/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

[Anonymous No.4298317]

What makes Japanese character design appealing?

Serious question; I personally find strong appeal in designs like this and gacha games market themselves almost exclusively on the characters as an incentive to spend, but everything I've read on design seems to have a differing Western approach that goes into shape design which seems more applicable to mascots rather than waifus.

Without considering shapes and practicality, and focusing purely on aesthetics - how do designers come up with this sort of stuff? Why is one character in a dress more appealing than another?

[Anonymous No.4298323]

>>4298317
>Why is one character in a dress more appealing than another?
Appealing shapes

[Anonymous No.4298324]

>>4298317
Something i notice is that they aren't afraid to copy other artist's patterns and features, so their design advances collectively, while most western artists want to reinvent the wheel every time.
There's another, more genuine and intangible quality about their work which i can't really describe. There's a weight and care about these characters, as if the artists really got immersed in the lore they're illustrating, not just looking for the "cool factor".

In other words, S O U L

[Anonymous No.4298326]

Cute girls

[Anonymous No.4298330]

>>4298326
There's cute girls in almost every form of Japanese media, but some are notably cuter than others.

Pic related, all of these designs follow more-or-less the same line of thinking yet some clearly work better than others. What factors determine this?

[Anonymous No.4298331]

>>4298317
>What makes Japanese character design appealing?
99% of Japanese character designs are copy pasted shit that if you just change a few lines or the color of someone's eyes or clothing it becomes a new character. I say this as an anime fan with what some would consider an anime style. You're just a weeb.

>>4298324
I'd also argue most designs are soulless as fuck.

[Anonymous No.4298333]

>>4298317
also I think they use silver ratio when designing their characters but can't validate if its true cause I heard it from some anon.

[Anonymous No.4298339]

>>4298317
nips can put themselves aside to express what they create, allowing the soul to simply be, the character is unto itself

westerners are self obsessed or possessed by symbols or ideology atm, which makes them project through their art, tearing out the soul

[Anonymous No.4298351]

>>4298331
>99% of Japanese character designs are copy pasted shit that if you just change a few lines or the color of someone's eyes or clothing it becomes a new character.

You're not wrong, but I'm trying to focus on the 1% that works and the reasons why they're set apart from the rest.

[Anonymous No.4298368]

It litterally appeals to the lowest common denominator of beauty- cute girls, sexualization, innocence archetypes, lightness, soft fabrics, bright and saturated colors, etc

Litterally eye candy

It's like calart round shapes and big eyes/mouth designs, it's easy to read and appeal to a kind of symbolicism that grants easy satisfaction.

Not to spit in the soup but you guys really gotta take your head outta your ass and out the internet, the ammount of you fucks that stay in exstasy clamming "soul soul soul" over designs that are neither memorrable or intriguing or even original (as in not done a billion times), is outstanding.

Tldr animu a shit. It's perversion of beauty, shortcut into easy reward circuits.

[Anonymous No.4298372]

>>4298368
Post good character design

[Anonymous No.4298373]

>>4298317
Focus on shape design, color, composition, general aesthetics, instead of hurr durr needs moar Loomis.

[Anonymous No.4298381]

>>4298372
This is what good character design looks like.
You probably don't like it because you're afraid of challenge and real beauty that's not appealing to your opressive archetypes of beauty like cute light skinned girls. So fuck off.

[Anonymous No.4298385]

>>4298381
Oh you were just trolling, got it.

[Anonymous No.4298391]

>>4298368
>>4298381
This is the people that try to shit on anime lol

[Anonymous No.4298399]

>>4298372

>>4298372
My bad, I realized the subject of this thread was about Character designs in the industry (ie soulless by nature. You cannot mass produce soul).

Discard the entirity of the previous post as it would habe been relevant in a thread discussing "Character designs" from out the industry perspective. Seeking the finality of soul to mass sell it is an illusion. Sure some designs come closer than other if that's the question here. But fact is, the very industry's nature prevent this question from being asked.

In the industry of animation for instance character designs are best kept simple and synthetic so that animators can play with them without breaking them. Add to that mass-appealing factor and you wind up with loads of crap.

Some character design I'd find good from that point of view- Jared from Superjail (form corresponds to function, he's litterally what he looks like), that green haired cunt that does ESP from One Punch Man (skintight dress highlights natural form, the floating edges highlight her ability of flight and disdain for anything literally below her), the fact that she's short contributes to that cute dynamic, and finally maybe Xavier from Xavier Renegade Angel. He looks awful, as in designed to be awful, and by awfull I mean he literally have backward knees and dog nipples. That contributes to his oddness and the fact that can't take him seriously although he tries very hard.


Character designs from out the industry I really enjoy, I could cite most of Aubrey Beardsley's stuff

[Anonymous No.4298407]

>>4298381
this but unironically

[Anonymous No.4298413]

>>4298317
>any detail <clever detail

[Anonymous No.4298417]

>>4298391
>falling for bait
Hardly surprised.

I'll drop this for anyone that's interested in the relation of forms/appeal and hentai and degenerescence. If you can get by the gnostic philosophical undertone then you're in for a wee treat.
Take it with a grain of salt though. Won't cite my sources but you can guess where it's from.

[Anonymous No.4298421]

>>4298417
meds: Not taken.

[Anonymous No.4298423]

>>4298381
gross

ill stick to anime thanks

[Anonymous No.4298458]

>>4298381
I know you're trolling but that's unironically what most mainstream cartoon westerns aspire to.

[Anonymous No.4298470]

>>4298458
I don't know why we suck so bad at cartoons. I'm trying to think of a modern western cartoon style I like. That's not capeshit or jap style. If it exists, I hope I can find it.

[Anonymous No.4298505]

It's really about their dedication to the story, not the designs themselves. A lot of anime characters, esp girls, look the same but they end up memorable because the authors really want to tell a story and (on the surface atleast) not spread agendas like most modern western cartoons

[Anonymous No.4298519]

>>4298470
If you just look at modern mainstream stuff then yeah it's hard, but occasionally the West has produced good animation.

https://youtu.be/fYdaHaNRMKg

[Anonymous No.4298553]

>>4298470
do you even european cartoons?

[Anonymous No.4298554]

>>4298458
i mean without even trying to hate on anime, this is like way better for me personally. Made me look twice and check out the nice colors and nice shapes whereas the OP pic just immediately fell into the final fantasy style painting and didnt bother looking any further. But each to their own i guess.

[Anonymous No.4298573]

>>4298317
I think it's because they are far more free than most western artists: they just draw what they find appealing and get inspirations from everywhere.
this: >>4298330
could practically never exist in a western game because once we decide we are going for a sci-fi setting EVERYTHING has to be full sci-fi inspired. If we go medieval fantasy then everything is medieval fantasy but the japanese will just mix and match stuff like patchwork.

Our greatest designers btfo everything made in japan but they appear once in a millenia while japan makes good artists every year.

[Anonymous No.4298589]

Their artists are a huge part of the appeal, they seem to actually create what they want without fearing it'll be seen as too silly/girly

Most anime characters, especially these days, look generic and soulless but still miles better than most western stuff today

[Anonymous No.4298591]

It applies to not only chara design but on everything.

The quality of their mass is better while the quality of our elites is better because that's the way we each set our systems. We create one genius whose work everyone else copies brainlessly while japan makes a handful of above average talents who are all slightly unique.

[Anonymous No.4298601]

>>4298589
>Most anime characters, especially these days, look generic and soulless
oh no no no, that's always been the case. You've just forgotten the generic stuff of old days since it was, well, forgettable.
Granted, the isekai generation of anime stuff is reaaaally soulless

[Anonymous No.4298603]

>>4298553
oh that's right, I can say that i love Tintin. but that ain't modern.

[Anonymous No.4298611]

>>4298603
modern european works are all trash anyways. "Modern" in the current state of the BD industry means either super pretentious comics with beg level art or terrible emulation of cliche anime artstyle.

Just enjoy the golden age of Spirou and Tintin.

[Anonymous No.4298612]

>>4298324
>>4298333
Thanks, this helps!

>>4298368
>>4298381
Beauty is subjective. It's cool that you have your own opinion and views on what's appealing, but I'm looking for technical reasons why Japanese character designs have the spark and appeal they do.

>>4298399
I'm interested in Japanese character designs exclusively, as there seems to be a fair amount of literature covering Western design which adheres to different trends and principles. For instance, when designing Western characters you'll likely consider shape/silhouette and functionality but that's not the case with JP characters - I'm interested in the purely technical approach they use to come up with the things they do.

>>4298573
>>4298589
You're right, but I feel like that's only half the battle. There's definitely a lot more creative freedom with JP artists, though taking that 2B design progress - how did they settle on the design in the final game, against the other designs they came up with? How did one "click" while the others didn't, is it just gut feel and personal preference or can it be attributed to any technical aspect?

[Anonymous No.4298625]

Japan's mass just has better taste. Just go to japan EVERYTHING is aesthetic. Every color pick, every ad, even the train cards with cute mascots, everything looks good.

We make the most beautiful things in the world and we have the best artists in the world but no country is as uniformously aesthetic as japan.

[Anonymous No.4298638]

>>4298625
ye in japan even the fucking cheapest teapot looks nice. uniqlo is a fucking boon now because people are finally dressing with stuff that actually look good instead of walmart trash.

[Anonymous No.4298647]

>>4298638
Uniqlo is the most fucking basic stuff. It's sad that it's considered "good".
I'm not saying that uniqlo is bad, but it's supposed to be the very definition of "unremarkable"

[Anonymous No.4298657]

>>4298647
That's exactly the point. Japan's "bad" looks simple and good. Our "bad" looks like absolute trash. Same with food. Their "bad" is good, just unremarkable. The greatest food, the greatest clothes, the greatest monuments; they are all made by us but only a certain elite can create and enjoy them.

[Anonymous No.4298954]

>>4298317
The commonality I find is look at fashion magazines.

[Anonymous No.4298964]

>>4298954
This. Fashion is hugely relevant to anime art.

[Anonymous No.4298972]

>>4298381
based

[Anonymous No.4298977]

>>4298317
>What makes Japanese character design appealing?
You being a stupid weeb!

[Anonymous No.4299054]

>>4298317
The japanese are unrestricted.

Under western design principles that character has no right to exist, it takes influences from discordant origins, doesn't consolidate in form or concept and offends multiple sensibilities.

In Japan she just is, and that's why their entertainment industry's products are present in every country without making any attempt to promote to foreigners while America needs to spend 2x a movie's production costs on marketing to make their own people go see it.

[Anonymous No.4299091]

>>4298317
Good shapes. Sleekness, lumpniess only with purpose, sometimes big blocks for contrast (ex anime girl in space suit).

[Anonymous No.4299106]

>>4298954
>>4298964
thirding this comment about fashion

[Anonymous No.4299127]

>>4298368
The words of an ugly person.

[Anonymous No.4299132]

>>4298553
Every euro cartoon in the past 20 years has been heavily influenced by Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon.

[Anonymous No.4299138]

>>4298470
Adventure Time and Gumball were legit fresh when they started, it's not their fault they've been ripped to shreds by people who want to use cartoons as a medium to spread their cultural rot.

Before that the 90's nicktoons era with Tartakovsky and Craig Bartlett was very nice, and there were always some experimental things going around looking neat. Dreamworks also brought the Disney style to a new level briefly before throwing everything to shit with Shreck and putting us in the highway of ugliness and pop culture references forevermore.

[Anonymous No.4299154]

>>4299127
Hes right

[Anonymous No.4299552]

It's the hat and frills

[Anonymous No.4299561]

>>4298381
i can't believe i share this board with subhumans like you

[Anonymous No.4299591]

>>4298954
>>4298964
What are some good japanese fashion websites?

[Anonymous No.4299733]

>>4298381
I won't say that this is a bad example, but this is a really bad example.

First you're trying to argue that this is good design. By showing a pic where she's in a pose that make reading her design very difficult. From that pic alone, I'll assume she's about 15 heads tall, and wearing a yellow-white swimsuit with yellow gloves and white boots?

Look at other examples. They're clear and easy to read, your picture is a mess. That's a big demerit and we've not even really started speaking design yet...

so let's speak design. A good design should start a story by itself... and the japanese are very good with that. One of the reasons is their reliance on fashion and costumes/uniforms.
That's right, uniforms are fricking important. Picture a character in a cop uniform: bam, you can immediatly assume: realistic setting, police story. Add a second character with a more "rough" look and a disheveled uniform: good cop/bad cop pairing. You don't even need to think.

Look at the other examples. OP: fancy modern dress, fantasy sword. Must be an urban fantasy. That FFT sheet? rough fantasy medieval themed clothes: I'll assume heroic fantasy, bonus point if you recognised the red triangle rim on the white mage robes: that's classic final fantasy stuff and it counts as a uniform of some sort.
That 2B design sheet? elegant stuff, designed to be sexy as fuck. Immediatly makes you think of a futuristic setting (because frankly, were else would that be possible?). That Jodorowski design? Mixing science fantasy elements and nobleman attributes: most likely a dark sci fi stuff with political intrigue.

Your example? since I have no good clue, I'll assume she's either wearing a giant robot pilot suit, or she's in a hip-hop dance clip

[Anonymous No.4299747]

>>4299552
based

[Anonymous No.4299751]

>>4299552
Girl on right:
Mori fashion. A japanese kind of fashion characterized by simple, modest clothing, natural fabrics, and soft colors. Great for depiction of innocent/kind/naive characters. Litteraly translates to "forest fashion"

Girl on left: soft pink, soft blue, classic colors for kindergartner uniforms in japan. Immediatly denotes a (very) young character.

Both are cheerful. Overall analisys: they're happy and naive young girls, and it's gonna be cute.

[Surreal/Non Linear Manga No.4299757]

>>4298573
>this: >>4298330
could practically never exist in a western game because once we decide we are going for a sci-fi setting EVERYTHING has to be full sci-fi inspired. If we go medieval fantasy then everything is medieval fantasy but the japanese will just mix and match stuff like patchwork.


SO TRUE

[Anonymous No.4299763]

>>4298612
I think you greatly misunderstand what you're asking, and will never get an answer that you want. You should focus on emulating their style; the designs you likely find appealing aren't because of their design so much as how they're depicted. If you pay even a slight amount of attention you'll realize most/all the designs have a huge amount of consistencies between them, and really aren't that unique.

[Anonymous No.4299768]

>>4299552
... looking back on that one... when's the last time western media made character designs with soft colors?
I feel like western stuff is always super bright, saturated, and vivid. Like they have to catch your attention with bright stuff rather than interesting stuff...
It's made for people with attention deficit rather than curiosity.

[Anonymous No.4299786]

>>4299751
Both are psychic youkai ostracized because of their mind reading powers. Left girl represents the consciousness while the right represents the subconscious; this is represented with the eyes near their hearts. Animals however, love them.

[Anonymous No.4299799]

>>4299786
I'm not interested in Touhou's lore, I was just pointing out what could be imediatly deduced from their character designs

[Anonymous No.4299819]

>>4299799
I thought we were going to play a guessing game where you guess the designer's intent and then we contrast it with the actual description.

Kind of like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCdG14aDtiA

[Anonymous No.4299826]

>>4299786
The doujin was very cute as anon guessed.

[Anonymous No.4299843]

>>4299819
the vid is actualy pretty interesting, more than I expected. Shadowbringers character design is IMO pretty weak, because it doesn't really need to be strong, those are recurring characters that you're supposed to know already. Yet she's pretty accurate on most of them.

>>4299826
It is implied by the design. Though of course it could have been bait, going for subdued cutesy look while being a serious dark story. It happens in eastern media, think Made in Abyss, Madoka, or even Grave of the butterflies.

[Anonymous No.4299873]

ITT:
>Of course not ALL anime characters are masterpieces of design, SURE 95% are just copypasta with different hair colour, but the 5% surely are superior to the majority of western design!

This is true for literally every fucking medium. The top 5% of western character design is fucking based as well, Japanese don't have some magaic moe voodoo powers of art, you're just cooing over the top 5% of what you like.

Also worth noting that sure, cartoons and comics aren't the bastion of western character design due to their focus on a childish audience, but why stop at comparing Anime to cartoons? The peak of western character design is in movies, video games and pro personal projects.

Don't get me wrong, many of the points people are making ITT are very good, and Japanese character design DOES have its unique charms that make it stand out from western design, but the inverse is also true.

[Anonymous No.4299881]

>>4299873
I like to think of it this way, in Japan it's the top 20%, in the west it's the top 5%.

[Anonymous No.4299892]

>>4299881
That's incredibly kind, but I'm inclined to just say that the overall Anime aesthetic appeals to you, so the "pretty good" character is escalated purely by the artstyle. I wouldn't say that 20% of anime character design is excellent personally. (I mean, the percentages are arbitrary anyway, but I think generally the percentage of good:meh:bad are more or less the same.

[Anonymous No.4299901]

>>4298317
Fashion.

[Anonymous No.4299908]

>>4299892
I think the % is roughly the same, but Japan pumps more stuff out overall.
They are much quicker than westerners to trash what isn't popular or succesful

[Anonymous No.4299953]

>>4299881
In every medium we create a handful of elites and japan creates a higher level mass. It's just the difference in our education systems. Our 1% is superior to everything their 20% does but the quantity is just incomparable.

[Anonymous No.4299971]

>>4298368
>Litterally

[Anonymous No.4299977]

>>4298326
/thread

[Anonymous No.4299979]

>>4298381
So much of them fell for the bait
This board has a lot of dumbasses heh

[Anonymous No.4299988]

>>4299979
yup, it was bait, good westerner chara design pretty much doesn't exist anymore

[Anonymous No.4302651]

>>4299988
Your country can't create art when young people are too busy trying to destroy each other.