design-character-design-sheet

Design Character Design Sheet

Create a production-ready character design sheet with orthographic turnarounds, proportion guides, expression sheets, and callout details to enable consistent character reproduction across a production team.

Why This Is Best Practice

Adopted by: Disney Feature Animation, Pixar, DreamWorks, and every professional animation studio require production character design sheets (also called model sheets or character bibles) before animation begins. The Disney Nine Old Men (Thomas & Johnston, "The Illusion of Life") institutionalized model sheets in the 1930s as the solution to inconsistent character appearance across different animators. Game studios (Riot Games, Blizzard, Ubisoft) require turnaround sheets before any 3D modeling or rigging begins. Impact: Without a standardized design sheet, each artist draws the character from their own mental model — producing inconsistency across frames, scenes, or game assets. A complete character sheet is the contract between the character designer and the production team. The more detail in the sheet, the less correction is needed in production.

Steps

1. Establish character silhouette and proportions

The silhouette is the most important design element:

• Read test: does the character read clearly as a solid black silhouette? Distinctive silhouettes are memorable and communicate character type (broad shoulders = strong; small head = timid)
• Head measurement system: measure character height in head units (e.g., "6 heads tall"); mark head unit height on the sheet

Draw the base front-view standing pose first:

• Neutral, relaxed stance (A-pose or T-pose for 3D production; natural relaxed pose for 2D)
• No expression — this is the proportion reference, not a performance pose
• Include height comparison markers

2. Produce orthographic turnarounds (3–5 views)

Turnarounds show the character from multiple angles without perspective distortion:

• 3-view minimum: front, 3/4 front, side (profile)
• 5-view standard: front, 3/4 front, side, 3/4 back, back
• All views at the same scale and with alignment guides at eye level, waist, knee, and feet

Critical rule: orthographic views have no perspective foreshortening. The character is the same height in front and side view. Use horizontal alignment guides across all views simultaneously — if the belt buckle is at a certain height in the front view, it aligns exactly at the same height in the side view.

Draw costume details consistently across all views — if there's a pocket on the front-left, show its position on the back and side as well.

3. Add proportion callout details

For complex costume, accessories, or hair:

• Draw enlarged callout views of specific elements (shoe sole design, badge detail, hair structure)
• Label callout with name and scale if different from the main drawing
• Indicate materials with texture callouts or color swatches

Hair volume reference: draw the hair from the back (often the hardest angle to reproduce consistently). Mark where the hairline starts, how the volume distributes.

4. Create expression sheet (5–8 expressions)

Character expression sheets show the same face across emotional states:

• Minimum 5 expressions: neutral, happy, sad, angry, surprised
• Extended 8: add fear, disgust, determined, or character-specific expressions
• All expressions at the same scale, arranged in a grid
• Mark how specific facial features change: eyebrow position, eye shape, mouth corners, nostril flare

Caricature rule: exaggerate expression intensity to the character's style — a cartoon character's happy is more extreme than a realistic character's happy.

5. Include scale comparison and pose variations

Scale comparison: draw the character next to other main characters or a standard scale reference (door at 7', human at 5'10") to establish relative size hierarchy.

Pose variations (optional for animation): include 2–3 characteristic action poses that capture the character's movement quality — how does a heavy character hold their center of gravity vs. a nimble one?

Color reference: include a small color flat of the character with material notes (matte fabric, shiny leather, translucent skin). If the production uses a style guide, reference those colors.

6. Annotate with production notes

On the final sheet, add:

• Character name and version number (design sheets iterate)
• Date and designer name
• Key proportions in text: "Head = 25% of total height"; "Eyes sit at 2/5 from bottom of head"
• Any design constraints: "Always visible from above the waist"; "Hood always casts shadow over top third of face"

Common Mistakes

• Turnaround views with perspective: Orthographic means no vanishing points. Characters should not appear to "pop" into 3D — they should look flat and measurement-accurate across views.
• Expressions drawn at different scales: All expression heads must be the same size for comparison. Inconsistent scale makes it unclear whether a feature is changing or the scale is.
• Missing back view for hair/costume: Animators and modelers spend more time referencing the back view than most designers realize. Include it, especially for complex hair or back-specific costume elements.

When NOT to Use

• Personal art and sketchbook exploration: design sheets are production documents. For personal development, prioritize gesture, exploration, and spontaneous drawing over standardization.