How to craft memorable animated characters
Characters are the heart and soul of any animated project. How they look, behave, and express themselves can take your creation —from an ad campaign to a marketing mascot, or the star of your story — from good to unforgettable. Crafting characters that truly resonate with audiences can seem like a daunting task, but we’re here to break it down for you and make the process a breeze. Perfecting your character animation craft can engage audiences like never before and leave them talking about your project long after they are introduced to your character. Whether they’re heroes or villains, big or small, every character counts. So, let’s dive in and get those creative juices flowing!
Before animating
The foundation of any character is storyboarding and character development.
Before you even start sketching or animating, the foundation of any unforgettable character lies in storyboarding and character development. Start with determining the purpose of the project, and with it, the purpose of the character. What message do you want your video or film to convey, and how can your character help deliver that message? By setting these expectations, your character can blend seamlessly into the plot and become a powerful addition to your project.
Next, start plotting the character’s backstory. A strong, memorable character has morals, values, goals, and flaws – just like all of us. Understanding your character’s beginnings and what shaped them will guide you in animating them later on and determining their journey in the story. Basically, you’re going to have to do a lot of storyboarding before even opening up your animation software.
Lastly, if you are stuck or need a dose of inspiration, look no further than real life. Observe people in public spaces and mimic their movements, interactions, and appearances to make your character that more realistic. If needed, you can even record yourself performing an action just to see how your character could move or speak. People love seeing a bit of themselves in on-screen characters, so drawing inspiration from real life can help establish that relatability and make your character resonate with your audience.
While Animating
Use your storyboarding to guide how your character looks, behaves, and expresses themselves.
So you’ve storyboarded and decided where you want your character to fit into your story or message. Now it’s time to let those ideas guide your character design. Consider how they will look based on their story arc, purpose, and personality traits. What will their color scheme be? What about their anatomical proportions? Will the villain of the story look different than the protagonist? What about the comedic relief? Keep all your brainstorming in mind as you sketch out various iterations of your character to ensure they are grounded in your project and remain cohesive.
Once you’ve nailed down your character’s appearance, it’s time to add movement, expressions, and body language. These elements should also reflect the character’s purpose and characteristics that you outlined earlier. Does your character talk fast? Move tentatively? Be cunning or sly? You can express all these traits through body language and movement, especially around other characters in the story. Keeping your character on brand will maintain cohesion and leave your audiences satisfied with them.
Other things to think about when animating characters include:
- Paying attention to timing and gravity: Audiences will notice if a character effortlessly picks up a heavy object or if a lumbering giant suddenly starts moving like a sprinter. Such inconsistencies can feel jarring and off-putting for viewers, so adjust movements accordingly.
- Exaggeration is not always a bad thing: This is especially true for kids’ movies or projects. Stylizing characters or adding caricature-like poses can give your character a clear identity and make them unforgettable.
- Let eyes lead the way: This small yet effective trick makes your characters act more human. Let the eyes initiate movement, as people naturally do. It’s a subtle but crucial way to make your characters feel realistic.
After Animating
Get feedback and refine, refine, refine
You’ve got your character design and a couple scenes under your belt. The next step is to get feedback and refine, refine, refine. Find a seasoned professional or a trusted client to give honest advice about your characters and project. More often than not, the first draft won’t be the best one. So be open to their feedback—they usually know what they’re talking about.
Also be your own critic. Keep thinking of ways to improve and polish your characters. Save each version to track your progress, and you might even find a way to combine elements from different iterations. And once you think you have perfected your character, put on the finishing touches and make sure it is 100% ready to go, no matter how tedious. Those small changes can make a big difference in the quality and memorability of your characters.
Lastly, consider adding narration, music, or voice overs. This can really infuse life into your characters and add another element to associate your characters with. Plus, it lets you have a little fun and be creative with your characters. It’s an optional yet stellar way to put your project over the top.
Conclusion
Investing that time and effort will pay off with an unforgettable animated character audiences will love.
Designing a standout character for your next animated project involves a lot of moving parts. Depending on the scale of your project, the process can feel laborious and daunting. Fortunately, we’ve laid out tips for every stage of the process – from storyboarding and character development to design and animation. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to create a memorable character, but investing that time and effort will pay off with a character that’s relatable, lovable, and unforgettable for all audiences.
Español 
English