What Makes a Character Likable?

In order to make a likable character, you need to be honest as a designer and flesh out a character with imperfections.

[yaboi]

"no one human is loved by everyone universally"

* cough * * cough*
Bob Ross

[Mekts]

Best quote about characters that i've seen XD "There is a tree, your job is to get that character up that tree, once they are up there keep throwing rocks at it."

[RealityRogue]

“But trying to tell a story with that kind of character, is impossible”
Don’t you challenge me like this. I’m going to make a story with a super radical awesome dude who loves skateboarding and soda.
But deep down he has crippling anxiety about how people think about him so he tries to be the ‘raddest’ dude there is. His sunglasses hide his tears.

[bisectro]

Greg: "If every pork-chop were perfect..."
Steven:"We wouldn't have HOT DOGS!"
That catchphrase really fits what you are teaching :)
Great vid btw
I wonder why you dont have many Subs :( ?

[neonbat]

This video is great! How quickly people toss around the words "Mary Sue" or "Gary Stu", had become discouraging.
But seeing this video really helped.

[TuesdaysArt]

In my experience, it can take months or even years to develop a character. Some characters of mine went in different directions than the ones I'd planned and I just went with it!
As for developing a character's personality, you can either start with the basics and work from there or by picking an aspect of your character (being shy, not showing their emotions, liking strawberry ice cream, their zodiac sign, etc.) and letting it snowball into something more.
With my characters, I of course started out with basic ideas for them, but I've let them just write themselves. They've become almost like real people to me and though I hardly share these characters with anyone (mainly because I don't have the skill or time to tell the story I want to tell through a webcomic and the resources to create an animated series, which I feel it'd work better as), I believe that they could be relatable and likeable to some people.

[julesroy]

ah yeah we youths be chilling with walkmans and glow sticks yo

[jessevasquez]

such an underrated channel too bad YouTube's system isn't for animators or people who need to take actual time

[maskedfoxx]

You have very sold, gentle eyes.
I feel so welcome and safe watching this.

[elvinestrella]

I'm rewatching this video

And I'm pretty sure the Emoji movie never saw this video

[peynnep]

ideas for flaws on some characters:

Main character: anger issues, powerless, lazy, plays games more than trying to still get a chance in life

Rival: feels prisoned in his/her own powers that have kept them alive when they once was about to freeze to death, balance their emotions

Best friend: trying to get ride of his arrogance as a Royal towards others

[surprisinglysurviving]

One rule that I made for myself is the following:
try to have an equal amount of good and bad traits


It really helped me making more realistic characters

[shysterling]

I tuned out immediately after he dissed glow sticks

[leilaj]

I am not yet an author but am writing a couple of stories. I was interested in the paragon character (Does good and wants to improve the world) I was interested by this and ended up making a character named Galien. He is a little see through and extreme but I tried to make him more complex. He has a tragic backstory and an interesting personality. My description i have of him as a reference is as follows

Galien, male, 19

moral, good, loyal, strong, kind, generous

shy (can't talk to others well and struggles to keep eye contact) overly trusting, overly forgiving (will remain close to abusive relations) self dislike

Was abused by parents as a boy and was rarely allowed out of house. His parents died when he was ten. He moved from home to home getting abused and kicked out. He made many friends many of whom went crazy and tried to kill him. He later ended up in a military camp where he learned to fight and read. Most of his friends made there died in combat. He is now (at time of book) a poor yet somewhat renown mercenary.

Messy dark hair, large striking green eyes, tan skin, muscular (not ripped but has obvious strength, average height, many scars from combat and childhood.

please give feedback. i want to make him likable
Edit: his best friend and counterpart is still undeveloped but she is very social and charismatic yet can be selfish.

[pinkwings]

If your interested in understanding the Mary Sue, I'd recommend reading "Ensign Sue Must Die". It's a webcomic about a stereotypical Mary Sue character on the USS Enterprise, and the story grows from there. It's a blast to read, and will only take you a few hours if your a slow reader. It shows why a Mary Sue doesn't work, and how even "bad" characters can grow and become enjoyable.

[GamingChiliHedgehog]

I love the rock wall analogy! Really helps me write my characters to make them likable and relatable. Thanks for helping people like me to write and design better characters :)

[shortycareface]

I always say that I never attempt to create "likable" characters as much as I attempt to create realistic characters.

[larilaa]

"The worst thing that you can do, though, is try to design a character that everyone will love." I can think of worse things.

[DiamondBunnyArts]

So I found this in my recommendations and, WOW! this is actually super useful I'm always looking for people and tips so I can improve my work. thanks for helping all the artists out there wanting to get better at what they do (Sooo all of 'em)

[damotoneko]

Actually, some characters made to look hip or are unflawed can actually be interesting and fun.

Like Bobobobo and Sakamoto. If they pull it off just right then it can actually be a fun character despite being a mary/gary stue.