10 Inspiring Character Designs

Book Cover Designs »

At SpellBrand we love cool character designs and mascot designs. We have created a ton of stunning mascot characters and mascot logos for our clients that not only look great but also create the right impact on the target audience.

In today’s branding inspiration episode, we look at the top 10 inspiring character designs that I personally love and what is good character design – anything from a kids character to a game character. Please note that these are my personal preferences (about character personality principles) and as and when I see better ones I will try and update the page. Understanding the character idea along with facial expression leads to a creating amazing character from a great character concept.

1. CHUBBY HEROES – CONCEPT ART FOR WEB GAME

I love the design style and idea of this set of chubby superheroes. Although I am not sure if this is politically correct in the sense that it may be considered that obesity is being glorified and encouraged amongst kids. But perhaps it is apt to the current left-wing ideas of being proud of one’s body etc. The characters, however, are designed very well and it looks like the web game would be fun to watch and play – if the design style is any indication.

Each unique character design shows an overweight kid with a superpower. The vibrant colors and 3D style makes the characters pop out and that is the essence of effective character design. Would make a great animated short or movie too. (source)

2. RANDOM CHARACTER DESIGN

A series of random but fun character designs by talented Chabe Escalante. The pencil work is fabulous and appears to be Disney meets manga style. The colors are vibrant and the profiling is sublime. Looking at the characters one tends to feel like either writing a story about them perhaps making an animated short!

Chabe’s character explorations are awesome. The elegant curves, expressions, style, and use of colors are beautiful. (source)

3. ROLLER DERBY – ORIGINAL CHARACTER

Concept artist and illustrator, Vicente Valentine, created these stunning character designs. The style and impact of these characters are quite huge. Reminds me of DC and Marvel comics and the level of detail and perspective is simply stunning.

The linework, shading, and color compositions give depth and dynamism to the characters making them look like they are going to jump into action at any moment. (source)

4. DC COMIC CHARACTERS IN BOMBER JACKETS

Another series of fun characters by talented Chabe Escalante makes it into this list. I simply love her illustrations! This time Chabe has explored some major DC characters and given them a fresh new perspective. She has created alternate versions of the characters, perhaps when they were young, and created a series that may actually be just ordinary your people wearing the costumes and branded bomber jackets.

Either way, Chabe’s character explorations look stunning and I would think an animated series with these characters would really take off! (source)

5. ASIAN CONNECTION CHARACTERS IN 3D

Asian Connection is a series of characters inspired by a trip to China and Japan by talented digital artist, Tano Bonfanti, who was inspired by incredible and powerful images that he then decided to create as characters. The characters look like they are from a post-apocalyptic world in perhaps 300 years from now. They seem to have bi0nic implants and cyborg-like extensions. The clothing is quite fashionable and takes inspiration from Japanese clothes such as the Kimono. The weapons are also quite bionic and look great. There is even a samurai sword.

These characters seem to be rendered in 3D and look like they can be used as inspiration for a sci-fi movie – like Ghost In The Shell. (source)

6. VINTAGE 1930’S CHARACTERS

Created by the Goodname Studio, this set of characters is one of my favorites since I love anything to do with the 30 and 40s – art deco, fashion, and steampunk. Or perhaps even the 50s and 60s! The studio’s mission was to design the characters and environments according to very specific backstories for an animation project.

The characters look very stylish and dapper. The illustration style is very similar to the project that we did for one of our clients – clean lines, slightly larger than life and very much on show. (source)

7. TBURGER CG BRAND

Now, this is a fun-looking character that would really make an impact in any marketing campaign. The t-rex rendered in 3D looks like an adult t-rex but a fun-loving one – harmless and gentle. The 3D render is very immaculate with attention to detail and the various poses have carried the integrity of the giant very well.

Designed by Gal Yosef and the Fusion Studio, the character design is a study in how to take an almost cliche icon and breathe some fresh life and perspective into it. The marketing campaign for TBurger looks well thought out and planned. (source)

8. THE AVENGERS (MARVEL) – CHARACTER DESIGN

Everyone loves Marvel characters – at least that is what I would like to think. I am a big fan and love the movies. I have seen many different versions of Marvel character illustrations around but this series by the talented Josep Solé takes the cake.

These characters are very whimsical and almost silly – with their cross-eyes and caricature-like look and feel but bring across the personality and strengths of each of the characters. Captain American kind of looks serious but you can see a sense of purpose in his eyes. Hulk looks mad as usual but his strength comes across. Iron Man looks thinner than I would like but there is a sense of style and sophistication about him. And finally, Thor looks epic with his nonchalant attitude, courage, and power. (source)

9. MAGDALENA FASHION 3D CHARACTER DESIGN

This series of characters is quite unique in the sense that they actually look more like photos than illustrations. They were created by Max Twain in Vladivostok, Russian Federation, and a combination of illustration, photography, and 3D CGI rendering. They look out of this world. With a sense of realism that is hard to achieve using CGI, Max was able to pull off a great set of character designs.

If one was not told these were CGI, it would be hard to guess they were – unless upon closer inspection. Hats off to Max! (source)

10. THE EVIL WITHIN 3D CHARACTER DESIGN

This a stunning project by Neel Kar in Woodland Hills and Sevan Kouzouian, Burbank. Others who helped develop and render the 3D sculpted data are: 3D sculpt help from Pete Novak Posing help from Stephen Eusebio 3D team – Thomas Kientzy, Bowen Jiang, Nick Gennovario, Wenyu Jiang Illustration finish – Petrol Illustration team VFX Direction – Neel Kar Art Direction – Sevan Kouzouian Creative Direction – Alan Hunter Created by Petrol Advertising.

The characters for this awesome game “The Evil Within 2” for PS4 have been designed and executed very well. Again, they look more like real characters than CGI ones – especially the ones on the cover with the white pain overlay. (source)

I wish could do a top 20 character designs or even top 30! There are so many awesome character designs including 2D and 3D characters out there that this list is perhaps very limited in scope but my intention was to showcase a wide variety of styles and design aesthetics. If you have any favorite character designs, even comic book illustrations you would like to share, please post links to them in the comments section below.