CHARACTER DESIGN WORKOUT
COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COMt the heart of any creative project is
communication and storytelling.
Whether that’s something as
intangible as a wordless comic strip, a
single illustrated figure conveying an
emotion, a TV ad telling us to buy
something, or a government campaign
poster advising us how best not to get
run over, characters can be a powerful
tool to bring that story to life.
Today, we’re more familiar with –
and bombarded by – character design
than ever. The Jolly Green Giants and
SpongeBobs of yesteryear are no
longer the preserve of big ad agencies
or professional image-makers, thanks to
the democratisation of software and
proliferation of free tools.
Lars Denicke and Peter Thaler have
been running the Pictoplasma festival
for character design for the past 15
years, and over that time Denicke says
he’s seen a huge change in the way
illustration and character design have
become a “stronger voice” in our wider
visual landscape.
According to Denicke, part of the
reason for starting PictoplaCharacter
Face-Off contest.sma was in reaction to
the “terrible, vulgar” animation style of
the time, as he puts it. “Now, as a
genre, character design is everywhere:
gaming culture is huge, and editorial
illustration has changed so much. The
image is not just there to illustrate an
article; people like Christoph Niemann,
Jean Jullien and Laura Callaghan are
telling the story just through an image.
That’s changed the way they’re pitching
and how they’re briefed, too.”
The festival’s focus has naturally
shifted as technology has rapidly
evolved. “When we started we were
looking for very graphical and reduced- almost typographic – work without
too much detail,” he says. “Digital
media was so slow at the time. It was
still the era of dialling into a modem, so
there was no room for photography,
moving images and so on. Instead it
was things like pixel graphics, simple
graphics... maybe flash animation.”
Style-wise, Denicke says things have
shifted from a time in the early 2000s
when “everyone wanted to be a street
artist”; to a time around seven years
ago where animation was popularised
by the increasing affordability of
software; to today, which he describes
as “anything goes.” Denicke explains:
“We’re a bit post-digital now. Even if
you’re working in oil painting, digital
informs what everyone does, whether
you’re using it 20 per cent or 100 per
cent of the time.”The lines are blurred
Digital in 2019 is a part of life that’s so
pervasive that it’s unremarkable. The
impact that’s had on character design is
not to be underestimated. “The divide
between us and the object was far
stronger 15 years ago,” says Denicke.
“Now, the lines are blurred. Characters
still function as a way to take us by the
hand as the reality of the virtual has
become more normal for us. Not as
directly as Clippy in Microsoft, for
instance, but we’re used to interactivity
with characters. These days, you cantake a character into any context and
the audience doesn’t ask ‘why’, or
question the reality or the function.”
The flipside of our widespread
acceptance of, and familiarity with,
characters is the pressure placed on the
designer. It’s all the more imperative
that they create something which is
unique, smart and striking.
“I like to believe that when one loves
what they do and one pursues that
constantly, it shows and stands out
automatically,” says animator Elenor
Kopka. Of course, passion and a sense
of creative authenticity are all well and
good, but these attributes alone don’t
make for a successful, impactful piece
of design. There has to be personality,
too and to a certain degree, a mastery
of your medium. This can be complex
commercial digital art programs, free
open-source software, monochrome
GIFs or decidedly analogue processes
such as collage and crochet.
We spoke to some of our favourite
practitioners about how they work, the
importance of having an ownable style,
when you know you’ve hit on the
perfect character and more; and
garnered some practical tips on how
they do what they do.Opposite (insert)
Peter Thaler and
Lars Denicke, the
co-founders of
Pictoplasma.Above Promo splash
screen from the
Pictopaslm website.Below Each year
Pictoplasma runs
contests. These are
some of the entries
from 2017’s Character
Face-Off competiton.“CHARACTERS STILL FUNCTION AS A WAY
TO TAKE US BY THE HAND”LARS DENICKE