Costumes: the Wearable Dialog

Swizzle

Aaron Diaz, the writer of the webcomic Dresden Codak, made an interesting blog post recently about elements that go into the design of comic characters. It's a worthwhile read if you're interested in character design since a lot of the same rules that apply to comic characters also apply to game characters.

http://dresdencodak.tumblr.com/post/2413085571/costumes-the-wearable-dialog

wailingmonkey

nice one...thanks for sharing, Swizzle.

Bigjohn

Nice read. Thanks for sharing.

Vailias

Hehe it's always cool to see who shares taste in webcomics. . Read this earlier today and thought the same thing. Great reference for overall approach.

Bigjohn

Hey, anyone have any more resources like this, specifically about color schemes?

I've been looking for more information on color in general, and really enjoyed the stuff this guy wrote in the article.

I keep finding tutorials about the physics of light, how it behaves and whatnot. Which is fine, but I'm looking for something written from a production viewpoint. How to apply it to a design, that kind of stuff.

Vailias

@Bigjohn: So you're looking for design color therory?
Start with a search on Color Psychology. Most of what Mr. Diaz mentions in there is related to the psychological effects of color interaction more than the physical.

Some of it is physical, like the green of the one character's dress complementing her warmly toned skin. Thats just a standard analagous color scheme.

Also I noticed a good show for this topic today while waiting for an oil change. Watch an episode or so of "The Fresh Beat Band" on NickJr with the sound off. The overall characterization of that show is really well produced and controlled. Individuating characters in shape, motion and especially color, while keeping to an overall kid friendly happy theme.
Its impressive how they keep the characters consistent even through multiple outfit changes.