Why My Design Failed (And How I Fixed It)

[@sinixdesign]

Here at the start of a future legendary art youtube channel. Also, since I was just focused on other aspects when looking at it, I want to say I agree with all of the other parts in this video about character building.

[@lefudj4236]

here together my man

[@erenyeeagah204]

Bro youre so goated!

[@NoirArt.]

first

[@JewTubeUsername]

>sinix praising some woke arse looking drawing and design style of a woman you know I should have followed through with my "Never go into american online spaces ever again" it's disappointment after disappointment. guess yer a feg't, too now. AND PROKO TOO down there? have you all lost your minds? well he's a race mixxer so what did I really expect... clown house bar none. I bet your discords are adminitrated by 'trans folk's.

[@averagenecoarcfan]

didnt even realize how new this was until i saw this commeny

[@ProkoTV]

Glad to see you on KZbin! Thanks for sharing this.

[@callmenaka]

What!? Proko? Here?

[@RusPitman]

@@callmenakain this economy?

[@Autumnwriterali]

In this world

[@clairestanfield-ui1fg]

@@Autumnwriterali On this plane of existence?

[@Multi-Waves_Music]

Localized entirely within your kitchen.

[@bass-dc9175]

Without watching the full video: The first design looked neat for a background character. Clean but fades into the design of others, like a crewmeember for some repair plant, with little that tells a story. The second design immediately threw interesting questions at me. The oversized jacket which she confidently wears. I can imagine a former mentor, a rough, bulky man who gave her that jacket as a momento. The silhouette that makes her distinct from other standard characters. The relaxed stance in that comically oversized jacket radiates confidence without arrogance. In short: I see the first design and think about how it looks, but forget it rather quickly. I see the second design and think about her character, her past, her personality. And that sticks. Amazingly done.

[@callmenaka]

Mentioning the first design as a background character genuently made me smile. I literally used her later on as a sidecharacter to introduce a new gear for my main charater 2 years later. www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/chroma-corps-24/note-3-expoit/viewer?title_no=979519&episode_no=3

[@dannmcdan2185]

I dont know why but I imagined the workshop having some kind of loyal dog type artificial intelligence. Just image Engie yelling "Vagabond!" and you start to feel the ground rumbling when a 3 ton mechanical crab robot starts running towards her while making sounds that are a mix of dog barking and car horns

[@elecbaguette]

Fido!!

[@Anomalocringe]

so, Dog? from hl2?

[@MrJuliano14]

@@Anomalocringe No cause dog is not a walking workshop, duh.

[@Anomalocringe]

@@MrJuliano14 not until alyx needs him to be one

[@lukelcs8934]

@@Anomalocringe Maybe that's the next update to the design. First iteration was, about yay high, after all. She's been adding to him ever since, so there's no indication that's stopping.

[@shualel]

u cannot escape sinix’s love for shape hierarchies and organic shapes

[@hurka.design]

Knew you were hungarian by the accent, bojler eladó. "I forgot to develop an actual character, before drawing it" is great advice. If you're creating a character out of thin air, asking questions and creating mind maps are an easy way to make your character or anything believable. The 5 Ws always should be asked, the Who, What, When Where, and Why-s. Then you can worry about silhouettes, shapes, linework, coloring, etc.

[@dogukanckr3618]

I think most of the time what really matters is how "Interesting" the character is. I am no professional as of now but it doesnt matter, I am a viewer of the story from outside which designs usually go to. When I look at the first design I see an engineer woman and thats it nothing in particular makes me interested in WHO she is and what she does, she has a box and some tools thats it. The redesign tho is amazing in my opinion with one look I immidialty got questions about her "Who? , Why? How?" and the interestinf siluette and The concept of walking station took my attention immidiatly. I dont know how much I am on the right here but I believe being interesting is the main line between a good and a bad desingn

[@callmenaka]

I wouldn't go as far to draw it as line to separate good and bad, but it's definitely a factor that can give you an edge. Hmmm... Now that i'm thinking about it, "interesting" may really draws the line. If we consider shapes, compostion, color choices being intersting even without storytelling, than yeah. It maybe boils down to the fact to "interesting" changes person to person, so you can have a good AND bad design at the same time based on who is looking at it :D. Adding stroytelling to a design broads the possibly interesting things about your design, increasing the chance of more people finding it interesting. I'm thinking loud, all of this migth be bs, but it kinda make sense to me (for now). Thanks for your train of thought, i really wished for comments like this, while making this video!

[@shualel]

@@callmenakayes, i feel like visually appealing design is the eye catcher and the visual story telling is what makes them stay, looking for any information abt her thru the little details from the design, therefore appreciating ur work!

[@dogukanckr3618]

​@@callmenakaglad to hear that! I hope you make more videos like this cause I learned alot from this one about design in general

[@Ana-oi6ub]

Hearing "first video" at the end made me SOOO sad because I was already planning throughout the video that your channel was going to be my source of entertainment for the next few weeks, now I can just wait for you to post other videos and I'm so excited 😭😭

[@artofraw8151]

I came here to pretty much say this. Feels bad, but at least it's something rad to look forward to.

[@JohannTesch]

I may just be repeating what others have said, but the difference between the old drawing and the new one really is astounding. With the old one, I just think "Hey, that's a nice drawing" and not much else, but with the new one? I immediately want to play a game/watch an animation/read a comic with Engie. She doesn't even need to be a main character, just having her around would probably be enough to make me interested, which imo says a lot about the design's strength.

[@aweetumnsart]

This is the kind of feedback that's SO useful between two artists. Excellent video.

[@playfulwriter9796]

This is the type of channel that exists for decades to help new artists. I can’t wait to see where this goes.

[@fetus.bandit]

my cat really liked this video i dont know why he literally got up from his nap to watch this and sat patiently to watch so yeah my cat approves 😂

[@OwariOmori]

I am too deep into tf2 i heard the word 'engineer' and 'sapper' and go "OMG TF2 REFERENCE??? FR???"

[@clownclot]

SAME

[@callmenaka]

i was really tempted to talk about that for a bit, but didn't fit the vid. Engineer as a shooter class is nothing more that a dude with a turret, outside of tf2.

[@3than0lvideos22]

​@@callmenakabut agressive engineers are the thing

[@theaveragecomment1014]

@@3than0lvideos22 Battle Engies my beloveds

[@That_Random_User]

Hey look buddy, I'm an engineer. . . that means I solve problems. Not problems like "What is beauty?" Because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. I S O L VE P R A C T I C A L P R O B L E M S for instance: how am I going to stop some mean mother Hubbard from tearing me a structurally superfluous be-hind? The answer, use a gun, and if that don't work... Use more gun :D Take for instance this heavy caliber tripod mounted lil' old number designed by me, built by me, and you best hope... Not pointed at you.

[@kenzietownsend6644]

19:12 "Similar peaks. How dare you!" :D Wow. That's tough.

[@kriss667]

Always a heartwarming and reassuring feeling when creators who produce stunning stuff show the mishaps that led them to improvement and greatness.

[@MK_2023.]

Oh man, this feels like the start of a channel that’s about to completely blow up! I’m glad I’m here early.

[@Balan_Design]

Your shape language and presentation will always be an inspiration

[@catarianepeta]

Fellow digital artist of ~3-4 years here, this explanation and demonstration of the character design process is *so* helpful. Thank you so much for sharing!!

[@jamesbullo]

Hierarchy: big, middle, small. I'm drilling into my brain. Very helpful video, thank you.

[@youtubeisapublisher6407]

Wow what a bombshell for a first KZbin channel video, just that profile shot of Engi in the thumbnail instantly drew me in to click on the video. Really great character design! It's going to be some time before I as a hobbyist and layman even approach the level of skill demonstrated in your original piece but watching the redraw and hearing what you're focusing on plus getting to see the result feels like it's going to be very helpful the next time I try to draw any character. Subbing in hopes you'll drop more videos like this in the future!

[@Blackf1nn]

I just got a quality tablet for the first time and am about to get to work on my comic book concepting phase. Perfect timing, perfect video!

[@callmenaka]

hell yeah!

[@Blackf1nn]

@@callmenaka Instant sub btw. Your style is very similar to mine and I like your philosophies, editing and explanation style. Excited to see more from you.

[@Blackf1nn]

You are much more skilled than me so I'm here to learn man! Also to be inspired 🤌🏽🌟

[@ADPMandADPM]

Wow! For one of your first videos it is really well made! I would really love to see you blow up!

[@otaku-chan4888]

Subscribed! I love the way you constructed that lovely line style just from blocking shapes! It looks easy but anyone who's tried (me) knows it's way harder than it seems

[@xenxenxena]

Extremely helpful, thank you so much! The way you min-maxed old man Sinix opening the wrong page was so funny to me for no reason

[@Seleylone]

Wow! Just wow! I had a hunger for this kind of videos - the ones that are more on the analytical side with reasoning explained along the way. The fact that you took the step to fix your design while sharing the old one and your thought process what went wrong (including you taking notes while Sinix reviews your design - nice touch) - I really admire that approach! I'm sure a lot of younger artists will benefit from your videos (Me included). Thank you for sharing and I'm looking forward for more!

[@erenyeeagah204]

No way i discovered your art today and now your vid shows up in my recommended

[@citrus3603]

I'm so goofy I keep neglecting HOW IMPORTANT SHAPE DESIGN is in my own character designs and its no wonder why I have such trouble with creativity.

[@chirpling4811]

that was your FIRST video???? holy shit i couldn't tell you're great at this fr!!

[@kainaris]

"STARTS ON A WRNG PAGE" NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THAT HURT SO MUCH XD

[@Stryvec]

This was great, really enjoyed the process stuff at the start in particular. You find taking the time to think things through helps in pretty much everything, even fast paced 30 second figure drawings, but in design and composition in particular its so important because thats where you put together the whole message and vibe.

[@coltynstone-lamontagne]

Man, I remember when this video came out in Oct 2024... crazy how far you've come now! Keep it up, my artistic educator!

[@michaelshultz2199]

God, your art style is DELICIOUS

[@calicothecappuccinogurl9874]

the composition on the 7:04 is SO GOOD I am totally gonna try something like this, the pop of color on the side with a bit of a background behind her as well as it being covered in some enviormental lighting making her stand oout is just perfect!!! I haven't fealt this motivated to try something out in years, thanks big time :D

[@paintbulble]

the little Naka looking distraught at 18:56 is a glorious touch

[@actuallyhusksofcorn3028]

Wonderful to see you starting a channel, I loved watching you perform during Chroma Core! Looking forward to watching your channel grow, and hopefully growing as an artist alongside you!

[@kaesunico6901]

Wow first ever video. I would’ve thought this was a massive channel from the quality we’re getting. Super glad I saved this to watch later!

[@JerryLecor]

I didnt make it in this year but i did the washout follow along, i definitely thought you deserved the win, your quality on a daily basis was sick to watch. Easy sub.

[@mathilda6763]

I really liked how you organised your video. first critiquing yourself, then redesigning and then getting the new version critiqued and then reviewing what worked good and what not. I also liked that you showed your notes on the right side during the review. that makes it very easy to follow but it also helps others learning how to get out more from critiques they might receive and how to deal with it in a productive way. Video quality was really nice and good to follow too. I loved having insight in the how and why you redesigned certain features. A really nice video. I am looking forward to seeing more of your stuff on yt. Don't burn yourself out with yt. I'd rather see a few videos and you having fun and being proud of what you're doing, that a lot of videos and you working yourself into a burn out. 🧡

[@Powlid]

I genuinely believe that your channel will grow more and more popularity. heck you already have a 10/10 video with 4.91k subscribers on your channel, and now I'm one of them.🖤

[@okaden1015]

When you said this was your first KZbin vid, I was in disbelief. Upload more please, this vid is amazing ❤

[@hikarikashay]

Mindig meglepődőm mikor az algoritmus megtalál egy NAKA munkával, de nem panaszkodom. :D Remélem sok hasonló tartalom jön majd mert a munkaid mindig nagy motivációt nyújtottak a saját fejlődésem ösztönzésére. :D

[@qube8914]

Both the feedback from you AND Sinix was genuinely really helpful for my own design process! I wish you the best on your art journey and I'll be coming back to see if I can learn more from what you have to share!

[@Salmacream]

It's a really cool peice, this is why we add art to books, sometimes an artist can better describe a piece. I can use a million words to describe a brick, but you will know it without any just by seeing it. Simple is best, art is fantastic in that way.

[@MikoDoodles]

Great one Naka, I'll definetly rewatch this before next year's chroma corps

[@Caleb-xe8bd]

the concept went from good to absolutely breathtaking, excellent presentation NAKA

[@TheOddHolloway]

So cool!!! I’m kind of stuck in that weird stage trying to figure out shapes and stuff still. Trying to make my characters less stiff. This was so nice to look at and she’s such a fun character! I’m curious to see what comes next from you!! 3:30 Also, I started do this as well! And I am much happier with the result, rather than just trying to ink over the sketch in a new layer, and losing the original personality of the sketch. And… If she still doesn’t have a name.. Maybe you could call her “Scute”.. Scutes are those angular shape patterns on the backs of turtle shells, and they flake off as the turtle gets bigger. She just looked kind of like a Scute walking beside her workshop.. Just an idea..😅

[@BTT16]

Anatomy is always a touchy subject when designing a heavily stylized character. You have to know it extensively, yet when designing like this, it's all about what to use and what to simplify.

[@pixelfoxart]

Amint hallottam az akcentusodat azonnal levágtam, hogy magyar vagy hehe Nagyon meglepődtem, mert kevés magyar foglalkozik az ilyen videók készítésével, de NAGYON örülök hogy rád találtam és a fantasztikus videóidra/alkotásaidra :3

[@dingusthegreat]

Nem hiszem el, hogy még nem találkoztam egy művel sem tőled! Imádom a kinézetét a régi, és egyben az új stílusodnak is, egyszerűen fenomenális ez az ütött-kopott képregényes látvány! Muszály lesz végignéznem minden korábbi munkát tőled...

[@fgrey-]

holy carp this is incredible 6.4k subs is NOT NEARLY ENOUGH

[@petesyoutube]

Super in depth on lots of aspects i wasn’t across for a fill character design sheet and presentation strategy.

[@luoxis]

That chara design is just so charming ! It makes me want to play a game with her as the MC so badly. That's it, she's coming in the list of characters i have to play in a Tabletop RPG. It hurts too much to imagine her just staying a concept like that.

[@domceptart]

You're killing it from Chroma Corps to now KZbin; I can't wait to see future content!

[@MilkBeard555]

Wow, so this is your first video? I'm a concept art MA student, and this is genuinely the kind of content that people working towards this goal need to see the most. Your style is great, but it was your explanation of the process, followed by a critique portion, that really sold me on this video format. I wanted to watch more of these, but I guess a subscription will have to do in the meantime. :) P.S. We're in the middle of mid-terms right now, and you almost covered exactly what we've been assigned. We have to create one environment and a key shot of the environment for the designed character, but other than that, you've essentially developed what I'd consider an A.

[@kobinaa__]

Not gonna lie, you really saved me up a lot of interrogations, buddy. Most of the time i just go, drawing and "figuring out with the flow" the character and things, but i never REALLY thought that it could help more than the reverse to actually think and "prepare" the design before drawing for selling it REALLY THANKS FOR SHARING

[@arthurc.6176]

Incredible work. Hope to see more. Your art and your view about how you approach a design…. Is very useful for beginners like me.

[@jobunny]

so excited to see you on YT!! such a great start to the channel, can't wait for more.

[@Kittenkatana]

big fan of the character design, the revision and especially with the more mechanical side of it, thought it all looked incredible, would love to possibly see a tutorial or just your general thought processes.

[@KoalaOwlPaws]

So glad I found this channel, very entertaining, not only that it is helpful in terms of character thought processing. I've been trying to do a decent job with my own works, and this looks so good!!

[@mastadonxo7662]

I love love love her design and I like how you Broke the process down. I've been struggle to design characters but I like videos like this that break down the process

[@godofthegodofthegod3431]

i hate when you guys call your work messy im literally striving for feasible shapes

[@davidakinyotun]

Woah this is really an interesting and insightful video, great work Naka!🔥

[@tl1119]

I love the message from the conclusion. All the story and functionality helps give much more weight to the forms, even when form wasn't the main focus. I can't wait for more amazing videos!!!

[@TheLobstersoup]

It's a great looking character sheet, and I see what Sinix means about the shoulder.The front facing one would have to be rotated back, revealing the inside arm a little more. Because the hand lodged on the table exudes pressure on the ellbow and rolls back the shoulder. I've been standing at my desk here, mirroring the pose for five minutes, thinking about it ^^

[@spenser6236]

This is such a bad ass design! Mobile Mech engineer station?! I've NEVER seen something like that! So cool!!

[@miachristensen5444]

Insanely INCREDIBLE design, i love it

[@exile1412]

this was your first video!??? 🤯 amazing work!

[@ivangogo2755]

I could watch you draw all day

[@mosskid_]

I'd love to see you post either .psd files for drawings in your videos or just showing how you use layers, I love your style and feel like it could be extremely helpful :D This could also be a perk for the Patreon I'd especially love seeing how you use layers for shading and also that blocking technique you used for the workshop robot character, really interesting! Keep it up :D

[@izaqski]

As someone who works as a UX Designer developing web services, I can confirm that there is immense power and potential in iterating designs through user testing and feedback loops. You've obviously gained a lot of skill since the first piece was submitted, but I bet if you had iterated the design immediately and preferably several times you would have seen great leaps as well. Great video and thank you!

[@ContraversialFeeder]

Brooo. You are freaking insane. Props man

[@TheBlazingNeptune]

The aspects I struggle with the most when it comes to making art are creating strong, believable shapes or even readjusting my shapes in an effort to correct it. Shape language is currently a difficult topic for me. P.s loved the video, will need a couple rewatches for me!

[@DT-sx6im]

What a fantastic video. I'd love to see your take on finding the balance between anatomy and pushing those fun shapes!

[@xiquai]

This was SO good ! As a fellow artist, this style makes me so happy :-)

[@tophatgeo]

Absolutely blows my mind you've not made a youtube video before! Absolutely love your art and explanation of your artistic decisions, it really emphasises the important qualities needed to make an appealing concept. Engie is such an absolutely charming character concept. Can't wait to see more of your art on both your instagram and here on youtube! "Starts on a wrong page" killed me 😆

[@silviameiliani7743]

I love this video, it helped me realizing a lot of my own mistakes too. Your explanations of why the design didn't work before helped me to understand some points of character design that I never know. Thank you so much for taking your time to make this, and I hope to learn more from your videos in the future. Cheers! :)

[@Lein3D]

i think i might have stumble across my new favorite artist, this is so cool and inspiring, giving me a new drive for charachter creation

[@redblackbird]

Super cool video with lots of insight on not only visual design, but also character development as a whole! Can't wait to see what you do next!

[@RekuoRekuo]

This was very helpful, I'll take this into account when making my next character

[@jam6748]

Fantastic video, very informative on the process of taking a character idea then researching to find unique points of interest (Engineer to Sapper) and finally taking those ideas and putting them in practice. I would love to see more about your taking character concepts into full designs, using your definition of the character as a guide for detailing. Love this, and hope you keep making great art!

[@zallesyn4686]

very cool stuff. it's nothing i haven't heard already but seeing more examples of doing it right inspire me (and many others i suspect). keep it up!

[@rosa97509]

omg this is such good advice genuinely! glad ur on KZbin

[@cariolaroelena6614]

this is gonna help me out SO much, thank you!! This video is amazing, especially for a FIRST?? Looking forward to your future content :D

[@gullhaar]

Great design and such a huge improvement! Will watch out for more of your stuff, so inspiring to see such well thought out ideas and the process you go through incorporating them! ❤

[@maillefortyouri6226]

Impressive ! I was not ready when you said it was your first video ! Good use of the KZbin medium ! And I like your chara design !

[@mikrogamerhd]

I loved this video and it was amazing seeing you in the last years of chroma corps. Even though we already got a good glimpse in your process, I would love to see more of that. Keep it up!

[@antares3030]

letsgoooo naka made a channel, too

[@MrAwesomeTheAwesome]

Fell in love with the style and charm of your artwork while watching through the latest Chroma Corp recap. *So* excited when I saw you put out this video, instant subscribe. Also, damn, it's well-made. I love the editing and all! If you're taking suggestions for future video ideas, I'd love to see you go through how you use brushes/tools to create some of the textures you have here. I saw some bits and pieces, like how you did the lettering, some of the straps with lines cut out in the middle, etc. And I fully plan on testing out and studying those! But I'd love to hear your thoughts/advice too. Also different approaches to linework and building up a piece, like how you mentioned block-in, using a single layer to keep the energy of the sketch. Always interested in techniques to try out! Also, I really like your post-processing and how you make things feel professional and polished - your finishing work, essentially. I picked up on some film grain and chromatic aberration in a couple of your Instagram pieces. A subtle effect, but *very* cool. Would love a video on finishing, presentation, layout, as well! Again, I love your work! Excited to see what you make next, digital art and videos! Okay, enough fanboying from me. Thank you for the video, appreciate you! Cheers!

[@NorKunGi]

amazing work, really awesome how you show your processes. Not just your character design but the video quality as well.

[@mrhalfsaid1389]

Great show of how to improve design and create a character pitch

[@RajasSutar]

This is a greatly concise and entertaining step by step video on character design i have seen in a while. For you first video, this was very insightful and well-made. This is gonna help me in the long run, keep it up!

[@friedeggs1576]

I’m so happy you’re planning to make more stuff!! Found you through chroma corps this year and was absolutely blown away by your work!! I would love to see some stuff about how you study and practice art 🙂‍↕️🙏

[@FrejaW]

Very cool, I recognise you thru chroma corps and it’s super nice that this video just organically was recommended to me. Can’t wait to see where this yt journey of yours goes

[@fluffffycat]

great video, i saved it instantly and then tried to watch more but this is your FIRST???? make more plsss :3

[@celestialcrystals2637]

I love both the original and new character design ❤!!! I know your channel is going to be big in the art community!

[@itsagiantrat7932]

Bro this is absolute great advice, love your style as well.

[@rosevalety3408]

Amazing video and super instructive ! Learned a lot, and I'm in love with that style, I loved that design !!! Amazing work

[@D_ki_kitab]

I am glad I got this video in my feed this early... As a (Idk what I should call myself) I am genuinely honored with the information I got in this video... Thank you for creating this video

[@LucasOliveira-vc9mz]

Daam man simply incredible....... can't even get near your level

[@chyra451]

First video and you're already legendary at editing and pacing, so good...