CHARACTER DESIGN PROPORTIONS
The character’s head is used as a unit of measurement.
Exaggerating, stretching and squishing the character away from the standard naturalistic proportions will communicate something to the audience: for example, Big head and small body is often a fast read for “cute” whereas a big body and small head can communicate “strong”
Notice*** how Vanelope, and Ralph's Heads are the same size, yet each of their bodies are in different proportions to their heads. (Vanelope - 2 heads, Ralph - 4-5 headsish). This was Likely a deliberate design decision due to the close interaction between these two characters in the film - it subconsciously links them together because they feel more natural together, and it feels less awkward, for example if Vanelope is sitting on Ralph's shoulder, then their features are not bizarrely different from each other.
if you want to break away from the "Norm", you need to understand the "norm".
VARYING PROPORTION
RULE #1
when it comes to Proportions - unless you are purposefully going for a very realistic*or stiff feel, avoid equal proportions. Or in other words, ANYTHING being the same size. ORGANIZE by establishing a CLEAR BIG, MED, SMALL. Exaggerate and make it obvious, or it will fall flat and just feel "off" enough to be weird.
*In my opinion, even if you are going for a realistic feel, some exaggeration is still essential in order to feel "right". there is a natural watering down process that happens in 2d that if there is no exaggeration, things start to feel uncanny.
NO NO NO NO!
YES!
Norman Rockwell's characters are what one would term "realistic", yet see how he still varies his proportions.
There are various degrees of stylization (We will cover this more later), with Realistic on one end and Abstract or Super stylized on the other. The entire spectrum of different kinds of stylization and styles benifit from varying your proportions.
Its Called GOOD DESIGN.
Sarah Marino
Jin Kim
Wouter Tulp
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