From Star Wars to Stranger Things, get inspired by famous characters from the world of animation, movies, and video games, and the artists who developed their designs
Characters are the face of any film, game, or media franchise. They’re who we follow, the role we play, or who we cheer on. From their species to their clothing, everything about a memorable character is carefully designed (usually over many iterations) by concept artists and art teams.
Here we explore ten notable character designs from recent media and media history, and the artists who played a pivotal role in bringing them to life. These character concept examples from horror series to beloved children’s animations can act as references to inspire your own ideas, but before we dive in, let’s consider what concept art for character design is.
What is character concept art?
Concept art is a developmental stage of storytelling, where artists visualize what a certain aspect of a story will look like. Specifically, a character concept means developing the exact look and feel of a character. The artist or team might start with a specific outline from a writer, for example, or they might follow a more general brief. Everything from body shape to significant motifs to colors must be considered.
The end goal is usually a model sheet or character sheet: a set of drawings which standardize the appearance of the character from multiple angles and in different poses. This sheet is then passed to other teams, such as 3D modelers, animators, and so on.
The goal is to capture the personality, background, and desires of a character, simply through how they appear and how they move.
10 examples of unforgettable character concepts
1. The cast of Star Wars, by Ralph McQuarrie
Stark compositions and minimal color palettes make iconic concept artist McQuarrie’s work instantly recognizable. He was a pioneer in sci-fi cinema, and perhaps best-known for his integral work on Star Wars.
In the above image, R2-D2 and C-3PO are immediately recognizable, with their silhouettes remaining the same all through development. Han Solo and Chewbacca, on the other hand, originally had a retro look more reminiscent of Flash Gordon as you can see pictured below. Still, even from a pencil sketch you can imagine the personalities of these characters, which remain consistent.
2. Alice in Wonderland, by Mary Blair
Sir John Tenniel originally illustrated Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865, but in the mid-1900s Disney revisited the story, trying to find a style that could reinvent it as an animated film.
Mary Blair’s concept art, with a modernist yet whimsical style, won Disney over. Though she wasn’t the original illustrator of Alice, what Blair brought was an amazing eye for color. Using surreal and alien hues, she sketched a magical world and an Alice who was both curious and mischievous.
3. Marvel’s Doctor Strange, by Karla Ortiz
Ortiz has worked broadly across the fantasy art world, for brands like Magic: The Gathering, and several Marvel movies. In this Twitter post, she explained the high level of detail that was considered for Doctor Strange, including his distinctive hand gestures that can warp reality using magic. Ortiz was instrumental in designing the look and movement of Strange’s costume.
4. The Demogorgon, by Aaron Sims Creative
The Demogorgon, a Stranger Things creature inspired by D&D, was always conceived as an unsettling bipedal monster. But it was only when the Duffer Brothers handed the process over to Aaron Sims Creative that distinctive features such as the petal-opening mouth emerged.
As explained in this interview with Formlabs, the Demogorgon was created through a mixture of practical and digital effects from the beginning, with physical maquettes and digital models all working towards a final design that could be worn as a bodysuit by a real actor.
5. The cast of Steven Universe, by Rebecca Sugar
Cartoon Network series Steven Universe won hearts for its playful, bubbly character designs and hard-hitting stories that explored relationships and mental health.
In 2011 Cartoon Network was looking for new series pitches, and Rebecca Sugar’s Steven Universe was selected. Injecting the characters and setting designs with personal experiences, Sugar and her team developed character sheets that allowed flexibility for future artists working on the show.
6. Gorillaz, by Jamie Hewlett
Character design and concepting goes beyond movies and TV, as this next project reveals. The English virtual band Gorillaz was created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett. Hewlett had risen to popularity for his comic Tank Girl, which led to creating album covers and comic strip videos for bands like Pulp.
The designs for 2-D, Noodle, Murdoc Niccals and Russel Hobbs became so iconic that in 2006 Hewlett was named Designer of the Year by the British Design Museum. His work is known for being scratchy and energetic, which imbued the band members with a punkish vibe.
7. The Dark Crystal’s Skeksis, by Brian Froud
After creating the influential fantasy art book Faeries (with Alan Lee), Brian Froud was approached by Jim Henson to design characters for his film The Dark Crystal, which has become a cult classic in the area of puppetry and practical effects and recently had a revival series on Netflix.
The below image explores the designs of the unforgettable “baddies” of the series, the Skeksis. These part-lizard, part-bird creatures seek out eternal life at the cost of all else, and the designs were reportedly inspired by the seven deadly sins.
8. K/DA costume concepts, by Jason Chan
Riot Games is known for going all-out on promotions and side projects for its popular game League of Legends, and one notable example is the virtual band K/DA. The below pre-production designs come from story development artist Jason Chan, who contributed to designing the costuming for the band members. Below is a design for Ahri, the nine-tailed fox character, showing clothing details that would help animators decide how her clothes move. You can view the full collection at Chan’s Artstation.
9. Marvel’s Scarlet Witch costume concept, by Andy Park
In this tweet, comic artist and concept designer Andy Park revealed his design for the Scarlet Witch’s suit in the finale of WandaVision on Disney+.
Throughout the series, protagonist Wanda has to face her own darkness while coping with huge personal tragedies. This suit expresses not only her newly awakened power, but her tightrope walk between good and evil.
10. Fantastic Mr. Fox line-up by Félicie Haymoz
Finally, Félicie Haymoz has become Wes Anderson’s go-to character designer, and created the human characters for the film Isle of Dogs as well as the entire cast of Fantastic Mr. Fox. This involved matching human actors to the creature that worked with their voice and mannerisms.
If you want to study Félicie’s techniques, you can learn about animal anatomy, giving your character human qualities, and interpreting a professional character brief in her Domestika course, Anthropomorphic Character Creation.
Design your own characters from scratch with these resources
1. Practice techniques to create a lively original character from scratch with Sammy Khalid's character concept art course for beginners.
2. Learn how to create memorable characters that tell a story in Even Amundsen's concept art course for character design and worldbuilding.
3. Learn more about what concept art is with this introduction.
4. Dive into more inspiration from iconic concept artist Ralph McQuarrie.
