Check out the video tutorial on YouTube

Part 1 - the Concept

First and foremost, the ideas?

1. What is the purpose?

2. What is the theme?

3. What is the personality?

4. Any key concepts?

For example, I like characters with contradictory traits, and I want to create an original anime-style female character that is

1. cute and cuddly but also fiercely brutal in combat (personality)

2. a vampire (ability)

3. gothic but also Japanese (theme/outfit)

4. heterochromia (appearance)

Another example is my own avatar. This is a platypus. Why? Because it is unique.

1. They are weird just like me

2. They are biofluorescent

3. They can detect electric fields

4. They are mammals but they lay eggs

Brainstorm your ideas, and try to exercise your creativity, the more unique the better.

Part 2 - the Visual Design

Method - Orthographic Drawing

We use orthographic drawing for character design. The idea is to represent a 3d figure with multiple 2d drawings.

The Head

Back to character design, we design the head first because it’s the most prominent part of the character. Features that we need to consider:

1. What is the hairstyle?

2. What is the shape of the eyes?

3. What is the shape of the face?

I drew the front, the profile and the 45° view. I drew the 45° head because it’s one of the most common angles for illustration making. If you are using your character for other purposes like vtubing, you might need the back view as well.

1. the fringe partially covers the eyes. The braids are behind the ears. Buns are behind the braids. A Flower petal hairpin on her left.

2. Generic anime eyes - big and round

3. Round anime face

This is my second original character (work in progress). Alternatively,

1. the hair is more wild?

2. the eyes are sharper, more angular and smaller

3. the face, especially the jaw line, is shaper.

The Body

1. The Proportion

In general, we use the head-to-body ratio for height.

1 to 6 is the average.

anything smaller than 6 looks short, and

anything larger than 6 looks tall.

2. Basic Anatomical Forms and Landmarks

Since this is not an anatomy guide, I will only include some key features. Please refer to the video for clarity. The picture below shows the simplified forms and some useful landmarks for constructing a human body.

Useful landmarks:

1. Acromion Process - connects the trapezius, clavicle and the arm

2. the pit of the neck - the centre of the clavicle and where the sternum begins

3. Xiphoid process - the end of the sternum (used as the centre line of the rib cage)

4. the belly button - the centre of the belly

5. the anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) - a bony projection of the pelvic bone

The Outfit

This is very personal. There aren’t any rules to adhere to, so I will just show you my idea as an example.

1. I use a lot of frills because a) this is the theme and b) they look nice.

2. the long and loose sleeves have a Japanese touch to them. The amalgamation of Japanese and Western fashions is unique and amazing.

3. There are some jewels because they make the dress elegant.

Colour Design

Colour Theory Fundamentals

1. Each colour consists of hue, saturation and luminosity

2. The contrast between hue, saturation and luminosity implies the focus

Primary Colours

Design the light and shadow colours for each primary colour

Analogous Colours

Analogous Colours are colours (hues) that are close to one another on the colour wheel. For example, when we say “red”, it actually means “a range of red”. Any colours within that range are classified as red, in other words, they are analogous.

I use similar colours (blue hue) for the outfit and the hair so that the design looks harmonious. The majority of the outfit is white but by virtue of the fact that most colours are bright (high luminosity/value), it doesn’t look odd.

The inside frills of the sleeves are of saturated blue, rendering it darker than other parts. Since it’s comparatively darker and more saturated, it stands out.

Complementary Colours

Complementary colours are colours (hues) that are on the opposite side of the colour wheel. Since they are very different in hue, they draw our attention.

The outfit and the hair are bright and blue while the eyes are red/orange (contrast in hue), not as bright (contrast in luminosity) and more saturated. Hence why the eyes catch our attention.

Part 3 - Detailed Design

There’s a lot we can add to our basic design. I will provide some examples of the detailed colour design.

The Light and Shadow Colours for the Eyes

I have decided that on her red eye

1. the shadow is dark red

2. the light is orange-ish

3. the light on the pupil is yellow-ish

on her orange eye

1. the shadow is dark brown

2. the light is yellow-ish

3. the light on the pupil is pink-ish

You can try out different colour combinations with ease if you do it digitally.

The Colour Gradation of the Hair

I have decided to add a tinge of red on the shadow area that is close to the light area because it synergizes well with the blood-red eyes.

Alternatively, it can be cyan.

Tips

1. The Symmetric Ruler

Very useful for drawing the front view of your character, as you can finish most of it with half the effort.

2. The Vector Layer

You can resize, and reshape your lines without damaging the line quality. Highly recommended in case you make mistakes.

3. Vector Eraser

You can use the vector eraser on vector layers. Instead of erasing the entire line like you normally do on a raster layer, you can erase the entire line between junctions with a mere touch.

Refer to the video for the visuals.

And this is all you need to know to create your original characters.