing your job! It gets me motivated to draw and create stories and reminds me how satisfying finishing something can be
I would LOVE more of this type of content. I’ve been trying to design some comic characters for the first time and these types of things are really helpful
i really like these kinda videos, esp as someone who's just about to start her first year at art school
Good luck!
Hey, so I'm trying to make my style kind've like you're style but a bit more of my own so I was wondering if I would be allowed to refrence you're art while drawing. (Not tracing though, just you're art to the side trying to work towards more of you're style but with my own twist)
It's good that you ask permission, though I think in most cases you're fine to use art as reference. Like you said you don't intend to just trace or copy, simply to use it as reference so you should be okay. The important part is that you don't pass off any of anyone else's art as your own. Hope that makes sense ;-;
@@klutzykaya6439 thank you, and yes it did make sense haha
She's responded to a comment like this before and says that that's absolutely fine :)
@@mia-saraking5479 Tysm, I must not have seen that video haha ^^
I have a hidden-world story, and a significant portion of the main cast just wears t-shirts and sweats/jeans. They are characters who don't often put much thought into clothes, and are supposed to share similarities in personalities. And two of them are kinda inspired by one, so I guess it makes sense.
I was originally gonna make a "haha, my designs suck" joke, but my subconscious keeps accidentally making this stuff work.
different brands and styles can make those similar styles look different, such as a hemmed top on a t shirt, or different tightness and waist length on jeans. though, having everyone in the same general outfit isnt a very good idea. even if the characters arent really dressing themselves up modern casual clothing can still be varied, dont limit yourself. i dont know what you mean by hidden world but things like friendship bracelets or necklaces from other world materials and wear and tear from adventuring might be a nice idea
SAME! When I was first designing my characters they all had the same clothes as placeholders, but then I made it a worldbuilding reason and whoops now it’s illegal to wear unique clothes as a safety percussion :>
(I do of course *try* to give them some uniqueness by the condition of their clothes tho)
I’m just that avoidant of clothes design I guess lmaoo
Two of the three main members of the cast of one of my worlds wear hooded coats. One shouldn't really even be wearing one of those considering he lives in a fire kingdom. My third wears more medieval-fantasy-esque robes, but I could easily give him a fleece jacket if I wish to (and now that I think about it I kinda do).
Honestly probably one of my favorite videos of yours in a while
2:42 I was genuinely happy when i learned she watches ceinma sins (maybe it was a figure of speech but if no, that's really cool)
TYSM, character design rlly does not come easy for me and I struggle to find refs that fit my idea for an oc, even on pinterest
I have a lot of trouble with all my character and there design's. Thanks for the suggestions!
I actually enjoyed this content more than what you normally do.
The thing I started to do more recently is making up the story before making designs. I don't make comics or anything like that, but I sill like my characters to have an interesting story and I like to make different universes that they're in, so that really helps.
For example I messed up the universe where my main oc is supposed to be in by making all the characters separately, and then deciding on their realationships, the world that they live in, etc. I made two characters of different race and I wanted to make them twins because they would be perfect as twins (I also never really had twins ocs before), but I also don't want to change their race and I have no idea what to do
A cool video concept would be if you took previous “cute girl” character designs and redesign them in a more professional light
I don’t know if this sounds a bit dumb, but would I be able to do concept art AND animation?
ofc :0 idk what's stopping you from doing both
absolutely! tons and tons of indie animators do it this way lelel. have fun with your design and animations!
@@TheReturnOfStormheart tysm!
of course, there are no limits when it comes to what art mediums you can do
don't know why that would be dumb, it's what I used to want to do and seems fun!!
Omg... with the last girl, in the sketch before the line art, the fuzzy shorts and the pigtails made her look like a moth!! The final design is good too, but now I'm in love with that concept 😭😭😭
YESS lav I love these types of videos so much! It really shows me a lot about your art process and taught me some things that I might add to my own process.
never thought about drawing characters in their environment first before actually designing them, but I think that could be really useful, and I'll for sure try doing that from now on!
Okay but im loving your character design for the male character! He seems interesting and fun to try to understand, I'd almost want to be friends with this character already 😂
I like these kinds of videos, it helps me understand your processes which helps me in my own art!
I actually got really excited to see this pop up! I remember you talking about this project for a while and always wanted to know more so I’d love more of this or any other content like this!
New comic, let’s go. Another fandom for me to dive headfirst in!
I absolutely love making stories for random characters. I listen to songs and think of characters that fit the song
Also, I love the character’s outfits so much!
i love learning behind the scenes and the making process of things and could be where you add extra info that couldn't be shown to drive the plot/timing but influences what is happening
your content always gets me in the mood to create things and i'm really grateful for you doing what you do!!
This was really useful, it really made me rethink my character designs, in a good way! I've always loved your character designs so this video was very inspiring thank you!!
This kind of content is fantastic! Really highlights just how varied your skill set is!
Definitely would love to see more like it :)
Oooo I love how not-natsuki turned out! I’m definitely interested in more insight on the character design process :D
This is incredible you are so good at creating characters they look so aesthetically pleasing , cohesive and just great I love them 💕
your art style has gotten very appealing
HA finally I'm early... your art is amazing. This is how I get some small comics/oneshots
I actually like this type of content and I would love it if you made more, as a young artist a lot of the things you said in this video helped me a lot.
I could honestly watch her design characters for hours while talking about it for hours
I try to come up with a story and personality before making the character. I find it helps to know what you're trying to create before creating it.
The background music has been stuck in my head for a week