Procreate BRING TEXTURE TO YOUR CHARACTERS

Capturing human nature and telling a story is key to Oona Holtane’s character design work. Here she reveals how she tackles both concepts

- Oona Holtane

Drawing from life and observing people is something that drives me to create. I love capturing with pencil the nuances individuals have, seeing their journey, their passions, their likes and dislikes, their disappointments, their achievements.

All of this life experience shows through how they greet someone, how they sit while they drink a cup of tea. It’s every ounce of their being condensed into everything they express – or don’t express, because they may be choosing not to show their true self. All of this is what makes us who we are, whether we realise it or not. This variety in human nature is what I believe is the root of character design.

Character design infamously has a superficial side. Something we see for how it simply reads on paper. We’re more concerned with the size of the eyes in relation to the nose for the limits of appeal, than what it actually communicates about the character. While it’s important to be conscious of proportions, shape and colour, it should be used as a tool to communicate ideas rather than live on its own without a reason for being. Design must be purposeful. It should tell a clear story.

RELATING TO THE AUDIENCE

When I design a character, I want the viewer, director or production designer to feel something. To relate with this character, to feel like it’s an old friend, someone they want to know. Ultimately, I want the audience to empathise with this character as much as I do. And the only way to communicate that is to feel it yourself. If we as designers can’t care about this character, then the audience won’t, either.