My Pet Peeves with Vtuber Designs as an Art Educator

Hiya, I’m Iiji, and I’m a professional 3D modeler and illustrator, as well as a TA at a university teaching Drawing and Printmaking. I've got some STRONG feelings about vtuber designs.

I hope this is helpful or at least entertaining! Let me know if there are any other vtubing or art-related concepts you'd like me to cover too.

If you'd like to join my vtuber model critiques, you can enter here:

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Credits:
Stock footage: Pixabay
Vtuber background and model: Me! (:

[ParryThisCasual]

A lot of vtuber designs are always on their tippy-toes. And I can't unsee it either.

[shaunaisazombie]

That feeling when it takes a video about vtubers to find out you have apparently freakishly short arms IRL.

[mewlettia]

Additional comment! I'm bit (emphasis on a bit) of a rigger myself, and the simplicity of shading on the face is because we use skin-coloured "masks" to hide things such as the mouth. Since Live2D models are 2D, flat images, there exists a layering system. The mouth is on top of the face and there has to be a skin-coloured mask on top of the mouth to cover it for when the mouth is closed, for example. This becomes nearly impossible when dealing with a ton of gradients unless there's more textures, perhaps? But that makes the model laggier and is also a lot more work for the rigger in question. Some exceptions include things like blush, freckles, beauty marks and sweat drops, where it's usually overlayed on a higher layer anyways. I'd argue it's often more of a necessary evil than a stylistic choice.

[kiwisaga.]

Live2d rigger here. Mirrored eyes arent actually because of the art portion, when rigging we mirror the eye once we rig one of them in order to not have to rig the entire second eye to perfectly match the first. Some riggers dont fix the shine placement afterwards, but its a necessary evil.

[nightlockchatter]

Anatomy can be tricky cause some of the things that may seem unrealistic has the potential to be real. That thought really hit me when showing examples of models who had tiny hands in comparison, because I actually related to the tiny hands and thick thighs. To me that genuinely felt proportional. Maybe it's not "average", but definitely within the realm of normalcy.

[RevenantXIII]

re: proportions; its a quite common real life variation (especially for east asians, i'm one myself) for the wrist to end up above the crotch like in the examples shown, i think that's why it's prevalent in anime

[SanaBlossom]

10:33 i think the clothing of yashiro, kagami, and oliver works well with their concept because yashiro is a salaryman, kagami is a CEO, and oliver is a professor. you do have a point though.

by the way, i had fun watching you nitpick vtuber designs because of how upbeat you are!

[Loxer]

FINALLY someone mentions about tech wear designs in vtuber models

but at 10:35 i’d like to add that those examples you give make sense lore wise. those vtubers are supposed to be high schoolers, professors, and office workers

[mochiattoart]

For the stylistic consistency thing, I've been told by a vtuber designer that the simpler face makes sure the model doesn't end up looking uncanny or cheap! It's more like an easy, non-risky thing way of designing that corporate vtubers love. Especially corporate vtubers that need to match vibes with their friends.

[Kalatash]

"But with infinite money for clothes, i doubt many of us would stick with a t-shirt or sweater with jeans."

Do not underestimate my power.

[LL-udqy]

your vtuber design is a compilation of my pet peeves lmao

[zumuvtuber]

My biggest pet peeve is tails: most people don't put them where the tailbone is, but in the middle of the spine because "I don't want it to look like it's a plug" and I'm like??? 
Regarding the Live2D faces being less rendered, it's not always a stylistic choice, but also usually a technical decision. It's the part that needs the most accurate and widest range of motion so putting more layers with shadows and highlights that can accidentally overlap or feel off in certain super specific angles or toggles (especially the mouth) just means more rigging work. And the more layers you have, the bigger the chances of error. Don't get me wrong, it can be done (and done well), but it's usually not worth the effort for most people.

[waffling]

no offense to the vtuber in question but using the model at 9:50 as an example of a "not overwhelming" character design is actually insane lmao

[YKAl]

roberu from holostars is someone with really dramatic, heavy shading in the face, and it looks so awkard to me when he moves. I think the simple flat style is just easy on the eyes and works really well in motion. not that detailed rendering in the face cant work, its just a lot harder to pull off imo.

[m.i]

10:35 I think ordinary designs can actually be good, especially for the examples referenced here. The girl on the left is a sweet schoolgirl with occultish tastes, and her lore concerns how she came to be murdered and became a spirit of sorts. The whiplash between the unassuming design and the graphic lore is pretty interesting I think. 
The guy on the left is literally your ordinary tech guy. His name is even a pun for “corporate slave” (japanese slang for a worker who’s overworked by their company). He doesn’t have any otherwordly aspects, no lore, just a guy chilling and having fun. In his case his design perfectly embodies who he is, and that has helped him rope in audiences that aren’t interested in cute anime girls or hot anime guys. There are a lot of guys in their 30s who watch him, and I think he wouldn’t have been able to reach that demographic if he had a flashier design.
But then again, both of them are affiliated with Nijisanji, meaning that their brand name gets them enough exposure that people will give them a try despite their bland designs. I do agree that for indie vtubers having a memorable design that hooks people in is important.

[ilovecoffee]

If you look at the proportions of East Asians (i.e. Japanese, Koreans, and some Chinese populations), they statistically have shorter limbs and longer torsos. By western standards, these vtubers might have “incorrect” anatomy, but this is literally what we look like over here.

[Koutouhara]

Lot of neat points which I mostly agree with; my one nitpick mentioned about 8:16 on the Genshin characters -

You say they don't tell you a lot about the character but the designs absolutely do. There is a ton of symbolism in their designs. Zhongli who you showed with the various questions - is formal, tidy, and professional. He's one of the oldest deities for a country ran on contracts and business. His warm palette is because he controls the element is Geo/Earth.

So I feel it's a bit off to say their designs "don't tell you a lot" when playing the game shows the opposite due to being in context, along with their theme music and such too.
Many random reaction people will correctly guess about characters just from design and theme song only, so the design has to be onto something.

[gioji]

someone should critique YOUR design, girlie

[butterball]

Sorry, but i love the over-detailing, i love the ribbons, stickers, anything, literally anything, it's like eye-candy, it's so fun to see all the details and just appreciate the art

[Valorhammer]

Me an actual person realzing my arms a bit too short....

EDIT: also that's not fair to Ao-kun, there is a legitimate reason why she wears formal: and that is because she's a comedian trying to convince everyone that she's dandy and cool.