Favourite Character Design

A

Ashutosh

New member
Who is your favourite cartoon character drawing/design and why? It doesn't have to be your favourite character though, just the animation.

Ones I love are

Marvin the Martian - I love the quirkiness of the artwork, the lack of mouth, black head, I just simply love it, he's fave favourite 'look' out of the Looney Toons, also his voice makes me chuckle, but I digress.

Harley Quinn - I LOVE her costume, it's bold, covers her (unlike most female comic book characters costume), she's got presence, and has brilliant facial expressions.

Malicifant (Sleeping Beauty) - Need I say much? She IS the villian of all villians look, she's powerful, scary and impressive. Her cloak brilliantly reflects her dragon transforation and shows she's has a dragon in her personality. I love the artwork in the whole Disney film though.

Jafar (Aladdin) - same as Malicifant seeing as he's based on her.

That's all I can think of at the moment but I'm sure I'll have some more.
 
Cruella DeVil - angular, spectral, skeletal, and drop-dead glamorous. What Yzma from Emperor's New Groove wishes she could be.

Spongebob Squarepants - the Nick folks made a kitchen implement cuddly. In an industry where circles are the norm, Bob's made it clear that it's hip to be square.

Wile E. Coyote - those ears!!! Love 'em.

Yeah, Maleficent rules, especially in dragon form. Best cinematic dragon ever.


Vintage Mickey Mouse. A tight design that's a delight to the eye. It looks simple, but if you don't get those circles in exactly the right place, the cute factor dissipates. Of all cartoon characters, Mickey's probably the most abstract in design, yet he's rounder and cuter than most. My fave.

Peg - the sexy bad-girl mutt with a heart of gold from Lady and the Tramp. I just love how the Disney artists combined features from what looks like a Peke-a-poo with a faded blonde torch singer, and pulled it off so well. They even put eyeshadow on her - under the eye. A witty blend of human personality and canine physiognomy. A triumph.

Disney big cats - Shere Khan and Bagheera are unforgettable, as are Simba and Scar. The Disney style of designing jungle cats has permeated many an artist's style - just take a look at Image Comic's Lions, Tigers and Bears and you'll see what I mean. The cat designs in that series are original, yet there are touches of Disney here and there. Well, no wonder, it's a winning formula that's hard to resist.

And...that's all for now.
 
Disney seems to make the frame work of most structures of character designs, their drawings are so beautifully crafted.
 
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So simple, yet so astounding.
 
Batman- TNBA
The Joker- ROTJ flashback
Sideshow Bob- The Simpsons
Jafar- Disney's Aladdin
Goliath & Demona- Disney's Gargoyles
Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, among other Decepticons- TF G1
Azula- Avatar TLA
Daffy Duck & Bugs Bunny- Chuck Jones era
Donald Duck
Skeletor & Evil-Lyn- He-Man (2K2)
Aku- Samurai Jack
Mr. Freeze- BTAS
TMNT (2K3) & The Shredder (namely Season 1)
Slade- Teen Titans
the entire Zimverse from Invader Zim
Duckman
Daria & Jane Lane- Daria
The Maxx- The Maxx
Wonder Woman- JLU
Batman, Stalker, Curare, Shriek, Spellbinder, Inque- Batman Beyond
The Phantasm- Batman: MOTP
Tom & Jerry- H&B era
 
The Toyman- STAS
Darkseid- JL Season 2
The Justice Lords- JL S2 and JLU "Divided We Fall"
composite Luthor-Brainiac: JLU
Mystique, Magneto, Juggernaut, Storm, Nightcrawler, Rogue: X-Men Evolution
The F4 & Doom- Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes
Stinkmeaner- The Boondocks
The Monarch and Phantom Limb- The Venture Bros.
Bender- Futurama
Spidey- The Spectacular Spider-Man
Spawn- HBO's Spawn
The Blue Spirit- Avatar TLA
The Scarecrow, Penguin, & Bane- TNBA
 
I really like Disney's Television animation designs. Mainly the Gummies- Goof Troop line up. I even really liked how Bonkers looked, especially the human characters. I especially like how they gave the Lucky episodes a dirty dull toned reality, except the toons.

I also really love the Steven Speilberg Amblin/WB stylizations as well. The Humans look great and goony, the women look hot, and the toons look, as Elmyra herself would say, Cuddly Wuddly- but still a bit dangerous.

I'm also a huge fan of how the characters of Inspector Gadget looked. I just love those hollow pupil eyes. i'm trying to get that to work with my design too.

I'm a huge fan of large noses on cartoon men- Dr. Elephant on Astroboy (forget his Japanese name at the moment), Dr. Scratchensniff, Popeye... those big bulbous noses really give the characters personality.

And I hate to admit this, but I love the character designs on that new PBS show "Word World." The idea of making animal characters from letters, stylized just right... it looks pretty cool. I especially like the prop designs also being made out of letters like that. It gives it a very interresting contrast, I think.
 
I love the designs of the Goof Troop too, the 'classic' characters like Goofy, Micky, Donald etc for me are the 'perfect' design for a stereotypical cartoon, I love them
 
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