The Character Design Workout

From cartoons to crochet, stop-motion to 3D models, Emily Gosling reveals the secrets to strong character design

- Emily Gosling

IF 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 sponge bobs of yesteryear are no longer the preserve of big ad agencies or professional image-makers, thanks to the democratization 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 the 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.”