Character Lineups

First of all, just think puzzle pieces

The Incredibles:

The Croods:

"While the characters and environments have very stylized shapes, they're unified by the naturalistic textures and realistic animations they share - Whimsical creations treated very seriously." - Kristine Belson, Producer


"To Differentiate one from another, each of the Croods and Guy had been given their own shapes - squares, triangles, circles, ovals, and pears."

"From a graphics standpoint, 'You're trying to create a statement that is readily recognizable,"

"When you're making a group... Its good to have silhouettes that are very distinct from a distance too."

It's one thing to design a good character.  Designing a Great Character Lineup is another thing

While Each individual character might be well designed,  If you line up all your characters side by side you may be surprised to discover that all your characters are the same shapes and are very boring and indistinguishable from one another.

A Great Character designer can design Characters that look good on their own AND in a Lineup.

The Key to a Great Lineup is VARIATION IN SHAPE

They can Literally fit together like puzzle pieces.  If you have a tall character, than you should have a short one to compliment it.  A square? Then a round etc. etc.

This Rule should Apply and Be Foremost in your Mind, Nomatter what style you are going for.  Realistic Live action,  Cartoon, etc.

Try to Find Variation in :

The Kinds of Shapes used

The Size of Shapes Used

Variations in Big Med Small

The Frequency of Shapes used etc.

The More successful your lineup, the more colorful and memorable your characters:

The Lineup TEST - Will Your Character Design Pass?

 - Draw Each of Your Characters In about 5 Lines or Less.

1)  Your Character should have a strong enough shape language that they are recognizable even at this point of simplification - If not - FAIL

2)   Does Your Character Have more than 2 Things Common with any other Character? (A Shape the same size, Proportion, Color etc?)  If It Does - FAIL

Try It Out:  Here are some worksheets - Draw the simple shapes.  

 Did They All Pass?  

There is a huge variation in styles here, but they all consistently pass the test.  Take the Rapunzel Lineup for example - These are more realistic in their proportions, yet they are careful to keep all the shapes different. 

The Pose Doesn't Matter. The Shapes will be consistent whatever the pose. 

The Last Example Does not pass the test.  While each character is a nice design on it's own, the Lineup FAILS.  Yes, they all have different head shapes, and Yes they all have different hats etc... BUT IT IS NOT ENOUGH.  They do not have enough variety and do not pass the test.

Aside from just good Design,  A Character Lineup can also help you strengthen your character's Personalities.  Note Postures, Shape Languages etc.  A Person looking at a good Character design should be able to distinguish Heroes from Villains,  Rich from poor, Old from young, Fit from lazy etc.

While Your Characters Should Differ Interestingly one from another,  they should also live in the same world.  Think about how your characters will interact, bot physically and emotionally, and be make sure that your designs can accommodate that.

Presenting Your Line-up:

The Easy answer - Whatever Makes it look good, professional and sells your characters

You can use guidelines

You can have a simple ground plane or show simple shadows - This is essential if you have floating characters (NOTE: Ground Shadows are cast shadows, and are therefore are HARD edged)

Here are some More Examples of Nice Lineups:

Note variations in even boot or coat lengths, waist and neck lines, colors, values etc.