How Do We Tell Story

Through Character Design?

Josh Williams
Abs t r a c t
This research study will be looking to explore and discover the numerous ways in which personality and

narrative is told through the design of a character. It is vital for character artists, whether conceptual or

working from concepts, and even extends to all professional designers and artists. Without the knowledge

of this an artist cannot achieve the professional level required to create good art. This study will be broken

down into key ways in which narrative is expressed in the design of characters, and also be looking into why

people perceive personality and character through design. These key points will cover the fundamental

bases of each area of knowledge and explain the basics of their use. The research used to support the

statements of this study includes websites, books and academic studies and reports. The knowledge
gained from this study will vastly improve any aspiring artist’s ability to create meaningful, quality designs

and correctly make professional quality works based upon concepts by others. It is a vital philosophy to

understand and without it an artist simply cannot create professional designs. Overall this document should

be concluded by leaving the reader with concise, well informed knowledge on how best to express narrative

and personality in a visual design format. The study of this research would be the initial stepping stone to

any aspiring artist. Once this knowledge is understood, it can then be learned further and experimented with

in practical application and creation, it will also further develop current work and improve creations moving

forward greatly. It will also give me the opening point which I can use as the groundwork for my own

experimentation and advancement in the field.

Pg. 1
Con t e n t s P a g e
Abstract Pg. 1

Aims and Objectives Pg. 3

The Psychology of it Pg. 4

Proportion and Shape Pg. 5 - 7

Posture Pg. 8

Wardrobe Pg. 9

Colour Pg. 10

Conclusion Pg. 11 - 12

Action Pg. 13

Bibliography Pg. 2
Pg. 14 - 15
Aim / O bj e c t i ve s
The aim of this report is to correctly analyze and understand the key psychological and practical components

that go into the development of character design and development. It should leave a reader understanding how

and why certain factors of design imply personality and narrative. I will be looking at a number of topics broken

up into sections to form the basis of my report. First of all I will be looking at the psychological reasons people

perceive personality and narrative in visual cues. This will explore how and why this occurs, with reference to

studies further proving the phenomenon. Then, I will explore how shape and proportion affects the perceived per-

sonality in a design. This will explore a number of fundamentals to do with shapes and will arguably be the most

important aspect of character design, as it includes the face. I will also be looking at how a characters wardrobe
reflects their personality, and reflects narrative utilizing colour, shape and practicality for certain situations.

Finally, I will then go on to look at how posture presents a characters personality, attitude and general mood.

This will then all be concluded with an overall conclusion of the findings and how it will affect future works and

research.

Pg. 3
The Psychology of it

This report will be exploring how visual elements create an assumption of personality and characteristics in a design, but first of all the reason to

why people do this needs to be explored, starting with origin. It is theorised that in prehistoric times, it was a vital advantage to be able to read

the faces of other humans (Dr Little, Reading Faces: Face Value). It was important to be able to gauge whether a stranger was a friend or a foe

quickly when encountering strangers. Reading into their face shape, posture and expression were tools of survival (SparkNotes, Evoltionary Perspec-

tives). This would also be used to not only differentiate friend from foe, but also to quickly decide if an opponent could be beaten and whether

it was worth fighting them through how masculine their features were. There was also a benefit to not having bold, masculine features. The timid

and less aggressive stature meant that others would not read them as a threat at all, helping them to survive (Dr little, Reading Faces: Face Value).

This was the basis of the psychology of design, observing structures, expressions and shapes to quickly determine attributes and personality. This

psychology extends to things such as colour, which are linked to emotions due to association. For example, we see the most of a deep blue at
night time. At night the body is calming down and releasing the chemicals to make us calm, tired and sleepy, therefore we link the colour itself to

the feeling of calm, and cool. This is the basis of the psychological effect of design.

Pg. 4
 Proportion and Shape
Proportion and shape define a lot of information in a character. This is one of the core ways in which personality is expressed, as the

key component in reading personality is the face. The face and body are more than likely fixed shapes in a character and won’t change,

whereas posture, expression and wardrobe could change throughout. Evidenced in the psychology prior, and by the results of the study by

Ian S Penton-Voak, the face is a core component in reading personality and is the larger focus in that regard. However the usage of shape

in a design must first be explored.

Shape is a very important tool in the designing and creation of characters in games and the overall shape of the character is

the first thing observed by a viewer. At their core, this can be summarised down to triangles (points), squares (edges) or circles (round)

(Ekström, H. 2013). This includes combinations of these shapes. Pointed and triangular characters are generally perceived as evil, or bad in

some regard, and dangerous. Spiky objects and points are most often associated with danger or harm, as they can stab and prick. Square

characters will appear stubborn and unmoving, perhaps regimented. Square objects are associated with walls or blocks, a stubborn, unmov-

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhcy3alh9D1qc9wc7.jpg ing force. Rounded and circular characters appear soft, safe, and good. A circle has no hard edges, and no points, so no confrontational

danger (Diaz, A. 2011, Ekström, H. 2013). These basic fundamentals carried across the silhouette of a character can help to immediately

identify that character’s personality (Diaz, A. 2011).

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Proportion and Shape

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The structure of the face is another key element in the design process of a character. Each individual part of the face

has purpose for expression in comparison to the rest of the body in general. An important factor of facial design is to consider

how the hormonal growth of genders affects the shape and growth of a face (Lemon, R. Tutorial - Head Drawing for Character

Design). Male faces of characters that are very masculine will have very powerful, square jaws, a large chin, large cheekbones

and protruding forehead. This is to express their strength and dominance (Glassenberg, A. 2010). Female Faces on the other hand

will have very soft jaw lines, small chins and larger eyes (Glassenberg, A. 2010). Also to note that the shape of individual facial

features applies equal importance to the body. A character with pointed facial features will probably be a villain, whereas a

rounder faced character been good. Combinations of this would create characters in the middle ground, self serving or neutral-

ly aligned characters. Squarer character on the other hand imply strength, stubbornness and masculinity (Glassenberg, A. 2010). Pg. 6
 Proportion and Shape

Valve, Team Fortress 2

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhcysw6tHq1qc9wc7.jpg
Proportion is “the comparative measurements or size of different parts of a whole”. This means the relative size of features on

a character in comparison to others. As mentioned, a character with a square jaw will look strong and masculine, in comparison to a neu-

tral character. The more square the jaw is and the larger it becomes, the more strong and overly masculine a character will appear, and

further bring focus to that characteristic. This exaggeration of a feature will equally exaggerate the personality that feature brings. In

equal measure, a feature that is reduced will leave opposite effects on the character. If a characters cranium is shrunk, the personality

of the character clearly focuses less upon the use of the brain, making the character appear less intelligent. This applies beyond faces,

and works on the whole body of characters (Creativebloq, 2013).

The natural expression of a character is an important focus into how this applies. A character with lots of “laugh lines” will

clearly be a character who is often smiling or laughing. A character with deep bags under their eyes and naturally sloped outward eye-

brows will be a naturally calm or tired character. It is important to consider how the personalities of the characters would affect their

face (wrinkles etc) in a real sense (Diaz, A. 2011).

It is also vital that a characters personality follows clearly through their body from their face. A character with large, mascu-
Pg. 7
line jaws and chins should carry that masculinity forward into also having wide shoulders, arms and large upper torso. It is vital to keep

the same personality all the way through (Diaz, A. 2011).

Posture

Unlike the other characteristics of design just presented, posture is not as fixed. A character can change its posture any time it

changes mood or enters a new situation. However, the posture of a character in its default attitude needs to compliment the rest

of the characters personality. A character can look strong due to its features and due to its shape, but the posture could make

a character look completely different. Making the character hunch over, fists clenched, would make a character appear menacing

and violent. Giving the same character an upright, outstretched pose with hands on their sides will make a character appear brave,

heroic and good. This does not just apply to default poses and posture. Any other movements and poses a character makes must

still reflect the attitude of a character. For example, bold, confident characters will make bold and very expressive poses, even to

the point of overdramatic. A more introverted character will make much subtler poses and be much less expressive in their moods
(Ibister, K. 2006, pg 27-29).

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 http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhcysw6tHq1qc9wc7.jpg

Wardrobe
Wardrobe is a key element in the design of a character. It is one of the more

challenging aspects, as if multiple outfits are involved, they all have to still ex-

press the characters personality. A character needs to wear clothing that firstly,

explains their environment and needs in that environment. For example, the game

Lost Planet, is set on a harsh, snowy climate. Characters in this game reflect this

by wearing lots of warm clothing, fur, gloves, and tools for climbing/travers-

ing such an environment. This is the basic level but is just as important as the

advanced aspects. If a character is an enforcer, or a brute, they will wear big,

imposing clothing. If they are academic, and completely non violent, they will
wear less practical clothing and more extravagant. It also needs to be relevant

to the time period, to recourses available to the character, etc. Finally, the outfit

needs to further push the idea of the characters personality. A soft, round

character will follow those soft, round shapes into their outfits (Diaz, A. 2011).

The same applies to a more rigid character, or a rougher one. It is absolutely

vital that the outfit continues to reflect the wearer, otherwise the message can

get mixed (Diaz, A. 2011). This also applies to their role in a situation and their

hierarchy (Ibister, K, 2006, pg12-13). Characters from poorer environments must

reflect that in their clothing, more than like meaning scruffy, not well fitting and

simple. Characters from an upper class environment will wear items purely for

aesthetic pleasure, with no real manual effort required of them, they do not need

clothes that are practical and sensible (Diaz, A. 2011). Pg. 9

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http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhcysw6tHq1qc9wc7.jpg
Colour

There are multiple aspects to the overall colour of a character. Firstly, is whether a character is warm or cool.

Warm characters are typically good, friendly characters, where cold is more reserved and serious. Using the

right colours appropriately for a given character will enhance that feeling of warmness/coolness (Lemon, R. pg

10-17). The importance of colour is not just about temperature however. A wide understanding of colour theory

is equally as important to understand when creating a characters colour palette. For example, good and evil (
Diaz, A. 2011). Good characters will wear lighter colours, whereas evil characters will wear darker ones. Charac-

ters whose clothing is entirely for practicality, will be dull colours, suited to the task (Lemon, R. pg 10-17). An

Aristocrat however would be wearing much more vibrant and unusual colours. This also applies to characters

themselves, not just their clothing. Certain health characteristics need to be considered when applying colour to

a character. If a character were to be very tired, with large bags under their eyes, it would be important to mimic

the way in which this effects colouration around their eyes (Lemon, R. pg 10-17).

Pg.10
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Conclusion

To conclude, it is now been documented how and why we see personality and narrative in character design. It

can now be seen that the practical use of shape colour and feature association can bring together assumptions

of personality. The origin of which dating back to the beginning of modern humanity with our ancestors using the

ability to quickly read faces in situations to gauge friend from foe, and be able to deduce the amount of danger

another person was, or if they could beat them if it came to a fight. The many aspects of shape and proportion

have also been discussed. The way different shapes imply different personas has been explored. With examples

such as squarer characters being stronger, and more regimented or stubborn, and triangular characters being

sinister, bad and dangerous. It then went on to look at how the features of the human face express personal-
ity. Hormones that affect the body as each gender grow affect the overall shape and form of a face, and the

amount of hormones affected the character the more present these features would be, and the personality
trait in question would be assumed more intense. Proportion and exaggeration of features was also explored. It

was addressed that as a characters feature gets more intense, the more focus that personality trait has, and the

more intense it is assumed to be. Likewise if a character had an underrepresented feature, it would cause the in-

tended opposite effect and show that those features are not aspects of who that character is. Tools such as the

expression found on a characters face and the consistency of the personality through from face to entire body

was important. Both being key tools that help to further push the characteristics the proportions and shape

build up. In combination with the larger aspects, posture was explored. A simple posture change can change the

personality of a character completely from what it was originally meant to be. Introverted and extroverted

characters have much different ranges of expression and posture and both need to be understood to get them

both right.
Pg.11
Conclusion

It was also found that wardrobe was a very key aspect of expressing the personality, and it is required to

understand how to connect the shape and proportion of a character and integrate that into any clothing a

character might wear. Clothing must also show how a character lives and interacts with its environment, and

show what kind of world it lives in and how it interacts with it. Clothing must also be different dependant

on a number of things, such as age, wealth, class, role and job in the world around it. Finally, a look at how

colour could drastically affect the personality presented in a character design was shown. There was explo-

ration into how warm and cold colours are to be implemented into what kind of characters, as well as how

general colour psychology brings different personal information on a character such as good or evil, serious
or light hearted and more. This information will drastically improve any artists ability to correctly create

and interpret art and design as a whole. Many of the ideals in this report are easily transferrable to other

aspects of design and are equally important. This should greatly help any artist improve their quality of

work. Overall the report shows that there is a heavy connection between professional artistic creation and

social psychology. This knowledge is the key foundation in how to begin making and creating art that is suit-

able for a professional environment. The issue with this is that I have yet to experience this knowledge being

taught in any place of education or even mentioned as something that a rising artist needs to understand to

achieve. Art at a school level is not particularly to do with practical and professional applications of art, it

is more an exploration of the history of art, but is this the correct way to do it. Why is this knowledge not

being taught publicly?

Pg.12
Action Plan

My overall task based upon the work in this research report is to apply this newfound knowl-

edge into my practical aspects of work. I will need to explore how to correctly apply the right

balance of features in a character to get exactly the personality I wish to express. I will also

be looking to study further into this field to discover any missing pieces I have not found in

regards to the correct way to tell narrative in design. Going on from that I will be looking into

how this applies to non-humanoid characters such as robots or animals, creatures and aliens.

There will be many similarities in that regard, but lots of key differences such as anatomy being

greatly affected by their eating habits, their environment, and any dangers or predators. I will
also want to not just follow the rules displayed in this report. I will also be exploring ways to

see what happens when other things are tried based upon the knowledge I have gained from this
report. For example, I could try venturing into shapes other than squares, triangles and circles,

and observe what kind of characteristics they express. There are a number of things I propose

for further reading. I shall be looking at how the lighting of an environment around a character

can further affect the impression of personality given, and how to create lighting environments

that look pleasing to the eye and capture exactly what I intend. I will also be looking at how

positive and negative space affect each other in character design. The blank areas that go into

creating “negative space” need to be explored and needs to be seen how shapes not on the

character itself, but in the blank areas of the character affect its personality. I mainly plan to

be utilising lots of practical exploration in my own works and developing my knowledge of the

concept further by experimenting with it in a real application.

Pg.13
 Bibliography

Penton-Voak, I. (2006). PERSONALITY JUDGMENTS FROM NATURAL AND COMPOSITE FACIAL IMAGES: MORE EVIDENCE FOR A “KERNEL OF TRUTH” IN SOCIAL PERCEPTION. Social Cognition.

24 (5), p607-640.

A scholarly study into how people read and analyse faces to assume personality, involving surverys.

Lemon, R. Tutorial - Head Drawing for Character Design. Available: http://www.studio2ndstreet.com/tutorials/s2sH

_ eadDrwgChrctrDesign.pdf. Last accessed 30th Jan 2014.

Guide into aspects of human face structure and how they correlate to personality.

Ekström, H. (2013). How Can a Character’s Personality be Conveyed Visually, through Shape. Available: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:637902/FULLTEXT01.pdf. Last accessed
30th Jan 2014.

Research report analysing the correlation between personality and shape.

ASCH, S. FORMING IMPRESSIONS OF PERSONALITY *. Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science New School for Social Research.

Study looking at correlation of face and personality.

Diaz, A. (2011). Tips on Character and Costume Design by Aaron Diaz. Available: http://floobynooby.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/tips-on-character-and-costume-design-by.html. Last accessed

30th Jan 2014.

In depth look at the core fundamentals of character design and narrative, written by experienced comic book artist.

Dr Little. Reading Faces: Face Value. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/emotions/faceperception1.shtml. Last accessed 30th Jan 2014.

BBC Document discussing the reasoning for facial stereotyping in history.

Pg.14
Bibliography

Aaron N. Glassenberg. (2010). Sex-Dimorphic Face Shape Preference in Heterosexual and Homosexual Men and Women. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 39 (6), 1289-1296.

A look on desired facial structures.

Ibister, K (2006). Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach. Elsevier.

Book depicting the social psychology involved in character design.

Stereotypes and Prejudice. Available: http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/socialpsychology/section2.rhtml. Last accessed 30th Jan 2014.

Explanation on the meaning of strereotyping and relevence to human evolution.

Color Psychology. Available: http://library.thinkquest.org/27066/psychology/nlcolorpsych.html. Last accessed 30th Jan 2014.

A look at the psychology of colour and how they correlate to certain moods/emotions.

Proportion. Available: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/proportion. Last accessed 30th Jan 2014.

Dictionary definition of proportion.

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