Have you ever wondered who made all the characters that we saw on TV, in movies, or video games? Creating the look and animation of a cartoon character in a film, TV show, video game, educational video, or even advertisement is one of the responsibilities of a character designer. Character designers can also be called character illustrators or animators. Character designers develop the characters’ physical features and design their clothes or costumes, and poses.
Skills of a Character Designer
A character designer may need to possess the following skills, including:
1. Drawing skills
Drawing characters manually is one of the responsibilities of a character designer. Character designers’ job relies heavily on their drawing abilities. This is why it is necessary for character designers to be able to use drawing tools and have excellent drawing skills.
2. Creative skills
Character designers need to be able to draw almost anything, which is why they need to be creative. By being creative, they can create new and unique character concepts, and then bring out attention-grabbing characters.
3. Interpersonal and communication skills
Interaction with other creative personnel, for example, designers, animators, writers, directors, etc are bound to be done by character designers. This interaction requires them to have a good understanding of people’s different personalities.
4. Observation skills
Sharp observational skills can help character illustrators to add nuances and depth to the characters they made. This will help them make their characters more unique and memorable.
5. Anatomy skills
Character poses are one of the things a character designer must work on, which is why a good understanding of human and animal anatomy can help them illustrate their character in various positions and movements.
6. Technical skills
A character designer needs to know and have proficiency in using various design software and digital tools.
7. Time management skills
Strict deadlines for completion are one of the unavoidable challenges a character designer will meet along with their design project. This is why it is very beneficial for character designers to have good time management skills so they can deliver their final character designs on time.
Also read: Character Animation: Why It Works for Brand Communications
Benefits of Character Design for Brands
These days a lot of branding use character to do their marketing. Character animations help your marketing strategy to be creative and unique, which will attract more people to be more aware of your brand. Here are some benefits of using character animations in your branding:
1. Increase brand awareness
Characters are very enjoyable and ideal to be shared on social media. In fact, people can recall 65% of visual information for up to three days, compared to 10% of the same information presented in a plain text format, as claimed by Brain Rules. Characters can help your brand in reaching the target audiences and build their trust and awareness of your brand.
2. Humanize the brand
Character animation is customizable. You can pick a character that portrays your brand image best. Do not worry even if you have a ‘serious’ brand image, character animation might be the best choice for your brand marketing to become more fun and easier to understand. Having a character to be the spokesman of your brand will help your company to be approachable and improve communication with your clients.
3. Design brand guidelines and marketing programs
A character design helps brands in figuring out and deciding their brand guidelines and the overall architecture of the brand. This may include the colour shades of packaging boxes, where should be the logo placement, etc.
4. Increase Brand Expressions
Through creative and visual elements, such as the logo, tagline, brand colours, and the tonality of voice, a brand character helps the brand express and increase its expressions.
5. Characters are very adaptable
Whether it’s a 2D cartoon character or an animated video character, characters are very adaptable as they can fit into most marketing activities. They also help boost your brand’s marketing activity by capturing your client’s attention longer than any other marketing method can.
Also read: Reasons Why You Should Hire Cartoon Illustrators
Create Your Brand Character with Superpixel
Ready to design the unique character that will portray your brand image best? Superpixel is the right choice that will help you build your own unique character accordingly.
We are a content creation studio that helps define brands through the power of storytelling and design. Superpixel empowers brands through well-crafted 2D and 3D animation. Our character animators, illustrators, and designers believe in the power of collaboration while bringing your vision to life.
Check out a video of our character animation below that reaches more than 32,000 views.
So, what are you waiting for? Schedule a free consultation with us now and prepare yourself to join the race of digital marketing. You can also click this link to learn more about us.
