Story Driven Shapes: Character Design Tips with David Colman

David's Doodles gives you advice on how to create a story behind your character designs. In this lesson you’ll learn to capture who your characters are and how your design choices create a history and personality for them. David shows you how he achieves this by sketching this process with a couple monkeys and talking about his thought process behind designing the shapes for the characters.
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#characterdesign #storytelling #conceptart
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ABOUT PROKO:
Instructional How to Draw videos for artists. My drawing lessons are approachable enough for beginners and detailed enough for advanced artists. My philosophy is to teach timeless concepts in an entertaining way. I believe that when you are having fun, you learn better. I take pride in producing high quality videos that you will enjoy watching and re-watching.
CREDITS:
Artist | Instructor - David Colman (www.davidsdoodles.com/)
Producer - Stan Prokopenko (www.stanprokopenko.com)
Editing - Melanie Nachtmann, Sean Ramsey (peoplewhodrawstuff.com)
Music Used with Permission
Intro - The Freak Fandango Orchestra
Additional Music by Epidemic Sound

[@ProkoTV]

David’s got a new course on Proko! Get it here - www.proko.com/profile/davidsdoodles/courses

[@praisethesun7255]

This level of content production is insane.

[@BenMellingerArt]

I'm loving all these videos on character design! thanks proko!

[@BenMellingerArt]

@@tanupriyranjan1336 in the past month you have "Character design tips from Knight Zhang", "tips for designing unique characters", "TB Choi's 7 steps to drawing" (which is primarily centered on character drawing) and then some videos kind of relating to character design such as the skin tones video or the video where David finch designs Stan and Marshal as comic characters, and all of that on top of this newest video. And that's just in the past month

[@mors4000]

U stopped uploading...

[@hijam9602]

7:33 return to monke

[@FrancescoPizzo_Production]

That was funny af hahaha

[@yogeshpanwar3201]

That part was amazing tbh 😂

[@ceton1843]

haha didnt even watch the video yet XDDD

[@clutterbot7279]

I read this just as it happened 😂

[@gray_rain]

"I've worked on several bigger projects, and a lot of smaller ones *as we all have*." [Cries in non-professional entertainment artist] I think most of Proko's audience, like me, can't relate to that statment. lol 😂....😭

[@yogeshpanwar3201]

🤣🤣🤣

[@gray_rain]

@Alfonso The Lie Weaver calm down, brother. Twas a simple joke. ;)

[@cadbane1435]

@@gray_rain oh so you actually make money as an artist and relate to the statement lol...

[@cfan6716]

David Colman is one of my favorite artists ever! His art is so expressive and beautiful. I always challenge myself by trying to capture his unique styles of art.

[@88themute]

I love Davids attitude to character design, thank you! Very fun and creative.

[@knightshousegames]

4:17 this just blew my mind Like I feel like I've been doing this to some extent subconsciously on my own pieces more recently, but this articulates the idea so well, really puts it into focus It feels so obvious now, but before I could never put it into words

[@rivwilson9330]

Proko has been killing it in 2021. So so loving your platform so much

[@brayanlopes5222]

I really like this type o videos where you can see how long it takes for the drawings to be perfect. We look at their drawings and we think our favorite artists don't commit mistakes. I wish I could see the same type of videos with some Mangakas and Comic book artists.

[@jamesklark6562]

Some of us just want to know the brush because we think it looks good and want to incorporate it into our own work, it's not because we think it's the only brush for the job.

[@pczb2692]

Looks like it's just your average pencil brush.

[@pennylavendar6362]

People always meme that you can just do everything with a hard round even though the people that preach that are not using the hard round ever. Its quite difficult to replicate certain effects without the right brush. But if youre in a position where you have a lot of skill and knowledge to share and all anyone is asking you Is WUT BRUSH BRO, WHAT TABLET I BUY, then the frustration must be insurmountable. I hate even watching art streams because no one asks anything useful or interesting.

[@a.s.l711]

I hate it cos i havea round brush and its different when i uses it....

[@ujwallimbu9657]

This guy’s work is full of energy ❤️

[@mr.momoironezakeco.2955]

This was amazing the explanations, the energy, the advice .... made me not only inspired but honestly happy 😊. Muchas Gracias 🙏 Thank you so much already a member & will join this course 😌

[@bwildtattoo]

Love the tip about the features!!! Great teacher too. Thanks

[@momo-xh3bm]

Love the vivid way when you play out the jumping ape.😂😂😂

[@Stygian360]

I love David's work. Such cool stuff

[@Kikoo_arts]

Thanks for the tips! Its so inspiring 💕

[@illustratornamedkasper]

great vid, it's really a helpful tip to think of the background and personality of the character when you draw it !

[@dianaallison449]

Love. Great demo! 🥰😍

[@robertdufour2456]

This is awesome! Thank you very much!

[@NishioHD]

Great lesson

[@mhaipeter42]

salute to stan and david for such great content - and its for free ! interesting that you dont just lasso the forearms and scale them but find a new pose right away.

[@arthobbitworks791]

Your work is really well done and what you are saying rinds true too. Love the t shirt as will.

[@Norangelll]

I love how he is having fun while drawing and imagining all the stories. I would like to be like that 😂❤

[@lenoracalamint3114]

Here as it was uploaded!

[@koljak9395]

You guys are offering too many great courses this year! How am I supposed to do all of this?! [pulling hair in desperation]

[@mics361]

This one video had more info than courses out there

[@magicspellscorner5887]

nice work

[@uncleatelier8495]

You are so good at drawing with computer graphics. ~~ ^^

[@abhirutmeherishi5738]

The first one is steeeve!

[@Rice8003]

Lol. This is really close to my process when designing creatures. It's so. Terryifing failing so many times before finding the look. It's like I forgot how to draw.

[@dmrfunkster]

Bars!

[@dakoten8426]

i'm glad i'm not the only one who has a very messy sketch

[@loumarich3562]

is your website down?

[@LikaAlaska]

but what's the brush, though?

[@partiallyhuman]

7:33 when mom brings home McDonald's

[@antonioblanco3086]

So funny!

[@mr.v1442]

2:56 literaly me when Im trying to achive some face dynamics i catch myself on doing that xd

[@marcellacassab4331]

Fr. Even when I'm not drawing, but just thinking of my characters expression. I've had people ask me "hey, what's wrong," when I was just picturing my characters upset.

[@jai3993]

Is he h Naruto fan "you know" 😄 Great video it's really helpful 😊

[@aldack]

Si me vas a vender algo Proko, vendemelo bien.

[@Jesse-lv2yo]

TMI dude, I can't keep up with all this content!

[@michealsmith2093]

Did anyone else google "froofed"? Lol the Urban dictionary definition makes the whole idea of this chimp having "froofed" hair a tad more risqué 😅. Thanks for the video and tips, as well as expanding my vocabulary 👍🏻

[@pogo575]

Not sure which is more funny. The excellent character design or the keyboard warriors freaking out about taxonomy. Well played sir.

[@ImmortalIdeas]

Extrorodinary!!!! S●LID work!!!

[@ASD-gj9fe]

اول كومنت 1ferst komnt

[@andresjimenezferreiro4551]

Dude, are you Bronn Blackwater? 😜

[@AnneliLMendozaArt]

Your hair might get on your face and you will die 😂😂😂😂😂 checks out

[@ASD-gj9fe]

4

[@LuneyTune72]

I don’t see much personality in these monkeys, besides mouths being open. The personality comes from the expressions, pose, and the shape proportions. King Louie is one he references but Louie is heavily expressive and definitive based on his range in acting. Part of what makes a character design powerful is that the design can stand on its own, you can understand the character (whether it’s an archetype or an impression or a specific nuanced character) without any voice or movement. The structure of personality goes beyond surface level design and fundamental drawing skills. Personality comes from the part of you that is an actor. If you can act then you can breathe personality into a design by finding the placement of the attitude. Attitude affects how you lean or stand, what muscles on your face do the most work, where the weight is displaced, and how the character’s spine bends (arch, S-curve, straight.) It takes exploration to find personality then you compliment it with shape language that works with the concept you’re going for. Look at the movie UP. It’s heavily stylistic and graphic, inspired by UPA shape language and “Disney acting.” The proportions on the characters tell you everything without a word spoken. The old man is made up of cubes, which makes him grounded and compliments his “stubborn” personality. The shape limits his animation which actually helps his character. The young boy is made up of soft, round shapes which evokes his naive and vulnerable personality, as well as his innocent optimism. Round shapes resemble baby features which makes us see vulnerability and childlike qualities. Then you have the dog who is clearly the fattest with his short tiny limbs and big body and nose. The dog is drastically more cartoony and is made up of more innocent round shapes making him stand out amongst his angular peers (the other dogs all being sharp or blocky shapes.) Now that is just ONE way of designing characters. UP in particular is very shape driven. Other movies like Jungle Book are proportion driven but loosely adheres to real anatomy. It depends on the story you’re trying to tell. Goofy comedy is better suited with simple shapes, while a more grounded story is better suited with more complex forms that give the world more grounded rules. In Jungle Book, if Baloo fell 10 stories then he’d die based on what we accept from his design. Meanwhile if a character from UP fell from 10 stories, it could follow more forgiving cartoon logic. If you’re not seeing anatomy (or bone structure) then you can forgive a lot more story wise.

[@LuneyTune72]

These are examples of design done correctly and with intention. There are countless TV shows and movies where none of this is taken into consideration or it is disregarded and actually fights with the story. Good design has to follow certain functions as well as being entertaining. In context to its purpose, it should be more than a pretty drawing to be successful.

[@LuneyTune72]

Disney has a whole range in design, and even though some designs are famous they aren’t necessarily famous designs so much as they are famous properties. Even the original Disney animators hated many of the characters they had to draw.

[@user-xz4qq5to1f]

1

[@brodeyleembruggen9910]

🐒

[@philroydias5366]

Monke

[@mesolithicman164]

Those 2 monkeys in the thumbnail look like they've escaped from a Francis Bacon painting, The Screaming Pope, especially the one on the left. Terrifying, not cute.

[@user-lo7ki1rg3s]

where is my Naughty Boy ????

[@Mythologos]

1) Chimps are human relatives, not ancestors (2) you drew a monkey, not an ape. You're the "animal guy"???

[@pogo575]

I know right?!?! How dare he play fast and loose with the animal kingdom while doing a hyper realistic rendition of a primate !!!!!!!!!111111!!11 Can you believe some of his characters even talk ?!?!? These artistic liberties have gone too far! The internet would be chaos without warriors like you.

[@geyaneya1498]

@@pogo575 there's a difference between lack of knowledge and artistic liberties lmao

[@tamnicco]

Sorry to be picky, but apes are not our ancestors, we aren't descended from them.

[@antoinemolinet5400]

yeah only common ancestor ! he said that just after "i'm the animal guy".... i respect the guy for his work, but come on man.

[@animodium2670]

Humans ARE apes.

[@tailsntales1265]

I’m on the same page cus I’m religious. We where created in gods image! Praise the Lord! God bless you! ❤

[@plutonian2770]

We’re related to chimpanzees though

[@jakobsaloner7528]

Technically we are apes and descend from ape species, like homo habilis and Australopithecus (sorry for spelling error) although we do not descend from living ape species like chimps or gorillas, we just share a common ape ancestor with them

[@thefriendlyaspie7984]

never seen such a mess of sketches.