How PRO ARTISTS design characters

How do professional artists design characters? There are four main steps that many concept artists at companies like Riot Games use to design characters. I'll take you through the process I used to design this Star Guardian Sett fan skin!

0:00 - Intro
0:48 - What is appeal?
2:41 - Step 1: Research
4:15 - Step 2: Ideation
5:28 - Step 3: Iteration
7:38 - Step 4: Finalizing

My CSP pencil and brush details:

BGM:
9PM - Animal Crossing: New Horizons

[makiudon-qbgh]

sis casually made the best skin in the game just to make a tutorial, huge flex

[orb]

my creativity peaks when in the middle of a shower

[niktoizvatnikak]

⚠️WARNING
IF THIS VIDEO MADE YOU THINK ABOUT INSTALLING LOL, JUST DON'T.
NEVER PLAY LEAGUE OF LEGENDS.
THINK ABOUT YOUR LIFE, THINK ABOUT PEOPLE AROUND YOU, THINK ABOUT GRASS. LEAGUE IS NOT THE SOLUTION

[quemepartaunrayoiyo]

WAIT
WAIT

You telling me you did my new favourite skin of my boy Sett?
Superb, and it doesn't go below that. Not allowed.

[OmniNatureSmore]

The silhouette is probably one of the most important things in character designs. Most studios won’t go forward with a design that breaks the character silhouette, specially in fast moving games where visual clarity is king. Overall, a great take and contributions!

[Kaizokuking]

Idk if you knew that Sett has so many JoJo references built into his character that this just works so well. 100% WOULD BUY THIS SKIN ❤

[DeizaMando]

My imagination after hitting puberty… Boom! Gone!

[harara_art]

The fact that sett also share the save voice actor in japanese with dio makes more sense why he's so jojo coded

[kalebsithnerd]

Guts from Berserk is peak character design
I love that his design changes throughout the the story, and that his character design tells the reader about him just by the way he looks. (One eye, arm cannon, etc)
and I also think that it illustrates the different points in his life too
It's genius

[Lunatica]

Wdym this skin is a fan skin? I was ready to buy it! It's perfect <3

[WinnieBlack-RM]

Oh my- you just created my new fav Sett skin 😭

[napoleonvasquez]

Me eating good by this God/Goddess of art :sob:

Something I think you nailed it is: In Star Guardian Universe is really common to see Artist add new things to a Character's Silhouette:
Syndra's Floaty Hair, Eyepatch and Spikey Skirt
Ezreal's Shoulder fabric.
Ahri's neck piece
Miss fortune without a Hat.
Taliyah with two high buns
Rell with a Saint Seiya armor crown
Sona with Glasses
Morgana's head pieces

And in your case adding a Hat to Sett and a different iteration of the fluffy/spikey coat, and the longer hair.

that's what (imo) makes SG designs so interesting, and they even becomes the new silhouette for next skins. Like happened with Ezreal's Shoulder Fabric o Ahri's Neckpiece.

[DynamoWD]

I always found lovely how The Legend of Zelda do this within the same characters when the years pass. They all appeal to fantasy stories and have inspiration of Studio Ghibly (without being completly anime), but each iteration appeals to a different idea. One Zelda it's more simplistic, the other it's more chibi, the other it's more royalty, the other have shapes more triangular, the other it's more "dark", etc.

[cozmamosh]

2:18
The whole thing with Lovcraftian monsters is that they are constantly changing and incomprehensible, which is the opposite of appealing design. They aren't supposed to be looked at.

[rozelle]

Itto AND Sett in one of my favourite art YouTubers video??? Am I dreaming????

[Cauliflux-sama]

I've been trying to practice my character design, and this video helped a lot. So thank you for the great video as always.

[Nameless]

Bancho Sett: Looks like Jotaro
Also Bancho Sett: Sounds like Dio

*existential crisis*

edit: The Japanese VA for Sett is Takehito Koyasu. He's famous for his role as Dio which is also Jotaro's arch-nemesis.
So imagine looking like the protagonist but having the voice of the worst enemy lololol.

[ehyzen]

i wish i had some good artist friends to give me tips too like they give you... not meaning to diminish your progress, i rly love your videos and art im just envious

[UrSammich]

This design is so clean, so good. Like honestly you did a good job and I love he jojo reference.

[hagalathekido]

Sett is known as the anime guy and is heavily inspired by stuff like dragonball and jojo to begin with, in the japanese version he even has the same VA as dio.