You Need To Make Uglier Characters

Before y'all say anything, I hate the thumbnail too.

This isn’t about making art worse, it’s not about justifying art style. As we learn to draw things the right way, as we learn what principles make something more appealing, it’s way too easy to keep playing it safe, and erring on the side of pristine and ideal. And a lot of times, this comes from some inner motive to placate or appease, or make the character you think other people want to see. ...Let's talk about that.

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[micahjonsson]

I'm so glad you made a video about this subject! A perfect example of this is Stitch, his round shape and big eyes contrasts with the sharp claws, spikes, teeth and personality creates a beautiful character with each feature elevating the next. I've always had a problem with caricature art because it often feels like people blow up the most obvious proportions that often times feel racially insensitive and miss the subjects soul. On the flipside when I was a beginner artist I sanitized all my self portraits in fear of being perceived as less attractive. So as a rejection of that whenever I draw a self portrait I try to push the subtler less flattering features while having a conversation with elements I'd consider attractive just enough because it makes me more myself. It's only when you stop being afraid of "ugly" that you can find the deeper beauty beneath.

[artrosear]

I have chronic "make only pretty characters" syndrome, and I've always had a phobia of making them even slightly unattractive. But it's been limiting my art skills and making all my characters have same face syndrome.

You make some awesome points and I think I will try and come out of my comfort zone with character designs some more :) Thank you for the video.

[skedaddledbraincell]

Absolutely jumping for joy rn, I always forget it's ok to make things look unappealing when drawing an actual design I'll use

[bananimate]

My design teacher talks about this all the time! Not so much with character design, but with logo design, which is similar, in a way. Even if your “message” is sharp angles and diagonal lines, designs become more interesting of you throw in a little something else along with your “shape language.” This was a great video! I always love watching your stuff! :)

[sprinkletragedy]

Very happy for this video! I love flaws and "ugly" characters. I think growing up on The Land Before Time influenced me, I love how these dinos are slightly gonky. Come think of it, the 80s and 90s were really big on "ugly", like Klasky-Csupo cartoons come to mind. I wasn't into them back when but I admire that they just go out of their way to make stuff look a little rough. I feel "ugly" characters have to work harder to get sympathy from the viewer which makes it more rewarding when it works, whereas stuff meant to be overtly cute and nothing else just usually makes me go "meh". Like... it's been done. The element of awkwardness you mention is very much something I appreciate and your characters are all very appealing to me because they're layered, if that makes sense.

I'm a weirdo who thinks Barney Gumble of Simpsons fame is adorable. He probably makes me think of the dinosaurs from my youth...

[BHRaccoon]

This is excellent advice, and you handled a touchy subject well! I'm sure you never, ever mean to call any people or features 'ugly' in a direct or dehumanizing way, so it can be hard to show sketches of actual people and explain that there ARE imperfections in how our bodies or appearances look. One of my favorite phrases when it comes to this subject is "the flaw that makes the masterpiece". It's that little hint of a smile on the Mona Lisa. Something that reminds of you that you're looking at a person and not just a model.

[skittlz]

I like to think of it as needing ugly to balance out the cute. As others have said, Stitch is a great example

[Aeiouaaaaaaaaa]

I love when a perfect video to watch with my coffee drops right when I need it. I grew up surrounded by art styles and a culture than centered beautiful people (though I suppose it might be hard to find a culture that doesn’t prioritize beauty), and I think it both helped and hindered my art. I love beautiful things, and a focus on beauty helped me understand appeal, but it’s always been a push and pull in my artistic journey where I had to step away from the comfortable and allow myself to make something different so that it could feel real. Where I’m at now I’ve been thinking that I want to learn to draw truthfully first, beautifully second. Thanks for the discussion!

[acsaudiodramas]

I'm so happy, I found this video! I always enjoyed to create character with more individual features like a bigger nose, a strange skull shape, braces, imperfect teeth etc. These character just look more alive.

[lifeonthemark]

I always love your videos, but this one really hit me. I’ve been struggling with a character that looks way too safe, despite attempts to make them stand out.
This video has really made me think of iconic and beloved characters that no one would want to be. Doofenshmirtz is a prime example. He looks like it’d just feel uncomfortable to be him, but man does his design say something.
I’m gunna try spritzing my designs with some uglies from now on.

[jurtheorc]

This is why i love stuff like Oddworld and Zeno Clash. Have a look at the (fairly recent) Clash: Artifacts of Chaos and its main character Pseudo. He's awesome. I once read that the team's method of designing the protagonist for Clash was by making a bunch of designs of weird, ugly creatures that could very well be either hero *or* villain, and then let some others give their though on which looked the most heroic.
And they still ended up with a gnarly wrinkly grumpy-sore-thumb carrot-looking man with chessboard pattern bodypaint for a main character.

[manaphyshipper]

OMG thank you! Everything is looking so sanitized nowadays. Have you compared past and present Simpsons, all the character is gone, it's very sad.

[wynautwarrior]

Thanks for making this video. I was just in the middle of making a punk cat girl character and this video helped me put some more grit in her. She looks way less generic now.

[Artofcarissa]

It’s also important to apply this to both your male and female characters!

Nothings more frustrating than seeing interesting “ugly” male characters with creative choices in their design but the same body type and shape language for every female character the artist draws.

[scribblecloud]

""ugly"" features can also make characters more attractive.. i think thats like a big reason tumblr sexy men exist 😂
i cant think of a single homogenised perfectly symmetrical pretty anime boy character ive ever had a thing for unless they made up for visual blandness with an interesting character

literally the only anime character ive ever had a crush on as a teen was fkn aizawa from mha 😂
i feel like that sort of tells you everything you need to know

[AZUREPHOENIX]

I remember hearing that Pokémon do a similar things with their designs. When there's one that's meant to be cool, they always include at least one detail that's decidedly not cool. An example of this would be Garchomp and the rounded hammerhead-style protrusions on the sides of his head.

[omegapainter]

This concept is equally applicable to environment design as well. You can do "cafe sketching" with environments through google earth because those images will be largely unedited and fully panoramic. The other revelation I had from this concept of "Uglier Characters" is that it is part of a back-and forth cycle of artistic development. We both need to draw from life without personal style and with personal style, but also learn from other's styles as a way to learn how to see. I think that most of us agree that we have been doing one of these more than the other and that bringing some balance to these forces would benefit us artistically.

[markguyton]

As someone who makes character designs (but really terrified to show them), I can say that adding some odd "ugly" trait is normally meant for balancing because making something "too cute" normally ends up being uncanny or surprisingly... ugly.

Also, "forced ugly" onto a character normally has the same effect of "forced cute", no one ends up liking it. It has to make sense to be there.

[allhailringtail]

11:31 YES!!! Thank you for acknowledging TMNT Mutant Mayhem and how it embodies this idea!! I absolutely love its intentional sketchy, rough, claymation-esque, "ugly" look and it's been a great reminder to acknowledge and embrace imperfections, which sounds pretty corny but as a perfectionist there's been many times it's stopped me from creating altogether. TMNT in general has been one of the most influencial pieces of media to the way I view art and even the world, and I'm so glad you appreciate its style too! :D

[monkephrog]

I hate it when people call someone "woke" because they look average or below average in media, like how insufferable you have to be to hate people based on appearance