Character design is a big and juicy topic, and something I intend to write more about as time goes on. For now, I wanted to offer some basic insight into what goes into this component of making comics by sharing a few development pieces made as I was visualising the main character of Tangled Pines: Ziggy Williams.
Ziggy's an awkward, introverted kid, and a bit of a worrywart. Being the centre of the story, I've spent more time thinking about how to communicate his personality than any other character.
Whenever I design a new character, I look for ways to make them distinctive in their own unique ways. With central characters, I like to keep things relatively simple – not only because they're the ones I'll be drawing most often, but also because of a curious little psychological effect called masking. Essentially, this is the idea that we can project our self-image onto simple minimal faces more easily than complicated realistic ones – allowing for a stronger and more immediate emotional connection with a reader. Secondary characters – particularly antagonists – can be drawn with much more detailed features to emphasise their "otherness".
In Ziggy's case, I chose to build his facial features around a pentagon. Having less room around the upper half of his face makes his eyes appear bigger, adding weight to what can be communicated with his expressions. His mouth and nose look small in comparison, which suggests his quiet, passive nature.
His eyes are wide and reflective, and angle slightly upward to make his default expression somewhat worried. He tends to avoid direct eye contact, preferring to let his gaze wander up and around when lost in thought, or down and away when he's uncomfortable.
Ziggy's hair is quite long and messy, to the point where it sometimes covers parts of his eyes. It makes him look a bit awkward and scruffy, but he doesn't take any notice. It may not make it into the story at any point, but I always thought that he would really dislike having his hair touched, and especially detest the sensation of hair clippers – making regular haircuts an unpleasant ordeal for everyone involved.
Ziggy has a small and skinny frame, and tends to slouch and lean to one side. He prefers to dress solely for comfort, so his ordinary outfit is simple and loose-fitting. He's extremely uncomfortable in smarter clothes (especially itchy woollen jumpers) and his posture and expressions change to reflect that.
From the very earliest conception of the Aspire Project to now, Ziggy has come a long way and grown with me as I've developed my skills and settled into my style. There's a part of me that hesitates to charge forward until I know I can execute the work perfectly from every angle, but at the same time, I quite like the idea that Tangled Pines will serve to document my continuing growth for some time yet.
