[0:00] so you've just decided on your YouTuber
[0:02] concept and hopefully that means you
[0:03] found a niche within the content
[0:04] creation world to fill and now it's time
[0:06] for the colorful flashy part of it your
[0:08] vtuber design now you might be wandering
[0:10] or worrying what is good YouTuber design
[0:12] how do you make sure your design is well
[0:15] received memorable and helps you to
[0:18] stand out amid hundreds of other
[0:19] YouTubers well I might just have some
[0:21] tips for you hi I'm EG and in my day job
[0:24] we're ITA while I work with my masters I
[0:27] just teach the animators and Fine Arts
[0:28] the future about character design which
[0:30] ultimately is what YouTuber design
[0:33] really is so for my artists out there
[0:35] I've got some ideas for you to keep in
[0:37] mind and some rough guidelines to follow
[0:38] in practice but for the not so
[0:40] artistically inclined worry not as
[0:42] learning to recognize these aspects of
[0:43] effective character design will still
[0:45] help you to make sure you're guiding any
[0:47] artist you work with in a direction that
[0:48] will be the most beneficial to you so
[0:50] real quick before we get into it do
[0:52] understand that good character design is
[0:55] almost completely subjective there is no
[0:57] wrong or right way to design but there
[0:59] are more and less effective ways of
[1:01] doing it so I usually say effective
[1:04] design as opposed to good I will also be
[1:06] using the YouTuber designs of others as
[1:08] examples I will only speak to the
[1:10] positives of ndv tuber design because I
[1:12] absolutely understand that Indie
[1:14] YouTubers are always making the absolute
[1:16] most of what resources they have and it
[1:18] would be supremely unkind of me to
[1:19] critique them for that on the other hand
[1:21] I will be speaking maybe a little bit
[1:22] more freely of corporate YouTuber
[1:24] designs as agency talents often have
[1:26] little to no control over their designs
[1:28] and ultimately it's the company's
[1:30] decision they look like for the most
[1:31] part but that said I still also will not
[1:33] be voicing much in the way of critiques
[1:34] here either because it's in poor taste
[1:36] critique the work of others when they
[1:37] have not asked you to do so alright so
[1:39] let's chat I'm gonna be breaking
[1:42] YouTuber design down into a couple of
[1:43] categories here it's gonna be color
[1:45] palette silhouette complexity versus
[1:48] Clarity focal points Motif and art style
[1:52] this isn't a list in order of importance
[1:53] or anything but it's more just a way to
[1:55] group ideas together for easier
[1:57] understanding so first is your color
[2:00] palette there are a lot of different
[2:01] kinds of palettes out there you've got
[2:03] your monochromatic analogous
[2:04] complementary and even some more other
[2:07] complicated ones as well but we'll just
[2:08] stick to the basics here monochromatic
[2:10] palettes are ones where only very
[2:11] creations and value of one color or
[2:14] present they usually lend well to mature
[2:16] refined or clean looks some Youtubers
[2:19] with monochromatic palettes include
[2:21] Monarch Selen tatsuki and eye candy
[2:24] analogous palettes are ones where colors
[2:27] next to each other in the color wheel
[2:28] are chosen they usually have a good
[2:30] sense of Harmony and tend to be a bit
[2:31] Bolder than monochromatic ones I have an
[2:34] analogous palette and some other
[2:36] Youtubers with analogous palettes
[2:37] include buff pup and Millie parfait
[2:39] complementary color palettes are ones
[2:40] with colors opposite to each other in
[2:42] the color wheel they tend to be more
[2:44] bold and energetic or higher in contrast
[2:46] usually some examples of Youtubers with
[2:48] complementary color palettes include Ena
[2:50] zentrya and kibara if you're having
[2:52] trouble picking a color palette coolers
[2:55] is a really great tool for generating
[2:56] some inspiration and you can also browse
[2:58] palettes that others have made two on
[3:00] there I'll link it below if you'd like
[3:01] so you can check it out if you're still
[3:03] having trouble looking for a simple but
[3:05] effective solution later on after a
[3:07] color palette of black white and one
[3:09] other color also works really well Fox
[3:11] is a really good example of this how all
[3:13] of luxium pretty much is so there's no
[3:15] need for a super complicated palette to
[3:17] have successful color design as you can
[3:19] see good color choices alone aren't the
[3:21] end of color design though the
[3:22] proportioning and placement of the
[3:23] colors can also make break a design and
[3:25] be just as important many designs for
[3:27] this reason abide by What's called the
[3:29] 60 30 10 rule when it comes to color
[3:31] proportioning and placement this
[3:33] guideline explains that there should be
[3:35] a dominant color given priority a second
[3:37] color given slightly less prevalence and
[3:39] an accent color reserved for focal
[3:40] points where the numbers in the name
[3:43] refer to the percentages of each color
[3:44] in the overall design this is a very
[3:46] simplified understanding of color layout
[3:48] but we can take the idea and expand it
[3:49] for a larger palette here so if I use
[3:51] entreia as an example she's probably
[3:54] roughly about like 50 black 35 Red 10
[3:57] white and five percent green does it
[4:01] make a hundred maybe this makes the
[4:02] green elements really pop and all of the
[4:04] white being concentrated in her face
[4:06] really draws your eye to it the actual
[4:08] percentages here don't matter so much
[4:10] but having a clear hierarchy in the
[4:13] amount of each color is the goal my
[4:14] other suggestion on color placement is
[4:16] what we call bottom weighting this is a
[4:18] common practice in the Fine Arts and for
[4:19] composition especially in digital art
[4:21] traditional art that's 2D but the idea
[4:23] is that by placing darker colors at the
[4:26] bottom of a design it will make it feel
[4:27] grounded this also helps to shift the
[4:30] focal point to the upper half of the
[4:31] character and off of the feet unless
[4:33] that's what you're into I guess so
[4:36] moving on uh next we're gonna talk about
[4:38] your silhouette silhouette is the shape
[4:40] of the outside edge of a character and
[4:42] you can test Yours by filling your
[4:43] design in with black and determining if
[4:45] it's distinct enough that your character
[4:46] could be identified by it alone most of
[4:48] your cartoony video game characters
[4:49] benefit from strong Silhouettes so you
[4:52] definitely can too so let's play a game
[4:54] real quick who are these guys
[4:58] if you were able to guess pikora Haruka
[5:01] and Dia you'd be right they all have
[5:03] distinct Silhouettes because of their
[5:04] hair ears clothing shapes and
[5:06] proportions Holly and Bales are also
[5:08] good examples of this the recipe for an
[5:10] effective silhouette is keeping shape
[5:12] contrast in mind this means placing
[5:14] straight lines next to curved ones on
[5:16] the exterior of the form wide parts near
[5:18] thin parts and gaps between items that
[5:20] the silhouette has some holes in it
[5:21] there are also couple pitfalls to avoid
[5:24] in slow design that I want to mention
[5:25] because I see them quite often but they
[5:27] are completely avoidable
[5:29] the first is what we call bullet head
[5:32] I remember I've heard vroid and 3D
[5:33] artists use the most but it's where the
[5:35] top of the head is completely smooth and
[5:38] the hair in the back just kind of
[5:39] connects the silhouette to the shoulders
[5:40] like a bullet not very script you can do
[5:43] better add some fly away some Trend
[5:45] rolls some shapes make the head stand
[5:47] out notice how most of my examples that
[5:49] I gave before have distinct hair shapes
[5:52] or something like ears bows or something
[5:54] else that stands out from the shape of
[5:55] the skull and that's what makes it
[5:57] successful second on the topic of hair
[5:59] is what I'd like to call the long hair
[6:01] problem
[6:02] show who this is
[6:04] well it's not actually someone specific
[6:06] that would be mean but could be any one
[6:09] of a pretty large number of YouTubers
[6:10] who have long fluffy hair that
[6:12] completely obscures their silhouette if
[6:14] the hair is a distinct shape or a very
[6:16] different color or value than the body
[6:17] in front of it this still work okay from
[6:20] a design standpoint onigiri is a good
[6:22] example of a solution to this because
[6:23] her hair while it's long does fade to a
[6:26] lighter color behind her which provides
[6:28] the illusion of her silhouette being
[6:29] that of her body and not that of her
[6:31] hair most YouTubers are also only ever
[6:33] seen from the waist up majority of the
[6:35] time so super long hair that's never
[6:37] seen isn't always really great for this
[6:39] reason either my final tip for good
[6:41] Silhouettes is related to something
[6:42] called ladder design if you draw a
[6:44] ladder next to a character and we place
[6:46] a rung at each point that there is a
[6:48] major horizontal division in the
[6:49] character it should not be one that you
[6:51] would like to climb this helps to make
[6:53] the silhouette more varied and dynamic
[6:55] things can kind of feel stiff or boring
[6:56] otherwise and often this occurs due to
[6:59] the convenience of making YouTuber
[7:00] designs symmetrical for the sake of Art
[7:02] and rigging but it can really hold a
[7:04] design back sometimes and adding just
[7:07] one element that breaks that horizontal
[7:08] movement symmetry like you know sloping
[7:10] belt or different height socks or
[7:12] something else can really help to avoid
[7:14] ladder design next we'll move on to
[7:16] complexity and Clarity which are two
[7:17] things that kind of work hand in hand
[7:19] complexity refers to the level of detail
[7:21] in the design and Clarity refers to how
[7:23] well a design reads especially when an
[7:25] image is smaller or far away there's a
[7:27] delicate balance between these ideas
[7:28] where we want your design to be detailed
[7:30] enough to be interesting but not so much
[7:32] that it's distracting if someone is
[7:33] watching your stream on their phone will
[7:35] your design hold up at that tiny scale a
[7:37] lot of YouTuber designs suffer from
[7:39] being over detailed and can become
[7:40] confusing to look at from a distance
[7:42] it'd be kind of rude to give examples
[7:44] but I'm sure you can think of designs
[7:45] that were overwhelming or confusing to
[7:47] look at because they just had too much
[7:48] going on the way I like to test whether
[7:50] design has enough Clarity is what I'd
[7:52] call the marketable plush test you draw
[7:55] a version of the character with chibi
[7:56] proportions and simplified enough shapes
[7:58] that it could be manufactured into a
[7:59] plush all while the character very
[8:01] clearly obviously retains its identity
[8:04] if not you might want to hit the drawing
[8:06] board again sometimes when I'm designing
[8:07] characters I will plushieify them and
[8:10] then reverse engineer them from that
[8:12] adding only a couple small details back
[8:13] in after just in order to make sure that
[8:15] I'm not over detailing it the second
[8:17] thing I suggest for clarity is borrowing
[8:19] from the approach of the artist who
[8:20] designed Pokemon Pokemon are usually
[8:22] intentionally designed to have clear
[8:23] simple shapes that kids can draw them or
[8:26] something that resembles them without
[8:27] too much of a struggle
[8:30] strategy that has been discussed by the
[8:31] Pokemon design teams and it's a pretty
[8:33] smart strategy fan artists can always
[8:35] make something more detailed but facing
[8:37] drawing a complicated design can be
[8:38] really intimidating especially if you
[8:40] have a younger audience or for artists
[8:41] who are newer or just starting out
[8:43] finally consistency is the last thing
[8:45] I'd suggest to keep in mind when working
[8:46] towards design Clarity consistent level
[8:48] of line weight shading detail and style
[8:51] can go a long ways for clarity avoid
[8:53] mixing lined and unlined portions solely
[8:55] cell shaded and smooth shaded sections
[8:57] and Hyper realistic and cartoony
[8:59] sections as it can make the design feel
[9:01] kind of disjointed next we'll move on to
[9:03] focal points as your V2 we're probably
[9:05] only mostly be seen from the waist up
[9:07] it's a good idea to focus your details
[9:09] and emphasis colors on this half of the
[9:11] body furthermore as people we tend to
[9:13] look for a connection in art and it's
[9:15] something we can relate to and that's
[9:17] something we usually find in the face so
[9:18] Above All Else the face especially the
[9:21] eyes eyebrows and mouth should be focal
[9:24] points especially because they are the
[9:26] key elements that you will be eventually
[9:28] using to express yourself with when you
[9:30] have a model of your design drawing
[9:31] Focus to the face can be achieved
[9:32] through things like color contrast level
[9:34] of detail and proportions color contrast
[9:37] as I mentioned before when talking about
[9:38] palettes can be a great tool for
[9:40] emphasis if you have a collar that only
[9:41] shows up on the upper half of the body
[9:43] or is mostly centered on the eyes and
[9:45] face it can work really well to draw the
[9:47] eye the Wawa and Moco are great examples
[9:49] of this they each only feature each
[9:51] other's main color in their eyes and as
[9:53] a result their eyes are kind of
[9:55] naturally a focal point to us helps us
[9:57] track their expressions and it just
[9:58] makes them feel more lively color
[9:59] contrast is also one reason that bright
[10:01] hair colors work well they pull the eye
[10:03] to the upper half of the design and they
[10:05] usually somewhat oval Gap in color where
[10:07] the face is kind of stands out as a
[10:08] result Kyo and asked are examples of
[10:10] this were their brightly colored hair
[10:12] draws our attention but it also causes
[10:14] our eyes to search for a less intense
[10:16] place to rest that being their more
[10:18] neutrally toned faces this idea is also
[10:20] part of the reason you see so many pale
[10:21] complexion characters with darker hair
[10:23] and darker complexion characters with
[10:25] lighter hair that contrast can be
[10:26] desirable in a design for these reasons
[10:28] I would highly suggest not making the
[10:30] face and hair too similar in color or
[10:32] value because having low contrast
[10:34] between them detracts from their
[10:35] emphasis and will make them more likely
[10:37] to just kind of dissolve together at a
[10:38] distance level of detail can also be
[10:40] used to emphasize different parts of
[10:42] your design for example if you have more
[10:44] of it in the character's face and items
[10:45] around the face than the rest of the
[10:46] body the viewers I will gravitate
[10:48] towards those higher detailed areas
[10:50] there's a skill often used in 2D art as
[10:52] it's a really good compositional tool if
[10:55] shoes belts or other accessories are out
[10:57] competing the face and detail level they
[10:59] may draw the eye away which isn't
[11:00] necessarily what we want we're using
[11:02] proportions as an emphasis anime style
[11:04] eyes and heads already kind of help us
[11:06] out with this the Larger than Life
[11:07] aspects like these draw our attention
[11:09] and is one of the reasons why Chibis are
[11:10] so expressive there's really not much to
[11:12] them other than their faces one thing I
[11:14] would note here though is that while
[11:16] anime styles are usually good from the
[11:18] eyes and head size some anime Styles can
[11:20] suffer from the way that they
[11:21] de-emphasize the lips and eyebrows these
[11:24] are key elements that your character
[11:25] will use to express themselves so make
[11:27] them stand out a little shading even
[11:29] just on the upper lip and eyebrows that
[11:31] are thicker than one line it can be seen
[11:33] through the hair in some way can really
[11:35] go a long way in helping a design be
[11:36] more expressive maybe think twice about
[11:39] single line lips and small mouths and
[11:41] very thin eyebrows completely hidden by
[11:42] hair next we'll move on to discussing
[11:44] motifs Motif is an element that gains
[11:46] importance and meaning through
[11:47] repetition this is usually something
[11:48] you'll hear about in your high school
[11:50] English class but it's a useful visual
[11:51] design tactic as well a lot of the most
[11:53] memorable YouTuber designs succeed
[11:55] because of this I'm going to show you my
[11:57] teeth real quick and I'm almost certain
[11:59] you'll know whose it is pretty much
[12:00] immediately
[12:02] yeah it's gargle I don't even know why I
[12:04] asked you probably know her design is so
[12:06] iconic and we've come to associate her
[12:08] so strongly with this imagery that it'll
[12:10] call her to mind all on its own one
[12:13] reason this works is because this
[12:14] imagery repeats throughout her design
[12:16] and branding it's on her logo her dress
[12:18] her hair clips and more repetition
[12:20] provides some Harmony and unity to her
[12:22] design and when we see it so many times
[12:24] it really enforces this in our minds
[12:26] this is more a little more visually
[12:27] obvious type of motif or symbol as it's
[12:29] the same exact imagery repeated with
[12:30] minimal changes but there's also a less
[12:33] obvious way of doing it if this feels
[12:34] too on the nose for you if you've seen
[12:36] my video on standing out as a YouTuber
[12:38] you probably won't be surprised to hear
[12:39] I'm bringing onigiri back as an example
[12:41] here onigiri's Motif is onigiri the food
[12:43] which is reinforced not just by her name
[12:45] but also by her color design and her
[12:47] silhouette the top of her shirt
[12:48] resembles the shape and color placement
[12:50] of onigiri as does the silhouette of her
[12:52] hair and the way the lighter inside of
[12:54] it frames her dark socks this is a much
[12:56] more subtle approach but it goes a long
[12:58] ways to make her design memorable even
[13:00] if we might not immediately realize why
[13:02] or how it
[13:03] on a motif it can be helpful to consider
[13:05] your YouTubers concept is there any kind
[13:07] of iconography that we related to their
[13:09] species occupation or personality and in
[13:12] what way can you make that iconography
[13:14] distinctly yours this is another
[13:15] opportunity to do a little bit of
[13:17] research and don't be afraid to draw
[13:19] some inspiration from some logos or
[13:21] symbols you find online but make sure
[13:23] you change them up enough for them to be
[13:24] distinctly your own finally I'd like to
[13:26] quickly mention art styles in our chat
[13:28] about character design I covered a bit
[13:29] about this in my previous video but I
[13:31] want to briefly repeat what I said
[13:32] before while the status quo on
[13:34] youtubeing is definitely your classic
[13:36] anime style models mediation with this
[13:38] idea can really help your design to
[13:40] stand out Indie YouTubers like pumpkin
[13:42] potion kimraai cabal heavenly father and
[13:45] a lot of others in my opinion at least
[13:47] are benefiting from standing apart from
[13:49] the crowd style wise you'll notice that
[13:51] these are mostly 3D YouTubers I've
[13:52] listed and that's probably because there
[13:54] are a lot more 3D artists who are well
[13:56] versed and used to working in less anime
[13:58] Styles than live 2D artists are but
[14:00] don't let this deter you even if you
[14:02] aren't interested in straying away from
[14:04] anime Styles there's still a lot of
[14:05] variation within them to think about too
[14:07] you have your softer more airbrush
[14:09] Styles like fairy Sammy and moon
[14:12] and your contrast to your cel-shaded
[14:14] Styles like Austin Starkey as you can
[14:16] see here they're so pretty really
[14:17] extreme range and anime style so don't
[14:20] be afraid to mess around or search out
[14:21] an artist who has a more distinct style
[14:23] also be a good idea to match the art
[14:24] style of your design to your concept or
[14:26] personality but you don't have to
[14:28] sometimes if they are kind of at odds
[14:30] with each other this can also be a fun
[14:31] selling point one final note on art
[14:33] styles which is only mildly tangential
[14:35] is that some of them work better or
[14:37] worse in live 2D or 3D modeling
[14:39] depending on what route you want to go
[14:40] as a v tuber there are certainly 2D and
[14:43] 3D artists who can excel in all styles
[14:45] and make lovely one-to-one models of
[14:47] anything but understand that these will
[14:50] be pricier models rightfully so higher
[14:52] levels of detail and more realistic
[14:54] styles are much more work the general
[14:56] rule of thumb is that the less realistic
[14:57] your model is the easier it usually is
[14:59] to translate well into live to do your
[15:01] 3D this is why your super stylized pixel
[15:03] art models and 2B models are so much
[15:05] more affordable most of the time too
[15:06] things that are too realistic can also
[15:08] sometimes end up feeling uncanny
[15:10] especially if they aren't modeled or
[15:11] rigged right for example like the way
[15:13] that iris's 1.0 model was ranked in
[15:15] comparison to her somewhat more
[15:16] realistic style and her soft shaded nose
[15:18] there are definitely artists who can
[15:20] bring these more complicated more
[15:21] realistic Styles but if you're looking
[15:23] to keep your budget down more stylized
[15:25] and less realistic is definitely the
[15:27] ticket there so after
[15:28] all of that you might be thinking whoa
[15:31] that's a lot and it is but here's the
[15:34] thing if you're an artist just starting
[15:35] out take it one thing at a time if you
[15:37] set out to make a design with a really
[15:39] great silhouette you can always come
[15:41] back to the color palette and beef it up
[15:42] later if it isn't feeling right to you
[15:43] learning character designs a process so
[15:45] be kind to yourself and kind of set
[15:47] goals along the way of today we're going
[15:49] to work on Silhouette and today's color
[15:50] palette you know that kind of stuff and
[15:52] if you aren't artist I found some more
[15:55] appreciation for just how much work
[15:57] artists and character designers go
[15:58] through and are doing to support their
[16:00] clients all in all I hope this video was
[16:01] helpful for you all and I hope to get
[16:03] some Wheels turned in if there are any
[16:05] more v-tubing or art related topics
[16:06] you'd like me to discuss you are welcome
[16:08] to leave me a comment if you like my new
[16:10] sense in your character design my DMs on
[16:12] Twitter or X or whatever we're calling
[16:13] it now they're always open good luck on
[16:15] your youtubing journey everyone farewell