Building Alliances - Lead 2D/ Character Designer

In this project, I was assigned the role of the Lead 2D artist focussing more on character design over environments (as that has been assigned to another team member). In this blog, I have researched the roles, responsibilities and the expectations needed to be a character designer to help me to fulfil this role in my team.

What is the role of the lead 2D artist?

The role of the 2D artist is to manage all 2D assets produces by the team ensuring each asset produced is consistent with the style of the project they're working on. It is they're job to provide feedback on the designs as well as ensure everyone is meeting the deadlines set. They work closely with all members of the project to achieve the overall vision of the project.

What is the role of a Character Designer?

A character designer is a type of concept artist who visualises and creates recognizable characters thought their anatomy, body language and facial expressions. As said by CGSpectrum, "They interpret a character's personality and physical traits from a brief into expressive illustration, using subtle cues of facial expression, pose, gesture, posture, etc". It is their job, to bring the descriptions and concepts to life! They are required to work closely with the director to get their designs approved and in some cases, they're required to produce a full turn around for the 3D artists.

Responsibilities 

• Communicating closely with team members
• Understanding the art style the characters in the project are to be draw in
• Researching the look, style and genre of the game
• Developing lots of concept art showing the character looks and design ideas
• Giving the character a clear personality through body language and unique expressions
• Create characters that are relatable and posses human traits that will engage on an audience
• Understand the characters role in the game
• Respond to feedback correctly
• Create model sheets that make sense that show the character drawn from different angles and showing different facial expressions
• Be prepared to tackle challenges and problems with the team you're working with
• Making sure you manage your time effectively and don't miss deadlines

Skills

• Strong drawing skill especially in character design
• Flexibility regarding drawing styles
• Knowledge of anatomy and zoology (Monster characters), costuming, physical settings and history related references associated with the character
• Solid awareness of facial expression, pose, posture, gesture and movement
• Visual storytelling skills
• Solid understanding of visual language (texture, colour, perspective, composition, etc)
• Good communication skills
• Technical drawing skills
• Excellent time management
• Good at working independently and as part of a team
• Proficiency in industry standard software (Photoshop, ZBrush, Maya, etc)

How will I apply these skills in my project?

Throughout this project, I plan to discuss regularly with my team members on what I expect to be completed in terms of 2D character design. This will include managing thumbnails, character sheets and turnarounds if they're required. I plan to set achievable deadlines so all our 2D assets are completed on time to allow us to move to the next stage of our project. I will try to provide detailed feedback when my teammates ask for it and to help them by giving suggestions on what they could improve. I will check to see if the style is consistent with each design my team produces.

Reference list

CGSpectrum, n.d. Character Designer [online]. CGSpectrum. Available at: https://www.cgspectrum.com/career-pathways/character-designer [Accessed 26 October 2024].

ScreenSkills, n.d. Character Designer [online]. ScreenSkills. Available at: https://www.screenskills.com/job-profiles/browse/animation/pre-production/character-designer/ [Accessed 26 October 2024].