Activity

@the-fledgling-artist

So, I’ve actually been researching color theory and how it relates to people’s perceptions of characters(and people in general XD), and I found this cool little list of colors and how they make people view the character in both negative and positive ways:

Black
Positive: Reliability, classiness, formality, solidity
Negative: Death, darkness, unknowability

White
Positive: Purity, innocence, cleanliness, order
Negative: Isolation, emptiness

Blue
Positive: Tranquil, secure, honorable
Negative: cold, fearful, dispassionate, depressed

Green
Positive: Nurturing, eager, healthy
Negative: Envy, poison, naïveté

Purple
Positive: Noble, wealthy, spiritual
Negative: Mysterious, moody, volatile

Yellow
Positive: Joy, energy, intellect
Negative: Cowardice, irresponsibility

Red
Positive: Romance, passion, power, strength
Negative: War, violence, anger

So, as you can see, there’s many ways to interpret characters based on what color palette you use for their features and their clothing. When I look at your character, from the pose and colors, I see a person who is generally looked up to and admired by other people, and has a strong standing as a future “hero/important person”. He’s young, obviously, but I see someone who has potential to become something if he sticks with it. At the same time, his stance and the muted colors tell me he’s reserved, even a bit insecure with himself(fun fact of the day–raised hands, like his right hand, are often a sign of insecurity/shyness/self-esteem issues that comic/manga artist often use) despite the fact he’s in a position of authority. He’s not standing on the balls of his feet(and I don’t know if that’s intentional or not, but I’m gonna say it is) and he’s standing a bit closed off, with his body angled away, which leads me to believe he’s a rather silent, stoic person who doesn’t open up to other well or very often.

So if I’m reading into him correctly and that’s what you’re going for, here are a few things to take into consideration to make his design just a tad better. XD

Le boots. I can’t pin down exactly what it is about his shoes that’s throwing me off, but there’s something there. I’d recommend trying to make them a different color, simply because boots usually aren’t such a vivid blue. It draws away from his face and overall look and makes me want to study his feet, which probably wasn’t your intention. Plus, he’s lacking in browns on his lower half right now(compared to his upper half, where he has very tan skin and brown hair), and to balance out his mostly muted and cool color palette, I think brown would look nice. So maybe try that, see what it looks like, etc. XD

Weapons–you mentioned he’s a knight, so I think it would communicate “I am a knight!” better if you added some sort of weapon–a sword on his back, a more utility oriented belt(though I absolutely love how you added a tinge of red to his design with that belt, so keep that XD) with a knife or something on it, or something in that area. Right now, his clothes are honestly not really communicating to me that he’s a knight. Perhaps you could add some sort of crest to his shirt if you didn’t want to do a sword/etc? That would also help with letting people know that this isn’t just some random guy, but someone with a job and a standing in the story. Bracers on his arms would be another idea to let people know that he has some experience fighting/etc.

So. I hope my over-detailed analysis didn’t throw you off to much…. I really like his design so far, it looks very nice(plus, I love your art style!) but I think there could just be a few more things added to him to make him seem like more a real person than just a background character that’s only going to be there for a few scenes, if you know what I mean. Details really help people understand in comics or whatever you’re drawing that, “oh, this guy isn’t just an extra, he matters to the story and we should care about him.” The less details are on a character, the less important people are generally going to view them while reading a comic. (Idk if you’re actually making a comic, but still, it’s important all the way around when it comes to art lol)

Anyhow, I hope this helps, and if you have any questions about something I said, or you just want to brainstorm/etc, please feel free to @ me! I love analyzing art and chatting art. 😉