VTuber Design Guide — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] So, I want to start off this stream by

[00:02] saying this is just for fun. Okay, we

[00:05] have a small disclaimer here. I'm going

[00:07] to go over a few designs and I'm

[00:09] breaking down a certain pattern I've

[00:11] noticed in a lot of YouTuber designs and

[00:13] a lot of successful VTuber designs. I'm

[00:15] not claiming my VTuber design is

[00:16] successful. Okay, I I have myself in the

[00:19] slides as well because I don't feel

[00:21] comfortable just like breaking other

[00:23] people's designs apart like I did with

[00:25] my own. So, that's just a small

[00:27] disclaimer. I'm not patting myself on

[00:29] the back here. Um, ow. If you're going

[00:31] to follow these steps, it's not

[00:32] guaranteed that you'll have a very

[00:34] successful YouTuber design. And if you

[00:36] are not following the steps, it can

[00:38] still happen that you're going to pop

[00:40] off big. And, you know, please don't

[00:41] take this the wrong way. Please don't

[00:43] twist my words. Please don't say I like

[00:46] claim to like, okay, have a set of rules

[00:48] you have to follow. But I feel like this

[00:50] can be like an interesting thing to go

[00:52] over and keep in mind cuz I've noticed a

[00:55] bunch of times that not everybody is

[00:56] like they they they sometimes don't know

[00:58] where to start or what to keep in mind

[01:00] when they want to design a YouTuber

[01:01] design. I've seen people just doing I

[01:03] don't know a persona and um then they're

[01:05] like confused why nobody you know wants

[01:08] uh to draw their design and it's like

[01:10] listen I get it because I also have a

[01:13] bad design example [music] done by

[01:15] myself at the end of the slide and I'm

[01:17] going to break down why this design is

[01:19] bad for a YouTuber but not necessarily

[01:21] bad designing in itself. Okay, so design

[01:24] can be good but it's just not the right

[01:26] medium. So let's begin. Number one,

[01:28] please keep the medium in mind. And in

[01:31] order for me to break down how to keep

[01:33] the medium in mind, okay, we're going to

[01:35] break down game characters. We have

[01:37] these characters. And don't get me

[01:39] wrong, they are amazing character

[01:40] designs. They have a lot of detail, a

[01:41] lot of culture detail in there, but it

[01:44] doesn't mean that they necessarily work

[01:46] for streaming, okay? Genshin has

[01:48] something in their characters that is

[01:50] intended for gameplay. And you notice

[01:52] that with the back of the design. Every

[01:55] character's back has a very detailed

[01:56] design or something going on that is

[01:59] important for the character to be

[02:00] viewed, you know, because most you see

[02:03] from them is from the backside because

[02:04] you're running as them and then you only

[02:06] see the character's backside. That's why

[02:08] you also have sometimes hair from a

[02:10] long-haired Genchin character that is

[02:11] split in the middle only so you can see

[02:13] the um what's it called? The vision.

[02:15] [laughter]

[02:16] But but yeah, um this design is very

[02:19] detailed, but also his colors fall very

[02:21] flat, which is something we'll notice

[02:23] when we go over the color palette thingy

[02:24] later. Um so it works for, you know,

[02:27] gaming, but it doesn't really work for

[02:29] streaming cuz you have so much [ __ ]

[02:31] going on, you don't know where to look.

[02:33] And same goes for Jean Lee. Like he has

[02:35] so much going on down here with his like

[02:37] pattern and everything, but if he were

[02:39] to be a YouTuber, everything would be

[02:41] cut off. And he doesn't really have a

[02:43] very recognizable silhouette as well.

[02:44] like it's just a dude with some hair. So

[02:47] that's why I'm saying keep the medium in

[02:49] mind. Your design isn't necessarily bad

[02:52] just because it's quote unquote bad for

[02:54] streaming if you get what I'm saying.

[02:56] Okay, because these character designs

[02:57] are very good. These are good character

[02:59] designs, but I just don't think they

[03:00] would work as good um for streaming.

[03:03] [music]

[03:04] And uh let's move on. Okay, so let's

[03:07] break down why this character works for

[03:09] streaming. First of all, she has a

[03:12] coherent color palette. Okay, we have

[03:14] the white and the black as base colors.

[03:17] And then we have puppy colors like um

[03:19] the pink and the yellow that give some

[03:22] sort of recognition. Okay, then we have

[03:25] iconic thunderbolts. I think that's what

[03:26] they're called, you know. But basically,

[03:28] her character works fine for uh

[03:31] streaming because you have a theme going

[03:34] on. She's following said theme. And even

[03:36] if you cut off this part here, you still

[03:39] see stuff that's going on for streaming

[03:41] without having to rely on the design. In

[03:44] the bottom, you have her twin tails that

[03:47] work very well for streaming. Um, you

[03:50] have these little bows that are also

[03:51] very recognizable. Yeah, we we love Leah

[03:54] here. Okay. Um, recently she also got

[03:56] more hair cuts. Uh, like she she got

[03:58] like toggles, but I didn't get the

[03:59] pictures for that, so I'm very sorry.

[04:01] And each of them are working very much

[04:03] fine for streaming. Like she's not

[04:05] overloading her design with too much

[04:07] detail because the thing is you also

[04:09] have to keep riggers in mind. Okay. Is

[04:11] that easy to read? I'm not a rigger but

[04:14] it's more so doable than doing all the

[04:16] things on DLO's uniform before cuz she

[04:19] doesn't have too many cluttered things

[04:21] on there. The design is flowing. The

[04:23] open shoulders break it up a little bit

[04:25] and it's just it it seems balanced is

[04:28] what I'm saying. Okay. Anyways, this uh

[04:30] first part will make more sense later

[04:32] on, but I'm going to go over the

[04:34] silhouette test now. So, what is the

[04:35] silhouette test? Basically, whose VTuber

[04:38] are these? Oh, wait. I'm in the way. Um,

[04:40] can you recognize these VTubers? Type in

[04:42] chat. Type in chat if you can recognize

[04:45] them. One in here is like very cute.

[04:47] Anyways, why do these silhouettes work?

[04:49] Why can you recognize these characters

[04:51] based on their silhouettes alone? You do

[04:53] not see any colors. You don't see any um

[04:56] details. You only see the shapes. These

[04:58] YouTubers, this one very

[05:00] unintentionally, worked with shapes to

[05:03] generate a design that will be

[05:04] recognizable. So, if you want to work on

[05:07] a VTuber and you have no idea where to

[05:08] start, [music] maybe start by just

[05:10] drawing a blackout silhouette. Just

[05:12] like, you know, go in, zoom out of the

[05:14] canvas, and just work with shapes.

[05:17] Shapes that you think will be

[05:18] recognizable and then later fill fill in

[05:21] the details. Okay? I feel like not many

[05:23] people keep that in mind or many people

[05:25] overlook that you should work with

[05:27] shapes in order to, you know, get a

[05:31] recognizable design going. Okay, so

[05:34] let's move on. The 40% rule. The 40%

[05:38] rule essentially ties in with the medium

[05:40] of streaming. Keep in mind like what are

[05:42] you seeing of me right now? You do not

[05:44] see my legs. You don't even see my torso

[05:46] really. Um, you only see at best 30 to

[05:50] 40% of me. Okay, so you see this

[05:53] YouTuber here, she has a very

[05:55] recognizable silhouette. Um, she would

[05:58] definitely pass the silhouette test as

[05:59] well because not only does she have

[06:01] these uh cyber bunny ear thingies and

[06:04] the rings on her hair, she also has the

[06:06] cables. So, that definitely works very

[06:09] well [music] um as a recognizable

[06:11] silhouette. And she also has these

[06:13] things that are coming off from her

[06:15] jacket which makes her overall

[06:17] silhouette very recognizable. But the

[06:19] focus of the design definitely lays

[06:21] here. That doesn't mean that this part

[06:23] of her design is boring cuz no, she put

[06:25] also a lot of thought into this uh part

[06:27] of her design. But the most important

[06:29] part of her design, this here is already

[06:31] very recognizable. She has a good

[06:33] balance like cut here with the with the

[06:35] jacket and then it breaks open to uh

[06:38] reveal like a little bit of titty cuz

[06:40] titty is very important. Basically, you

[06:42] have to focus the important and or the

[06:45] very interesting parts of your design on

[06:48] this part, the part that will people see

[06:50] the most often. I have one more example

[06:53] just because I like showing more than

[06:55] one example. But here we have the same

[06:57] thing. He would definitely pass the

[06:58] silhouette test cuz um this like the

[07:02] bunny ears and the the piercings and the

[07:04] earring he's got going on. Very

[07:06] recognizable. And again, he also has

[07:08] this um demon tail thingy. also very

[07:11] recognizable. It doesn't have too much

[07:13] going on on the leg department, which is

[07:15] fine because you don't always see the

[07:17] legs. All the action is playing here.

[07:19] Your legs can still be fancy, okay, but

[07:22] nobody's going to look at your legs when

[07:24] you stream. I'm sorry. So, now let's go

[07:26] over to color palettes. Color palettes

[07:28] is a little bit of a tricky one because

[07:30] this is not necessarily a rule you have

[07:32] to follow, okay? Like all the others,

[07:34] you don't have to do anything, I say.

[07:36] But basically, it's hard to find the

[07:37] sweet spot. So, I just figured I'll go

[07:40] over stuff I've noticed a lot of

[07:42] YouTubers, a lot of popular and

[07:44] successful YouTubers do. That is Inami

[07:46] Yoki. She's very cute. She recently had

[07:48] a red with this design. Before that, she

[07:50] had a different design, but the

[07:53] important part about her new design is

[07:55] that she still kept the same color

[07:57] palette. More or less. She never really

[07:59] stayed uh strayed away from the cyan and

[08:01] the orange. That was like always part of

[08:03] her design. And she also always had like

[08:05] white in her design. Um, so that's like

[08:08] very interesting to note that if you do

[08:10] have a color palette, it's best if you

[08:12] should, you know, kind of stick to it

[08:15] throughout your variations of designs.

[08:16] Obviously, you can do a 180 if you want

[08:19] to, but you don't need to. But

[08:20] basically, I broke down some of the

[08:22] color palette things I noticed as some

[08:24] YouTubers do. So, we have like two

[08:26] neutral colors, which is the brown and

[08:28] the white. These uh work as a base, as a

[08:31] neutral base. Then you have the accent

[08:33] color which is the gold cuz she has a

[08:35] lot of gold accents in her design. And

[08:37] then you have the two to three poppy

[08:39] colors that work to bring out um the

[08:42] life in the design because I normally

[08:44] really dislike orange as a color. Okay,

[08:46] but I cannot imagine her design without

[08:48] the orange and I feel like she made it

[08:50] work. She made me like the color. This

[08:52] is how good she was with the color

[08:54] palette. Guys, can you imagine the power

[08:56] this YouTuber holds if they can make you

[08:58] like a color? That's the importance of

[09:00] color palettes. Okay, I'm not I'm not

[09:02] trying to pat myself on the back here,

[09:03] okay? But I follow a similar um pattern

[09:06] of having two neutral colors as a base.

[09:08] I have the white as a neutral color. My

[09:10] design is mostly white. And then I have

[09:13] the red, the pinkish red and the blue as

[09:15] a poppy color working for itself cuz I

[09:18] have a lot of red in my design. Um even

[09:21] though this is my hair color, it's still

[09:23] more of an accent to the whole design.

[09:25] Okay, it works as an accent color, more

[09:26] so as a puppy color. And this one also

[09:29] has the same eye color as my same color

[09:32] as my eye. Okay, so we have a very

[09:34] balanced design. But let me tell you, my

[09:36] design wasn't always as balanced. And

[09:38] we're going to go over how I improved my

[09:40] design cuz it wasn't always that good.

[09:43] Okay [laughter]

[09:44] I really like my design. Okay, let me

[09:46] let me have that. I found out it's the

[09:48] best thing to limit yourself to max six

[09:51] colors as main colors. Obviously, your

[09:53] um small thingies uh your small uh

[09:56] details can have different colors, but

[09:58] your main colors, the one you always see

[10:01] should be kind of limited to at least

[10:03] six. Because if you have a bunch of

[10:05] colors going on, you're going to throw

[10:07] your entire design off balance. And here

[10:09] we have a good design example of

[10:11] somebody who doesn't have a lot of color

[10:13] variations going on, but it's still very

[10:15] balanced. She's not overdoing it. She

[10:17] doesn't even use a lot of different

[10:18] colors on different parts of a design

[10:20] like we saw before with Yoki cuz she has

[10:22] a brown and orange in the middle and

[10:24] then blue on top. And she doesn't even

[10:26] have that. But it still works very well.

[10:28] And again, her design is like very

[10:30] balanced cuz all the action is like

[10:31] going on here. She has those little

[10:34] octopus ear thingies. Then she has that

[10:36] bow here that uh has like a special

[10:39] pattern on it that is very cute. She

[10:40] could make merch out of this, okay, if

[10:42] she wanted to. Like it it's very

[10:44] marketable. She has the black base. Then

[10:47] she has that blue here that pops up and

[10:49] breaks up the design a little bit. And

[10:51] then she just has very neutral legs

[10:52] because nobody cares about your legs.

[10:54] And then we have Nemo. She is a very

[10:56] good artist by the way. Check her out.

[10:58] She recently started streaming as well.

[10:59] Her design also very balanced cuz you

[11:02] have the blue as the middle color and

[11:03] this one is like an accent and then she

[11:06] has the puppy color being her red cuz it

[11:08] like breaks up the design again and just

[11:11] gives a splash of color. collects have

[11:13] mainly white stockings going on with uh

[11:16] a small pattern in it. I'm very sorry I

[11:18] couldn't show it here, but it's like

[11:20] very balanced. Um and again, it's

[11:22] another neutral color to put pull the

[11:25] entire design together. Okay. Um so

[11:27] yeah, about color palettes, long story

[11:30] short, limit yourself to neutral base

[11:32] color, one or two poppy colors, maybe

[11:35] even three if you want to go that far,

[11:37] and an accent color. Don't go overboard

[11:38] with the colors, okay? um cuz it can

[11:41] throw your design off balance very

[11:42] quick. Next part, your theme, aesthetic

[11:45] or niche. If you're going to become a

[11:47] YouTuber, you know, you want to go for

[11:49] something. Some people want to go for a

[11:51] theme. In my in my case, it was mentally

[11:54] ill/ nurse. [laughter]

[11:56] Jokes aside, jokes aside. Okay. Um my

[11:58] overarching theme is uh nurse. Okay. So,

[12:02] there we have it. Uh Manha nurse. Two

[12:05] things. Okay. Let's just show the

[12:07] examples. So we have D cell uh 029 and

[12:12] we have Raza. So what we can discuss

[12:15] about them the theme you see here it's

[12:18] Tamagotchi. Uh she has the Tamagotchi

[12:20] ears. She has the egg thingies in her

[12:22] hair. She has a belt full of Tamagotchis

[12:24] a Tamagotchi wrist wrist watch. I cannot

[12:28] speak. So her theme basically Y2K

[12:31] Tamagotchi. Very recognizable for her.

[12:34] Easy zombie nurse. She's not just a

[12:37] nurse. Okay. She has uh missing body

[12:40] parts that were stitched together. She

[12:42] has ripped up clothes, missing eye,

[12:45] zombie nurse. Easy. Two things. And for

[12:47] her, plague doctor. Very easy to

[12:50] recognize. Okay. Plague and doctor. The

[12:52] mask. Even without the mask, I feel like

[12:54] you can see that she has a medical theme

[12:56] going on, which is medieval because of

[12:58] the sleeves. The sleeves are very

[12:59] medieval themed. Um and you have that

[13:02] hairstyle. I don't know how it's called.

[13:04] Also ties in very well. um you can just

[13:07] recognize it immediately because also

[13:09] her bow here has that plague doctor

[13:11] thingy. So, you know, she she has some

[13:14] gothic [ __ ] going on. Okay, but um to

[13:16] call back to other YouTubers, you

[13:18] probably know Ylesh her uh VTuber Uni.

[13:23] Easy. You recognize she's an Ooni. Uh

[13:25] then we have Bells from earlier. You

[13:28] know she's a chaotic rat. Okay, you you

[13:31] see her um design is chaotic and she's

[13:34] red. you know, she has to do with chaos

[13:36] and, you know, rats. It's like two

[13:37] things. Um because sometimes I've seen

[13:40] people being like, "Oh, I'm an evil

[13:41] overlord, demon queen, cat, alien, idol,

[13:44] uh but also a gamer, and like you have

[13:48] too many themes going on if you go for

[13:50] that. Try to limit yourself to like two

[13:52] or three themes max. Um don't go

[13:54] overboard." I saw another YouTuber, her

[13:56] her thingy is being a bat, and she chose

[13:59] a specific breed of bats, I guess. I

[14:03] forgot the name, but basically if you

[14:05] want to be a catgirl, you can be a

[14:07] normal ass catgirl or you can choose a

[14:09] specific breed of cat that has a

[14:11] specific pattern on their back and then

[14:13] you can be this specific breed of cat.

[14:16] Okay, this is how you can uh choose a

[14:18] niche inside a very broad design. So you

[14:21] don't always have to combine it with

[14:22] something if you don't want to. But I

[14:24] would uh recommend you to at least go

[14:26] for two things so you switch it up a

[14:28] little. Limit yourself. Do not go

[14:31] overboard. Sometimes less is more. Okay?

[14:34] You can still have a niche even if your

[14:36] design is broad. Cuz you may have seen a

[14:38] lot of nurse YouTubers out there, but

[14:40] how many of them are also zombies? Or

[14:42] you may have seen a lot of zombie

[14:44] YouTubers out there, but how many of

[14:45] them are also nurses, you know? Okay.

[14:47] Also, very important, please, please,

[14:50] please, please, please, please keep fan

[14:52] artists in mind. Okay, you need to keep

[14:55] fan artists in mind. Is your design good

[14:57] to be fan arted? Yes or no? Obviously,

[15:00] don't sacrifice your design for fan

[15:02] artists. But fan artists are the

[15:04] backbone of BTubers. How do you easily

[15:07] get recognition by seeing the [ __ ]

[15:09] design floating around the internet?

[15:11] Okay, so if everybody's drawing you,

[15:13] okay, everybody will at least recognize

[15:15] you even if they don't watch you. Okay,

[15:16] they they know, okay, I've seen this

[15:18] [ __ ] before, you know? So, yeah, fan

[15:20] art is very important. But let's go over

[15:22] it together, okay? Let's go over it a

[15:25] little. How beginner friendly is your

[15:26] design? Is it too complex for people to

[15:29] draw and will it resonate with people?

[15:32] Okay, I'm gonna take furries as an

[15:33] example here. Please don't hate me. But

[15:35] basically, if you gonna become a furry

[15:37] YouTuber, you have to keep in mind that

[15:39] furry is not for everybody and you will

[15:40] lose a large chunk of people who would

[15:43] maybe find you interesting just because

[15:44] of how your model looks. And that's just

[15:46] a sad reality, okay? You can have the

[15:48] most interesting personality, but if

[15:50] people are not into furry and you have a

[15:52] furry design, chances are they're not

[15:53] even going to give you the time to check

[15:54] you out. [music] And I'm not saying you

[15:56] have to like become a humanoid YouTuber.

[15:58] Do whatever you want, okay? But keep in

[16:00] mind that maybe some designs resonate

[16:04] more with people than others, okay?

[16:05] Also, another thing, if something about

[16:07] your design is forgotten or if somebody

[16:10] doesn't draw it, will it still be

[16:11] recognizable? That is very important cuz

[16:14] imagine your entire design is based off

[16:16] only um with your outfit. And if you

[16:19] then change the outfit, nobody will

[16:21] recognize you anymore. That would be

[16:22] [ __ ] sucky. Okay. So, keep in mind

[16:25] that even if somebody draws you in a

[16:27] different outfit or if something is

[16:28] forgotten about your outfit that it will

[16:31] still be recognizable. I have Okay, so

[16:33] listen. I've received over 300 fan arts

[16:36] in my time of being um of having this

[16:41] design around. Okay, I have so many fan

[16:43] arts and obviously people forgot some

[16:46] part of my design. Sometimes people

[16:47] forgot my heart. Sometimes people will

[16:49] even forget my hair dangness. Okay. Um,

[16:52] people can forget stuff. Sometimes

[16:54] people forget the colorful hair strands

[16:56] in my hair. Okay. But my design is still

[16:59] recognizable because of other stuff I've

[17:01] included in that design. Um, that's not

[17:04] a weird flex. It's not me flexing that's

[17:06] accumulating of many, many years of

[17:09] having this design around. Okay, this

[17:10] design exists since uh 2015.

[17:14] Okay, it's been Oh my god.

[17:18] Sheesh. So,

[17:22] I have this one outfit. Okay, look how

[17:26] [ __ ] detailed this is. Is it a cute

[17:28] ass outfit? I think so. Yes. Um, but

[17:31] it's it's not good for fan arts. It's

[17:34] not good for vtubing. Um, the artist and

[17:37] rigger who would have to do that would

[17:39] probably die of a stroke if they ever

[17:41] had to risk so many [ __ ] physics on

[17:43] so many [ __ ] hair clips. But yeah,

[17:45] um, there we have the test. Am I still

[17:48] recognizable? Look at me. No color,

[17:51] still recognizable. No outfit, still

[17:54] recognizable. Different hairstyle, I

[17:57] would say still recognizable. This is

[17:59] basically what I've uh tried to teach

[18:02] you guys. Um your color palette is

[18:04] important, but your BTuber needs to work

[18:06] without it. Same for your outfit. Your

[18:08] outfit is important, but your BTuber has

[18:10] to work naked as well, okay? Or else it

[18:12] might be difficult. And different

[18:13] hairstyle, it still should be

[18:16] recognizable as you, okay? And then we

[18:18] have variations. And again, I take

[18:20] Melissa Sanati as example cuz this is

[18:23] her original design, okay? And she has

[18:25] these very iconic bunnies in her hair.

[18:28] And the thing with her is if you were to

[18:30] draw her just n bunny, you would think,

[18:34] okay, that's like a normal blonde girl.

[18:37] Okay. But the thing is she always keeps

[18:39] some sort of pink in her design. She

[18:41] also um for this design um [music] she

[18:44] has the bunny ears in every iteration of

[18:46] her design. in every variation. Um, she

[18:49] has that fan thingy on both of her

[18:51] designs. It's not drawn on the ref pups

[18:52] for whatever reason, but she has it on

[18:54] her design. And the thing with this

[18:55] design, which I personally thought was

[18:57] really, really good, the ubi and the ubi

[18:59] do is literally mimicking that [ __ ]

[19:02] bunny. The ubi do mimicking the the eyes

[19:05] of the bunny and the ubi itself

[19:07] mimicking the bunny. You can't see it in

[19:09] that angle, but she still has that bunny

[19:11] as a hair clip. And this right here is a

[19:13] nod to her fan base cuz this is the mask

[19:15] of her uh sensei. But yeah, variations

[19:18] of your design should also work. So keep

[19:20] that in mind when you design your uh

[19:21] character that it can also work without

[19:23] the main outfit. And then design

[19:25] aspects. Now we're going to rip into my

[19:27] old design. Okay, this is what you all

[19:29] have been waiting for. So here we have

[19:32] my very old design that was 2016. Um it

[19:36] was a nurse uniform. I didn't have any

[19:40] good recognizable [ __ ] going on other

[19:43] than my hair. Um, keep in mind the eye

[19:45] color is still the same. Very bland.

[19:47] It's just white with a little bit of

[19:49] pink here. It's it's it's very one

[19:52] color. It's It's not very balanced at

[19:54] all. You don't have any accent color.

[19:56] You don't have anything that catches

[19:58] your eye. And of course, I overloaded my

[20:00] designs with a bunch of different hair

[20:01] clips. Hair clips that have nothing to

[20:03] do with my current like with being a

[20:05] nurse. Um the colors, why why did I put

[20:08] orange and and purple and green in my

[20:11] design? Like it's it's just it doesn't

[20:13] fit. It just doesn't fit. Not

[20:15] recognizable at all. Just not a good

[20:16] design. But here we have a little bit

[20:19] better. Okay, we we finally added some

[20:21] pop to the design. We added some

[20:23] guarders that made it a little bit

[20:24] better. Uh we added a weapon belt

[20:27] because of course I needed a weapon

[20:28] belt. But is it good for be tubing? No.

[20:31] No, it's not. It's very like bottom

[20:34] heavy. You have so much [ __ ] going on

[20:36] here. Very overloaded. Uh, also I have a

[20:38] different kind of blue that I have with

[20:39] my eyes. It's just two different kinds

[20:42] of blue. Then we have pink and pink

[20:45] again and then red. It's It's not

[20:47] balanced at all. So, what changed?

[20:51] There we go. So, this one was not bad,

[20:53] but this is how we where we are now.

[20:55] Okay. Um, we still have like we we we

[20:58] improved a lot. First of all, we unified

[21:00] the colors a little bit more. uh went

[21:03] for more puppy color. We got rid of all

[21:05] that [ __ ] [laughter]

[21:07] Um it's it's more minimalistic, but it

[21:09] still has the same vibes, if you know

[21:11] what I mean. So, let's zoom in a little.

[21:13] Okay, so first step, we decluttered my

[21:16] hair. We got rid of all that random

[21:18] [ __ ] cuz it was like literally so

[21:20] cluttered and we made it easy. We have

[21:23] two main things. It's one bandit, one

[21:25] cross. Very easy. Also, look at my eyes.

[21:28] Uh that color was unified to be more in

[21:30] that color. It's more harmonizing with

[21:32] my um hair. The hair strands are also

[21:35] more balanced out. We We just like this

[21:38] a little bit more. Okay. Also, the Hoga

[21:40] is way thicker. Um I guess that depends

[21:42] on the art style a little bit as well,

[21:44] but this little tiny thing is just What

[21:47] is that? That can be plugged out and

[21:48] removed and nobody would notice. And

[21:50] this here, if you plug it out, I die. Um

[21:53] same with the arms. Okay, you have like

[21:55] this stuff here that implies some stuff

[21:58] and we just made it a little bit more

[22:00] cohesive. Okay, we even added a little

[22:01] bit of purple, but it's not overwhelming

[22:03] in my design. But yeah, it still brings

[22:05] the same cross point across without

[22:08] being too cluttered and too full of

[22:10] [ __ ] Okay, another thing we did, we

[22:12] uh because of all the details that were

[22:14] omitted, we were able to make these

[22:17] things here um the the guards thicker.

[22:20] Um they're like now wider and balance

[22:23] out the design more. We also completely

[22:24] got rid of the buttons. So, that's also

[22:27] something because the buttons were just

[22:28] not needed if you think about it. Uh,

[22:30] and same for the legs. We unified the

[22:32] design a little bit. Instead of making

[22:34] these uh into band-aids, we now have a

[22:36] bandage design going on. We made it the

[22:38] same color as my eyes. It's not a

[22:40] different type of blue anymore that

[22:41] comes out of literally nowhere. We got

[22:43] rid of my weapon belt, which it's okay.

[22:46] I'm not allowed to have weapons on

[22:47] Twitch. Um [laughter]

[22:50] Um, nobody needs to see where I store my

[22:52] syringes, okay? I still have them. And

[22:55] we just, you know, got rid of the pink

[22:56] in that here too. We just replaced it

[22:58] with the red because why do we need two

[23:00] colors on the leg? So yeah, we just

[23:01] decluttered my design. It's now more

[23:03] harmonizing. And now now on to a bad

[23:05] design example. So this is my art. I can

[23:08] [ __ ] on it. This is not a bad character

[23:10] design for the medium it's intended to

[23:12] be in. But it would be a very bad

[23:14] character design for Vtubing. Cuz the

[23:16] thing is her silhouette, she she just

[23:18] simply fails the silhouette test. She

[23:20] would not fail it if her hair hands were

[23:22] like out. Okay, then she [music] would

[23:23] not fail it. But if her hair hands have

[23:25] to be permanently out for her to be

[23:27] recognizable, she would not work for

[23:29] streaming because she would cover the

[23:30] entire [ __ ] stream with her hair

[23:31] hands. That is like not good for Vubing.

[23:34] Um, also a color palette is uninspired

[23:36] if it comes to V2. It's literally just

[23:37] bluish black plus red. Nobody gives a

[23:40] [ __ ] about this. Nothing stands out

[23:41] about this. Like don't get me wrong, I

[23:43] like the design, okay? And she works in

[23:46] the story she's in. Cuz the thing is

[23:47] she's for my own story, okay? Um, she's

[23:50] intended to blend into the background.

[23:52] She's not intended to stand out. Her

[23:54] abilities is what have her like make her

[23:57] stand out in the plot and they are

[23:59] revealed later. So, she has to fall

[24:01] under the radar. So, in that sense, she

[24:03] works for my uh story. She works for the

[24:05] plot I've written. She would not work

[24:07] for Vtubing. She's failing the

[24:08] Silhouette test. She is failing the the

[24:11] 40% rule because she has maybe 20% going

[24:14] on here and 0% going on here. And if she

[24:17] has something going on here, she's not

[24:18] good for streaming. So, she also fails

[24:20] the medium test. She is easy to fan art,

[24:23] I guess, if you don't draw her hair

[24:25] hands. So, I guess she excels in that

[24:28] department, but everything else

[24:29] basically not really good. Not really

[24:31] good for YouTubing. So, let's conclude

[24:34] this stream, shall we? Keep in mind,

[24:36] your character will be used for

[24:37] streaming as medium. So, don't design

[24:39] something that will hinder the stream

[24:41] from being seen, aka call back to the

[24:44] hair, hands we just saw. Work with

[24:46] shapes, okay? to construct a silhouette

[24:47] silhouette that works and will be

[24:48] that works and will be recognizable even

[24:49] recognizable even without colors or

[24:50] without colors or characteristics shown.

[24:50] characteristics shown. Try to

[24:52] Try to incorporate shapes into your

[24:52] incorporate shapes into your design to

[24:54] design to make it stand out. Focus on

[24:54] make it stand out. Focus on the top half

[24:56] the top half of your design. Don't make

[24:56] of your design. Don't make it bottom

[24:58] it bottom heavy while the top stays

[24:58] heavy while the top stays empty. Okay?

[25:00] empty. Okay? The top has something to

[25:01] The top has something to have going on

[25:03] have going on there that makes people

[25:03] there that makes people want to look at

[25:04] want to look at it. And remember to go

[25:05] it. And remember to go for a balanced

[25:06] for a balanced color palette. Try to

[25:07] color palette. Try to incorporate a

[25:08] incorporate a neutral base color. Let me

[25:09] neutral base color. Let me just go in

[25:11] just go in here so you guys can

[25:11] here so you guys can screenshot if you

[25:12] screenshot if you want. So I'm going to

[25:13] want. So I'm going to become very tiny.

[25:14] become very tiny. to construct a

[25:15] Try to work with neutral base colors and

[25:17] decide on one to two poppy colors um to

[25:20] help your design stand out a little bit

[25:22] and make it recognizable. Because if I

[25:24] were to show you a color palette, the

[25:26] one of Hako's belts, okay? If I were to

[25:28] show you the red with the yellow, the

[25:29] white, the can, and the black, people

[25:32] would probably associate it with ba. So,

[25:35] your color palette also helps you and be

[25:37] recognizable. But don't only rely on

[25:39] colors to be recognizable. Okay? Make

[25:41] sure your theme is clear. So, [laughter]

[25:43] try to limit yourself and don't make

[25:45] your character a combination of 50,000

[25:48] themes at once. Okay? Remember, you can

[25:50] always go for upgrades um later on with,

[25:53] you know, like redbies with different

[25:55] lure um where you have some uh changes

[25:58] to your design. You don't always have to

[26:00] incorporate everything you like in your

[26:02] first design. You can decide on one to

[26:04] two things you like and then go for reds

[26:07] for the other stuff that maybe would

[26:09] clash with your uh current theme. Make

[26:11] sure to balance uh the details of your

[26:13] design. Keep in mind more is not always

[26:16] better. Sometimes less is more and less

[26:18] details doesn't equal it has to be

[26:21] boring. Okay? Keep a fan artist in mind.

[26:23] The vital point of your career, the more

[26:25] fan art you receive, the more viral you

[26:27] can actually go. So yeah, that was

[26:29] basically it. Um do what makes you happy

[26:31] in your design. I just hope that this

[26:34] stuff um can help people keep some

[26:37] certain things in mind when they design

[26:39] because um many people don't really know

[26:42] where to start when it comes to like a

[26:43] Ver design. They don't know what to look

[26:45] out for and design I don't know a

[26:47] persona that is like um not really

[26:50] having the the medium of tubing in mind

[26:52] and then they get disappointed that it

[26:53] doesn't really resonate with a lot of

[26:55] people because it's something very

[26:57] personal to them. Um, my design actually

[26:59] got a lot of backlash uh in the

[27:01] beginning because some people told me

[27:04] they are totally not a fan of the theme.

[27:07] Uh, they love me but they don't really

[27:09] like my design. And it was really

[27:10] crushing for me to hear at first. I was

[27:12] like, man, what what it mean, you know?

[27:15] Um, you should also try to not take this

[27:17] stuff too hard because in the end, you

[27:20] have to like your own design, okay? Um,

[27:23] you have to make sure you are

[27:25] comfortable with your design because in

[27:27] the end it'll kind of represent you

[27:29] going forward as a YouTuber. So don't

[27:31] really listen to other people when they

[27:34] say, "Oh, I don't really like your

[27:35] design, blah blah blah blah blah." And

[27:36] you're like, "Oh, but but I like it."

[27:38] Okay? Cuz you will find the people who

[27:40] like your design, okay? You'll find you

[27:42] people. It's just what I wanted to say.

[27:45] So yeah. Uh, basically, ignore

[27:47] everything I said. Do whatever you want.

[27:49] Go a [ __ ] Have fun.

[27:55] Heat. Heat.