Tips on Making an Effective Vtuber Design

[00:00] so you've just decided on your YouTuber

[00:02] concept and hopefully that means you

[00:03] found a niche within the content

[00:04] creation world to fill and now it's time

[00:06] for the colorful flashy part of it your

[00:08] vtuber design now you might be wandering

[00:10] or worrying what is good YouTuber design

[00:12] how do you make sure your design is well

[00:15] received memorable and helps you to

[00:18] stand out amid hundreds of other

[00:19] YouTubers well I might just have some

[00:21] tips for you hi I'm EG and in my day job

[00:24] we're ITA while I work with my masters I

[00:27] just teach the animators and Fine Arts

[00:28] the future about character design which

[00:30] ultimately is what YouTuber design

[00:33] really is so for my artists out there

[00:35] I've got some ideas for you to keep in

[00:37] mind and some rough guidelines to follow

[00:38] in practice but for the not so

[00:40] artistically inclined worry not as

[00:42] learning to recognize these aspects of

[00:43] effective character design will still

[00:45] help you to make sure you're guiding any

[00:47] artist you work with in a direction that

[00:48] will be the most beneficial to you so

[00:50] real quick before we get into it do

[00:52] understand that good character design is

[00:55] almost completely subjective there is no

[00:57] wrong or right way to design but there

[00:59] are more and less effective ways of

[01:01] doing it so I usually say effective

[01:04] design as opposed to good I will also be

[01:06] using the YouTuber designs of others as

[01:08] examples I will only speak to the

[01:10] positives of ndv tuber design because I

[01:12] absolutely understand that Indie

[01:14] YouTubers are always making the absolute

[01:16] most of what resources they have and it

[01:18] would be supremely unkind of me to

[01:19] critique them for that on the other hand

[01:21] I will be speaking maybe a little bit

[01:22] more freely of corporate YouTuber

[01:24] designs as agency talents often have

[01:26] little to no control over their designs

[01:28] and ultimately it's the company's

[01:30] decision they look like for the most

[01:31] part but that said I still also will not

[01:33] be voicing much in the way of critiques

[01:34] here either because it's in poor taste

[01:36] critique the work of others when they

[01:37] have not asked you to do so alright so

[01:39] let's chat I'm gonna be breaking

[01:42] YouTuber design down into a couple of

[01:43] categories here it's gonna be color

[01:45] palette silhouette complexity versus

[01:48] Clarity focal points Motif and art style

[01:52] this isn't a list in order of importance

[01:53] or anything but it's more just a way to

[01:55] group ideas together for easier

[01:57] understanding so first is your color

[02:00] palette there are a lot of different

[02:01] kinds of palettes out there you've got

[02:03] your monochromatic analogous

[02:04] complementary and even some more other

[02:07] complicated ones as well but we'll just

[02:08] stick to the basics here monochromatic

[02:10] palettes are ones where only very

[02:11] creations and value of one color or

[02:14] present they usually lend well to mature

[02:16] refined or clean looks some Youtubers

[02:19] with monochromatic palettes include

[02:21] Monarch Selen tatsuki and eye candy

[02:24] analogous palettes are ones where colors

[02:27] next to each other in the color wheel

[02:28] are chosen they usually have a good

[02:30] sense of Harmony and tend to be a bit

[02:31] Bolder than monochromatic ones I have an

[02:34] analogous palette and some other

[02:36] Youtubers with analogous palettes

[02:37] include buff pup and Millie parfait

[02:39] complementary color palettes are ones

[02:40] with colors opposite to each other in

[02:42] the color wheel they tend to be more

[02:44] bold and energetic or higher in contrast

[02:46] usually some examples of Youtubers with

[02:48] complementary color palettes include Ena

[02:50] zentrya and kibara if you're having

[02:52] trouble picking a color palette coolers

[02:55] is a really great tool for generating

[02:56] some inspiration and you can also browse

[02:58] palettes that others have made two on

[03:00] there I'll link it below if you'd like

[03:01] so you can check it out if you're still

[03:03] having trouble looking for a simple but

[03:05] effective solution later on after a

[03:07] color palette of black white and one

[03:09] other color also works really well Fox

[03:11] is a really good example of this how all

[03:13] of luxium pretty much is so there's no

[03:15] need for a super complicated palette to

[03:17] have successful color design as you can

[03:19] see good color choices alone aren't the

[03:21] end of color design though the

[03:22] proportioning and placement of the

[03:23] colors can also make break a design and

[03:25] be just as important many designs for

[03:27] this reason abide by What's called the

[03:29] 60 30 10 rule when it comes to color

[03:31] proportioning and placement this

[03:33] guideline explains that there should be

[03:35] a dominant color given priority a second

[03:37] color given slightly less prevalence and

[03:39] an accent color reserved for focal

[03:40] points where the numbers in the name

[03:43] refer to the percentages of each color

[03:44] in the overall design this is a very

[03:46] simplified understanding of color layout

[03:48] but we can take the idea and expand it

[03:49] for a larger palette here so if I use

[03:51] entreia as an example she's probably

[03:54] roughly about like 50 black 35 Red 10

[03:57] white and five percent green does it

[04:01] make a hundred maybe this makes the

[04:02] green elements really pop and all of the

[04:04] white being concentrated in her face

[04:06] really draws your eye to it the actual

[04:08] percentages here don't matter so much

[04:10] but having a clear hierarchy in the

[04:13] amount of each color is the goal my

[04:14] other suggestion on color placement is

[04:16] what we call bottom weighting this is a

[04:18] common practice in the Fine Arts and for

[04:19] composition especially in digital art

[04:21] traditional art that's 2D but the idea

[04:23] is that by placing darker colors at the

[04:26] bottom of a design it will make it feel

[04:27] grounded this also helps to shift the

[04:30] focal point to the upper half of the

[04:31] character and off of the feet unless

[04:33] that's what you're into I guess so

[04:36] moving on uh next we're gonna talk about

[04:38] your silhouette silhouette is the shape

[04:40] of the outside edge of a character and

[04:42] you can test Yours by filling your

[04:43] design in with black and determining if

[04:45] it's distinct enough that your character

[04:46] could be identified by it alone most of

[04:48] your cartoony video game characters

[04:49] benefit from strong Silhouettes so you

[04:52] definitely can too so let's play a game

[04:54] real quick who are these guys

[04:58] if you were able to guess pikora Haruka

[05:01] and Dia you'd be right they all have

[05:03] distinct Silhouettes because of their

[05:04] hair ears clothing shapes and

[05:06] proportions Holly and Bales are also

[05:08] good examples of this the recipe for an

[05:10] effective silhouette is keeping shape

[05:12] contrast in mind this means placing

[05:14] straight lines next to curved ones on

[05:16] the exterior of the form wide parts near

[05:18] thin parts and gaps between items that

[05:20] the silhouette has some holes in it

[05:21] there are also couple pitfalls to avoid

[05:24] in slow design that I want to mention

[05:25] because I see them quite often but they

[05:27] are completely avoidable

[05:29] the first is what we call bullet head

[05:32] I remember I've heard vroid and 3D

[05:33] artists use the most but it's where the

[05:35] top of the head is completely smooth and

[05:38] the hair in the back just kind of

[05:39] connects the silhouette to the shoulders

[05:40] like a bullet not very script you can do

[05:43] better add some fly away some Trend

[05:45] rolls some shapes make the head stand

[05:47] out notice how most of my examples that

[05:49] I gave before have distinct hair shapes

[05:52] or something like ears bows or something

[05:54] else that stands out from the shape of

[05:55] the skull and that's what makes it

[05:57] successful second on the topic of hair

[05:59] is what I'd like to call the long hair

[06:01] problem

[06:02] show who this is

[06:04] well it's not actually someone specific

[06:06] that would be mean but could be any one

[06:09] of a pretty large number of YouTubers

[06:10] who have long fluffy hair that

[06:12] completely obscures their silhouette if

[06:14] the hair is a distinct shape or a very

[06:16] different color or value than the body

[06:17] in front of it this still work okay from

[06:20] a design standpoint onigiri is a good

[06:22] example of a solution to this because

[06:23] her hair while it's long does fade to a

[06:26] lighter color behind her which provides

[06:28] the illusion of her silhouette being

[06:29] that of her body and not that of her

[06:31] hair most YouTubers are also only ever

[06:33] seen from the waist up majority of the

[06:35] time so super long hair that's never

[06:37] seen isn't always really great for this

[06:39] reason either my final tip for good

[06:41] Silhouettes is related to something

[06:42] called ladder design if you draw a

[06:44] ladder next to a character and we place

[06:46] a rung at each point that there is a

[06:48] major horizontal division in the

[06:49] character it should not be one that you

[06:51] would like to climb this helps to make

[06:53] the silhouette more varied and dynamic

[06:55] things can kind of feel stiff or boring

[06:56] otherwise and often this occurs due to

[06:59] the convenience of making YouTuber

[07:00] designs symmetrical for the sake of Art

[07:02] and rigging but it can really hold a

[07:04] design back sometimes and adding just

[07:07] one element that breaks that horizontal

[07:08] movement symmetry like you know sloping

[07:10] belt or different height socks or

[07:12] something else can really help to avoid

[07:14] ladder design next we'll move on to

[07:16] complexity and Clarity which are two

[07:17] things that kind of work hand in hand

[07:19] complexity refers to the level of detail

[07:21] in the design and Clarity refers to how

[07:23] well a design reads especially when an

[07:25] image is smaller or far away there's a

[07:27] delicate balance between these ideas

[07:28] where we want your design to be detailed

[07:30] enough to be interesting but not so much

[07:32] that it's distracting if someone is

[07:33] watching your stream on their phone will

[07:35] your design hold up at that tiny scale a

[07:37] lot of YouTuber designs suffer from

[07:39] being over detailed and can become

[07:40] confusing to look at from a distance

[07:42] it'd be kind of rude to give examples

[07:44] but I'm sure you can think of designs

[07:45] that were overwhelming or confusing to

[07:47] look at because they just had too much

[07:48] going on the way I like to test whether

[07:50] design has enough Clarity is what I'd

[07:52] call the marketable plush test you draw

[07:55] a version of the character with chibi

[07:56] proportions and simplified enough shapes

[07:58] that it could be manufactured into a

[07:59] plush all while the character very

[08:01] clearly obviously retains its identity

[08:04] if not you might want to hit the drawing

[08:06] board again sometimes when I'm designing

[08:07] characters I will plushieify them and

[08:10] then reverse engineer them from that

[08:12] adding only a couple small details back

[08:13] in after just in order to make sure that

[08:15] I'm not over detailing it the second

[08:17] thing I suggest for clarity is borrowing

[08:19] from the approach of the artist who

[08:20] designed Pokemon Pokemon are usually

[08:22] intentionally designed to have clear

[08:23] simple shapes that kids can draw them or

[08:26] something that resembles them without

[08:27] too much of a struggle

[08:30] strategy that has been discussed by the

[08:31] Pokemon design teams and it's a pretty

[08:33] smart strategy fan artists can always

[08:35] make something more detailed but facing

[08:37] drawing a complicated design can be

[08:38] really intimidating especially if you

[08:40] have a younger audience or for artists

[08:41] who are newer or just starting out

[08:43] finally consistency is the last thing

[08:45] I'd suggest to keep in mind when working

[08:46] towards design Clarity consistent level

[08:48] of line weight shading detail and style

[08:51] can go a long ways for clarity avoid

[08:53] mixing lined and unlined portions solely

[08:55] cell shaded and smooth shaded sections

[08:57] and Hyper realistic and cartoony

[08:59] sections as it can make the design feel

[09:01] kind of disjointed next we'll move on to

[09:03] focal points as your V2 we're probably

[09:05] only mostly be seen from the waist up

[09:07] it's a good idea to focus your details

[09:09] and emphasis colors on this half of the

[09:11] body furthermore as people we tend to

[09:13] look for a connection in art and it's

[09:15] something we can relate to and that's

[09:17] something we usually find in the face so

[09:18] Above All Else the face especially the

[09:21] eyes eyebrows and mouth should be focal

[09:24] points especially because they are the

[09:26] key elements that you will be eventually

[09:28] using to express yourself with when you

[09:30] have a model of your design drawing

[09:31] Focus to the face can be achieved

[09:32] through things like color contrast level

[09:34] of detail and proportions color contrast

[09:37] as I mentioned before when talking about

[09:38] palettes can be a great tool for

[09:40] emphasis if you have a collar that only

[09:41] shows up on the upper half of the body

[09:43] or is mostly centered on the eyes and

[09:45] face it can work really well to draw the

[09:47] eye the Wawa and Moco are great examples

[09:49] of this they each only feature each

[09:51] other's main color in their eyes and as

[09:53] a result their eyes are kind of

[09:55] naturally a focal point to us helps us

[09:57] track their expressions and it just

[09:58] makes them feel more lively color

[09:59] 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