The Psychology of Character Design
Much of how we respond to a character comes from our subconscious psychology. Some of this is rooted in nature, and some is accumulated through our reading experiences.
Body Type
One of the most predominant body stereotypes centers around weight. People who carry more weight are conceived as jolly, jovial, and avuncular. People who have less-than-standard body weight are suspect. People who are too skinny are often characterized as lazy slackers or fiendish schemers.
Even villains are less threatening when they are heavier. Of all of the Disney villains, who would you be less likely to choose to face in a dark alley — Cruella DeVille or Ursula from The Little Mermaid?
Another common body stereotype concerns a character's height. Tall people are more imposing than short people. Tall people can be threatening and even somewhat haughty. It comes through in our language: someone can't “look down their nose at you” unless they're taller than you.
Notice how the character's personality changes depending on weight and height.
Likewise, short people tend to be less of a threat. It explains the predominance of friendly short characters in fiction — from munchkins to Smurfs, from dwarves to elves. Few villains are shorter than the heroes they battle unless there are extenuating circumstances.
The presupposition of overweight people as jolly was even noted by Shakespeare, who notes in Julius Caesar: “Let me have men about me that are fat, sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights: yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; he thinks too much: such men are dangerous.”
Age and Appearance
We think of young as more attractive than old — particularly with females. Many have linked this to the psychology of human sexuality. Speaking strictly in terms of propagating the human species, a younger woman is a more “valuable” mate in terms of the number of possible childbirth years ahead of her. After all, what else do silicone implants, liposuction, and collagen injections achieve, if not the appearance of a young girl?
This leads to a rather unsettling realization. In a typical drawing of an attractive cartoon woman, the eyes are made larger in relation to the skull, the nose is shortened, and the lips are made more pronounced and often shortened in width. All of these features mimic the facial features of an infant!
An infant has several biological characteristics — large eyes, an upturned nose, and a compact mouth with strong lips; these same characteristics are often used in portraying adult females for a number of psychological reasons — not the least of which is the illusion of youth and innocence.
Of course, the argument can be made that, by creating characters that keep underscoring these values, cartoonists help establish a society that objectifies women. And it's true, relying on these sorts of visual cues emphasizes your female character's body over her other qualities. But to be completely honest, character design is all about using the body to describe personality — not the mind. In the end, it's a well-established way to communicate sex appeal quickly and efficiently, but it is not without its ethical baggage. And that's a matter of scruples that only you can decide for yourself.
Don't Forget Proportions
In the same way women tend to be drawn with toddlers' features to make them look younger, a character's body proportions will reflect his attitude. For example, a lanky man drawn with large hands and large feet will be seen as clumsy and unwieldy. These proportions are only a small exaggeration of the typical teenage boy. The awkwardness of this stage in life is transferred to the character through his proportions.
