Cartoon Silhouettes

I have a fun game for everyone to play that could also be educational. If you click on the above image, you'll find silhouettes of 34 different cartoon characters. Even at the small size all of them should be recognizable (which in itself is an amazing feat---for the characters, and your BRAIN!). I've talked a little about character design on this blog. I wanted to test the theory that a memorable character, one that is entirely unique and original, will have some semblance of strong design. Which boils down to having contrasting shapes and forms, which in turn should reduce to a distinctive silhouette. This isn't perfectly scientific, because pop culture presence, humor, voice, and writing all play a role in constructing the perfect character. But I'm speaking purely visually.

I'm going to guess that you'll be able to identify most of them (if not all of them---depending on your familiarity with the characters). You should notice right off the bat which one's pop out the most to you. Some are recognizable, but have much more complicated shapes. Notice the variety! Especially in the somewhat limited cartoon genre.

Notice the pairs of characters I've included. If you're designing a duo---design them together. See how the negative space around the pose is crucial to making them look active and dynamic—how each character fits into the other.

Here's the take away. When you're designing a character, pay attention to the form...think about positive and negative space, and how it would translate to a silhouette. The language of cartooning lends itself to this so well, which is why so many characters become icons. It might be fun to do a quick line-up of some of our FableVision characters, to see how they stand up to the silhouette test.

Hope this was fun! Let me know your thoughts :)

UPDATE (6-23-08) I just found a great post over at Aviary by Meowza who offers a great analysis on the importance of silhouette and foundation in character design. Definitely go check it out!