Color in Character Designs

Introduction

As you may have noticed from previous blogs, I am a big fan of shows that use a defined color palette in order to change the meaning or atmosphere of a shot. Now where colors become even more apparent in animation is the way characters are designed to become memorable in the eyes of the audience. There’s a lot that goes into the design of a character – the design needs to be simple enough so that the animators have enough time to draw the frames, but also interesting enough that the viewer’s eyes are focused towards them.

Characters, essentially, are just a collection of personality traits placed in a certain setting, and we want the design to reflect that. For example, the character Yona from Akatsuki no Yona changes from a naive princess to a  fiery girl bent on reclaiming the throne from a usurper. Her bright red hair shows off the intensity that she can have, her earrings give off a royal impression, and her eyes are large, indicating that she is still very much a girl. Her design also includes a green cloak that hides her distinctive hair as she travels in exile (and also complements the color red). So there is quite a lot to consider when looking at a character!

Ensemble Cast

One of the most obvious ways that animation in general utilizes color is when they have to balance multiple colors. You might have noticed how in shows like Teen Titans, Beast Boy is green, Raven is purple, and Starfire is orange. Well it becomes even more apparent with larger casts when each character is essentially represented by their color. A good example of this is Mekakucity Actors:

It’s basically a rainbow over here, with each character having their unique color (although some of their hair colors have been changed to fit the scheme) and type of clothing. Coupled with the different expressions they have it’s easy to quickly assess what these characters might be like in the show. It’s even easier to identify the characters and recognize them in the show.

Color Tropes – Red and Blue Oni

As more and more anime are created, like any other medium, tropes will often pop up and different meanings will be associated with visual imagery. One good example of this is the Red Oni/Blue Oni trope that associates two closely related characters with vastly different personalities. The red symbolizes passion and defiance while blue might symbolize calmness or an intellectual person. A pretty striking visual example comes from Neon Genesis Evangelion, a show where one could say many personality tropes were popularized.

The personalities of Rei and Asuka from NGE can be pretty easily determined from their hair, one of the most prominent parts of a character’s design.

Framing

Differences of warm and cool colors can also effectively change how you look at a character. For example, Spike from Cowboy Bebop wears a dark jacket with a yellow shirt underneath that protrudes out around his face.

This effectively draws the viewer’s eyes towards his face, ensuring that they pay attention to him while he talks, for example.

Another example of good color framing in character design is in Houseki no Kuni. In real life, one major way that geologists determine a gem’s identity is from their color. It’s similar in this anime about anthropomorphic gems.

Each character wears essentially the same black and white funeral uniform scheme, deflecting the viewer’s attention from their bodies and towards their hair, which forms the majority of the gem’s identities. If instead the character’s clothing were to be shiny and flamboyant it would distract from what is really important to their character (additionally this design shows that the gems are relatively disciplined, the funeral uniform adds to the graveness of their day-to-day fighting, and it’s easier for both the manga artist and the animators to draw.

Credits:

The Role of Colour in Character and Scene Design