What every character designer NEEDS TO KNOW! 

I think Overwatch is a good example of using a "secondary theme" to unite a disparate cast of characters into a more cohesive whole - McCree *is* a cowboy, but upgraded for a futuristic world. Reinhardt is similarly a futuristic take on a hammer wielding knight. Mercy's design uses futuristic means to create that iconic angelic look. And Zenyatta is literally a robot version if a buddhist monk. All the characters may have very different influences and primary themes but it's the futuristic setting that binds them all together.

The most intimidating aspect of this character is his ULTRA-CHIN.

When you were talking about the shoulder rivets, it reminded me of something important. When you have a unique aspect on only one part of a character’s body, that’s a good way to draw the attention to that part of the body. If you have a guy that attacks with a shoulder charge - giving his shoulders some big, noticeable, loud design element is a good way to hint at it. If they attack with guns, making the guns glow is a good idea, etc etc.

Definitely interested to hear your thoughts on originality versus marketability.

Trent, I'd love to see you break down that discussion of "If people want unique and original". I'm guessing the short answer is no, however I'd like to hear it explained in more detail from you.

Before we even get started, just wanted to say I was super stoked to see your face in the Proko video earlier. Good luck with branching out to their platform! Hope it works out well! Now, to the video!

I have heard a good start would be to first create the world of your story. If the world has a clear direction, plot, characters, and themes will come automatically.

"But do people WANT original...?" That cliffhanger at the end :) These are amazing dude!!

Cool tips and piece as well. One thing that I like about your art style, specially for characters, is how they are very polished but still have that "rustic" vibe to it, making it look very organic.

Youre an artist ive aaaalways wanted to meet. Hopefully soon!

Your videos are the only ones I find that give a no bs and honest look at these art jobs. Thanks for uploading and sharing your experiences!

I'm loving Trent's expressions on the thumbnails

"It's a water gun!" Lmao yes, we're thinking it

"Do they _want_ unique and original?" Well yes, but actually no. That is the answer I am expecting.

YES!!!! The intro music is back!!

man... i didn't have much time to watch your videos lately; and dude, you have no idea how relaxing it is to just listen to your voice and learning a bit more about character design.

look at all those unnamed layers. i feel at home

It's a cool looking robot but the head looks exactly like Hammerstein from the ABC Warriors from the 2000ad comic and the Stallone Judge Dredd movie.

Awwww yeah. Ready to see the character design video

Thanks for the amazing video, just when i needed it!

Great tips Trent! Love your content!

About Vaan, I remember reading somebody pointing out that he probably stole his armor pieces and that he likes to wear it as a trophy to impress everyone. That makes a lot more sense, if only the game mentioned this in a passing line of dialogue, that would have made his character design so much more believable.

Awesome information, thanks Trent!

My set of opinions about character design: - Well, some street rats would wear their loot as a sign of pride in their "life-style", or because they couldn't manage to sell the baubles because it wasn't gold but painted iron, but hey it looks GREAT dangling from your neck. Of course that thing should enter into the character's backstory, something that actually EXPLAINS his choice of uniform. Was it a heirloom from his family before he was casted away into the underworld of thieves? Everything needs context, not just "strap bling bling into this street rat person" and call it a day. That is what separates good narrative from the tropes. - I concur about AC's designs being needlessly gaudy. If you want to be as unconspicuous as possible, by all means, WEAR RED GOLD AND A FULL SET OF GLINTING AND RATTLING METALS all over your body. There is a reason why thieves/rogues can't wear chain mail or metal at all in RPGs, not because they are "heavy" but because of the damn clattering from the metals rubbing against themselves. I always appreciated how you can hear that clattering of metal when you swap leather armor from chainmail in Guild Wars 2 or in Monster Hunter World. The more metal, the more noisy you are while walking -- not that it hinders me from hunting a Rathalos wearing a Black Gravios full set of armor, but some games were just made for the fun of it, not because physics and how this heavy shoulder pad can behead me if I try to reach an apple from a branch. AC's is narrative set in an "alternate reality", and the protagonist is all but discreet -- or everyone is conveniently deaf and blind! - The error that keeps recurring in "robot" or "mechanical" beings' design is to make their eyes to glow. Seriously, a robot can't see its surroundings with lightbulbs for eyes -- its blind well and through. It needs to has at least a pupil or a camera somewhere in their bodies to RECEIVE LIGHT from the surroundings -- LAMPS ARE NOT RECEPTORS OF LIGHT. Else, unless the robot is pathing its way through sound or other means and sources of information (like a map being sent into its brain via a computer), lightbulb eyes are a nono and a HUGE mistake everyone commits during the design of mechanical characters. Since metaphysical characters can "sense" the world through, well, metaphysical means (IT SEES DIRECTLY INTO YOUR SOUL), angels, demons and all that fantastic parafernalia with glowy eyes it's fine, but for mechanical beings based on real law of physics, by all means AVOID GLOWY EYES ON ROBOTS. Imagine all the photos we would take if instead of cameras we had just the flashlight in our cellphones.

Oh man I may take a few months know and then. Bringing the things together that you tell us. But I always come back to you.

Getting massive Dude vibes off of Trent. Like he's channeling Jeff Bridges. Awesome artists, beautiful work and solid advice. Thank you for sharing.

"Do people want unique and original? The answer will upset you." XD I mean it varies from person to person but yeah the majority of people will prefer memes or things that are easily recognizable. That's where the 80/20 rule comes in.

Trent, Ethan Becker and Marco Bucchi are the big three to me when it comes to educational art stuff. awesome content as usual!

Waaaait… this intro🤩 missed it haha

I like the two views from monitor and working out keep it in that way is new

"A rabbit knight, try it." Medieval monks "Challange completed 650 years ago." Medieval monks/scribes made a lot of "doodles" in manuscripts involving rabbits (and snails). Rabbits acting as knights. Jousting, defending castles, riding dogs or snails and bludgeoning humans to death. Pretty wild stuff.

Such an interesting and nice vid! Thx!!

Thank you for your advice, this kind of information is really useful.

You know something you're right I used to draw from imagination and then I find this book super manga matrix 1 and 2 that explain all the possibility ideas and backgrounds of a character. It was a open brain explosion.and I realized how important is to have those things at point. Great video.

Hey Trent, can you do a Billy Hatcher redesign like the Link one you did? Maybe him older more rugget or maybe like a billy Hatcher 2 type thing or maybe both. It'd be cool to see and it's been on my mind for a while now. Also if I have a bunch of comic ideas should I make a bunch of one shots? And if I do where should I put them/what should I do with them. Should I show them to comic book artist or post them on social media or maybe both?

LOVED THIS VIDEO!! My characters are inspired from the craziest things at times, but I have always treated them as if they were real people. When I write about them, I think of it as them sitting in front of me telling me about themselves. With that they get their very own personalities and themes, even the names I give them have something to do with their backstory, personality, or what it is they do, or are, how they fight, what they like. Everything about the character has a meaning. I think the most special character to me, is the one I had created as an imaginary friend, which I am somewhat ashamed to admit I had up until I was about 20! Yes... I had created him when I was about 5 or 6. Later, when I started drawing him He was inspired by a young Roy Batty of Blade Runner, and young Thouzer of Hokuto no Ken.. I felt so bad for those characters as a kid, so it was like giving them a second chance. Cobra, of Cobra Space Adventures, was also an influence, as was Billy Idol, and Spider One of Powerman 5000 were added later (the character is also a musician), and to make him appear a bit friendlier (he looked too mean, the first time I really drew him at 15), a bit of Galford of Samurai Showdown. My brother and I made up a bunch of characters as kids, and we'd pretend they'd go on these adventures in space, doing amazing things on different stars. We'd wake up at 4am on Saturdays back in the day, to play Blaster Master, or Gradius, and pretend the characters were in the ship, or the tank we called them "The Group" lol.. I don't know where that came from lol I used to think I was so weird and crazy for treating my characters this way, but I learned that the creator of Conan pretty much did the same thing, as well as the designers at SNK, so I stopped feeling bad. The creator of Conan, was a bit too intense, so I really didn't feel bad about myself anymore lol. Any game I'd play, where you had character creator, I always made him the best I could.. I would say Tom Clancy's the Division, though in 2018 DEFINITELY Final Fantasy XV Comrades, was the absolute closest, to where it was weird seeing him, it was almost like seeing him in a game, that was exciting... I miss that game.. when that game came out, I decided to start updating the comic, and designs for the game. I used to doubt myself heavily, I mean really bad... But later in June of 2021, when I saw the way they had designed Star Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy game, he looked quite a bit like my character Einar, so I got insanely excited, and had to buy the game (which I know is a stupid reason, but I didn't care). I don't doubt myself anymore at all, it was the third thing that had happened, which told me to no longer doubt myself. The first being what a random person had said about my character design. He said he couldn't explain it, but it made him feel happy, and it looked fun. That actually made me cry... Einar used to have a jetpack, because I was obsessed with the Rocketeer, but later I gave him a cool design of a wolf on the back of his jacket, which I made look like a mix of Roy Batty's coat, and this coat Spider One had, though later the military jacket of Division. It's a short jacket, because his weapon's holster sits on the back of his belt, I didn't want anything covering that wolf on his back. So he was given armored plates on his boots, that gave him the ability to fly. The jet plates also made him look augmented or mech-like below the knee, which is what I wanted, due to my love for mech anime, and it fit his futuristic soldier theme.. He calls the boots "Mile-Steppers", which is the other name for the Norse god of flight lol The character's theme is space, as my brother and I were (and still are) obsessed with space stuff, and the adventures we'd create as children. He also starts up a company named "SENTINTEL", (each letter stands for what it is they do) which is somewhat like the agents of Tom Clancy's the Division, but in space. He isn't allowed to join the Intergalactic Guardian Force, like his adoptive father, because of his heritage, which goes into his backstory/world lore. Military is another, as the character was always a soldier, Universal Soldier was an influence for sure as well as the theme song to M.D Giest, in fact one of his moves is called "Most Dangerous Soldier", a nod to the anime, that wasn't so good, but I liked it lol. He was also never human, as he is part of an ancient artificial alien race called, "Zayin". In old Hebrew it just means "weapon", which is basically what he is, a living weapon. His third weapon is actually himself called "Weapon of Sovereign Ruination, True Arsenal form, Righteous Violence" lol. When he is in this form, he has to wear a mask called "Berserker's Grimr", because it allows him to retain his sanity, as he becomes an indiscriminate, destroyer without it.. I had made the eyes of the mask, look like the watch face of The Division, but the light is blue, and actually coming from his eyes since they glow. The mask actually comes from the earrings he wears, which are round studs, with the Valknut. On the forehead of the mask though, is the Berserker's rune. The mask was definitely inspired by Thouzer's mask somewhat, but also tactical mask I have seen, and it is given a Viking theme. His third theme, is of course Viking.. When he is accidently sent to Earth as a baby, he is adopted by a man named Erik, who is what is called a "Star Viking".. During the Neo Viking movement, that happens in 2073 AD, these space explorers some of which are warriors or bounty hunters, start this up. They trade with other worlds and there are different clans.. The main character Einar, is of the Storm Wolf Clan.. I love wolves, and Storm Shadow was my favorite character in G.I JOE so lol. When I was a kid, he had a pistol as a weapon, but that got ditched, and he was given basically a gunblade, which although looks very sci-fi military, is inspired by the sword Angurvadal. When I made the first game with some friends in programming class, I wanted him to have sword and gunplay, and made up a fighting style I called at the time "Panzer Kriegsstärke" lol. I redesigned it in 2020, being inspired by the way the Chameleon rifle looked in Division 2 (yeah strange I was so inspired by that game), but I had also wanted to make the character a mix of my Division 1 character, as well as my Red Mage in Final Fantasy XI, and my Gunbreaker in Final Fantasy XIV. The weapon's ballistic attacks, were actually inspired by Cyclops' powers of X-MEN, which happened when I saw the old Marvel comics my brother and I had found in storage. No ammo, it just gathers energy. But inspired by the elemental wheel of Final Fantasy XIV, he has elemental cartridges he uses for elemental attacks. He calls the weapon "Violent Grace", made from the aggregate of a destroyed star called, Gedvanan. It also has some of the remnants of the force that created the star, within it so the weapon has a small level of sentience. His final theme of course is HEAVY METAL! Love metal music, Einar is the lead guitarist, and vocalist in a Rekkr Metal band called, "Drengr". I've actually written music/songs for him, his guitar which is called an "Infinite Frequency Manipulator" or IFM, is basically a sonic weapon, that allows one to gather harmonic energy, for harmonic attacks. He will play a riff based on one of his songs, and due to his alien powers (passed on to him, after he kills his adoptive father.. More backstory stuff) , can briefly augment reality.. Like one of his songs called "Malice Striker", briefly allows him to summon Nidhogg dragon, which spits a ball of fire that blows up. "Fear Crusade" inspires his wolf Fylgja Fenrir (he has a massive wolf pet which is really a Zayin beast, so it is of his same race), to turn into a massive beast that really starts tearing things up. He named the guitar "Violent Resonance".. A very close friend of mine really loved the character a lot. When he was killed in Iraq, I had stopped working on the project, I was so depressed, it got so bad I had to go into the hospital because my health suffered greatly due to insomnia, this was actually this past summer. I was encouraged to get back into, and finish the project fully. I feel like a new person, and I had given the character a lot of my friend's personality... Still working the designs for the game, which will be Metroidvania style, it is sci-fi fantasy called, "Sentient Armament"... Didn't want to type this much, but the memories got to me lol.

Such an awesome content and the character process video. Want to know how the details are added, are these from references or thru imaginative approach. Although mostly it looks like it’s imaginative design and details but still thought to ask 🙂

Smashing two things together that shouldn't work? Like maybe a rabbit and a samurai/bodyguard? ;)

Very insightful thanks. Im rushing with ideas

Just want to say I'm impressed that you are doing your artwork on a small laptop computer, you have eagle eyes.

I always crack tf up when the ciao baby at the end is more obligatory and less over-embellished. Good advice though.

I'd love to hear your take on "Do people want unique and original?"

you have such a friendly voice! thanks for the tips!

Another GREAT vid!

Great work

9:50 Two things that should not exist smushed together is the entire design philosophy of the ‘Monster Hunter’ series haha!

Just saw ur video on proko!!

Man your video are full of wisdom. And helps alot. Can you share your wisdom of how to take care of your back and neck? Will highly appreciate that.

I love seeing original characters. Something that makes you go wow, look at that.

Ay yo ma dudes, I wish you all a wonderful day and that you have a nice week :)

Love your videos. Coincidentally found a copy of Creed vol 3 1 cover b that you signed

I just wanna know one thing from someone with more experience: do you ever NEED to create turnarounds? I personally dread doing turnarounds, but love doing everything else (pose sheets, expression sheets, Costume design)

I was thinking of exploring this character but the torso should be the tank, it's human thinking to separate

To answer the last question... it's an 80 percent no and a 20 percent yes. I'm doing a fan concept art series of a re-imagined Crash Bandicoot Wrath of Cortex, which was an idea I got from another video (I know it was talking about the difference between fan art and fan concept art), and decided to try applying what that video covered. I gradually applied the feedback I got to each new piece and went from around 75 likes on the first one to over 400 on the most recent one, so it seems to be working.

This guy make good art. This guy funny, I like video, I subscribe

To be fair, I wouldn't be surprised if Migelo gave Vaan his clothes. He's not entirely homeless.

I wish you could talk about the creation of the Halo characters

One quote ive always like is "they started designing him and never fucking stopped" Adding too much detail is and easy way to make people lose interest in a design

I have a big picture of a story I want to make, but do not know how to get it down on paper because, I am just desepointed by resolt. I'm not talking about drawing now, there's a plan about the planer before the picture. how can i make it structurlised before the picture? pliz does anyone have any tips?

Thorough video! What's the best and worst part of being a concept artist?

Nice 👍

I would tell you that the drawing was incredible, but I'm sure you already know it ❤️

I was telling my friend that character design is more about these smaller aesthetic details, like the shoulder rivets, oversized sludge cannon, and angular human-like face of this robot, rather than the general idea of what the character is, in this case a robot with a big goo gun, but he insisted that character design follows the same storytelling principles of stories, so the details didn't actually matter and were just the "skin" over the more generalized concept idea. I wonder how prevalent this idea is outside of character design because it made me realize that his understanding of design is very reductive.

You're a treasure.

Just do it 1k likes guys

it looks like cyborg or just futuristic and mechanic Earth Spirit hero from dota2 :D :) btw really good job, as allways Trent.

Oh it’s a water gun alright.

If you're going to design a new character, you better have that character match and designed well to the already established setting that already exist, otherwise you get the old 9 the uncanny valley effect. For example, you can't take someone like Spongebob and throw him into Dragonball because he would look strange and lovecraftian to everything around him for the setting because he frequently is designed and structured way differently than anyone in Dragonball.

Zidane fits Vaan's character better!

Good video

How long do u usually get to design a character like on average

c'mon, that's the booger gun that he's been harvesting since his childhood

what does Trent Say when he signs off each video?

Hello sir! Is there anyway to get your 2021 brushes without getting the whole box set? Thanks

how to show the history of character without comic? what you do?

Oooo manya baby chow chow…. 😅😂

Add the Super Thank You Feature Option to your Videos…!!

81 LAYERS? WHY

80+ layers is not too much?

I think the robot guy looked better with no nose iron man style. Robots don't need noses cos they don't breath.

Concept artist are character designers?

pog

how hostile is fiverr sounds like out of context question xD

What is your opinion on Painter 20XX vs. Photoshop... Is one better than the other? Why? Thank you for your time. I enjoy and appreciate your advice.

The back of character is important to me. I am picky about the back of the hair on my WoW characters. I actually have backstory for my characters, even if they are named after anime characters. The back is important to give me the feel that I am playing as that character in WoW. I noticed Mihoyo put a lot thought into the backs of their characters. Zhongli has beautiful pattern on the back of his coat. Makes extra enjoyable to play his character.

I would say, look up the definition of "character" and then look up the definition of "image".

Characters should have character. If you want to make something iconic you might need to be a little more adventurous. If you are making background fodder throw away characters that's generic and forgettable. You don't want your iconic characters to feel generic and be forgettable.

Who disliked this video!!?? 😱😱

FF12 is the best Final Fantasy!

You have a variety of tablets and u still draw on this "non-screen" thing + a laptop? Why? wtf? lol

Repent and believe the gospel! Jesus died for our sins and rose 3 days later so we could be forgiven of our sins and be gifted with everlasting life! Put your faith in Him and follow Him! Life is short, think about this. Please make the right choice today!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته أنا أختكم أمال من فلسطين من قطاع غزة أرملة عندي ولدين و بنتين ليس لنا معيل إلا الله ساكنين في غرفة على سطح منزل أهلي تضررت أثناء الحرب ساعدوني من أجل تربية أولادي أسألكم بالله يا أهل الخير أنظرولنا بعين الرحمة و الشفقة ما ألنا معيل غير الله وجزاكم الله خير الجزاء من يريد التواصل الرقم موجود في الصورة الشخصية لليوتيوب...