Qualities of Good Animation Characters

Character Design Sheet (AKA turnaround)

TIPS:

  • Keep your character height the same for each angle of the turnaround.
  • 3/4 angle will be the most used in your animation so get used to drawing it.
  • Keep your character based off of simple easy to draw forms (sphere, cylinder, cone, egg, hemisphere, teardrop, or pill).
  • Avoid lines for textures such as hair, draw them as shapes instead.
  • Don't try for realistic proportions, exaggerate features, and shorten or simplify others.
  • Reduce your characters down to the simplest details.  Think about what you are willing to draw again and again.

Student Example

The following Characters were created by Rebecca Moir for her first animation entitled "Ribbit".  Notice how the character's height for each body part is the same at each angle.  Only facial expressions used in the animation were drawn.
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Linus from "Ribbit"
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Bratty Kid from "Ribbit"
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Big Frog from "Ribbit"

Angry Birds Toons

Watch these Angry Birds Toons to see how Rovio brings their original yet simple characters to life.  Notice how each character is a simple form (sphere, egg, etc...).  try to count how many shots show the characters at angles other than 3/4 (hint: not very often).