Vtuber Design Bootcamp EP 1: Critiquing and Rating Indie Designs

I'm EG and by day I teach the fine artists and animators of the future about things like character design so by night I'm gonna help you with the same welcome to YouTuber design boot camp I'll be putting the design submitted by my community to the test here so here is how it's gonna work I'll reveal a YouTuber design let you know who it is and then give it a score out of 10 based on the categories of color palette silhouette complexity versus Clarity focal points Motif and art style if you'd like to hear more about those categories of YouTuber design in general you can find more about it up here then I'll reveal a modified version of the design including any suggestions or critiques I might have this is not me fixing the art by any means and there's nothing inherently wrong with any of it it's just easier to explain a lot of artistic Concepts visually sometimes you know so there's also one last thing I'd like to say before we get started and that is a little disclaimer I critique will include my honest thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of a design however at the end of the day these are just my opinions based on my experiences and you are more than welcome to disagree with me that is A-Okay I need to make all my critiques as constructive and helpful as possible and all all the involved parties here agreed to participate which I would absolutely like to thank them and commend them on for their bravery because that takes a lot to show your design off to the world like this and submit a critique so with that out of the way let's get into it today we have these designs here's your little preview so first is this one by Owl my first reaction was yo this is sick get a fun color palette some monstrous aspects get some bonus points of being a fellow mushroom YouTuber but I do have a couple questions I realize my submissions were probably needs an area where you can give me some details on your design concept because I don't know what you are which honestly skill issue on my part but maybe you're a tiefling your Motif kind of appears at first glance to be mushroom related but there's also a duck earring involved which cute but I don't I'm not seeing the connection here and a reptilian tail I will get into it for color palette you got a pastel kind of primary color palette with some additional black and white so it's fun and colorful but it's not super overwhelming and you've got a decent color hierarchy with the black being the dominant colored offset all those bright pops of color all good things here your silhouette you've got a lot of great things going on from your hands to your hair to your tail to your horns to your ears but a little confused about what the yellow spikes on your hips are they do break up the form in a nice way but I can't tell if they're fur or something yet which could just be because this is a concept sketch you also don't exhibit ladder design too much your aspects are relatively evenly spaced around the head but it's broken up nicely kind of further down in the form and I just drew this little ladder kind of quick the only other thing I want to note about your silhouette is that I feel like there's a missed opportunity here giving you like big chunky feet which maybe I am biased because that's how I'm kind of shaped but I feel like it'd work really well with your hands being kind of like big and monstrous too you know big old Crocs more complexity versus Clarity I feel like while this character is very detailed they'd still be recognizable even if we removed a lot of that detail but do pass my plusification test and therefore are probably in a good spot in terms of complexity but that does mean that we could probably remove some of that detail without suffering and make the character a little more concise because of it so just has Clarity we're gonna zoom out real far to see if the character still reads clearly and you know for the most part I think it does but the face and hair kind of blend together a little bit for me because the colors are so similar in value if you didn't have that black dividing line kind of between them which when we zoom out you can't really see they do just kind of blend a little bit for focal points you've got some nicely to find thick bright eyebrows and you've got some colorful eyes they do a really good job at drawing Us in and they'll probably be really great for your YouTubers expressiveness but I think the mount size and color and variety of spots on those mushrooms that you have on your horns is a little bit distracting maybe and the angle of those patterns on your chest also create lines that are pointing to the center of the chest which does draw my eye off of the face and down onto the chest for motifs you've got a lot of different imagery going on here there's mushrooms horns and spikes you got some rib cage like bone things happening fishnet esque patterning on your sleeves you get a single bird earring and you got clusters of polka dots on some of the mushrooms and you got some stripes on your tail and uh it's a lot you got a lot of different things going on here I would suggest on honing in maybe on one or two of those things and letting some of the others go this would really improve your Design's Clarity and maybe give it a little more consistency too not a make or break thing here but I do see this as being something where it's a little overwhelming finally for art style it's hard to make a call because it's a concept sketch more than maybe like a full finished reference drawing but there is still something Charming about the stylized full body drawing that you have and I hope some of that ends up in your final version Too Close Up is probably more in keeping with how your final design is going to look super cute get some detailed eyes I think the art style is benefiting your vocal points here as well so I don't see any issues here final score for Al would be an 8 out of 10 and here's kind of my breakdown real quick with the two points being detracted from being slightly overwhelming in details resulting from the kind of unclear design Motif with all those different things happening and a little bit of lack of contrast between the hair and the face so here's my proposal you've done a little this Blue Streak and the hair across the bangs and keep those yellow side tendrils and the close-up like you have in the full body shot I think that could take away some of that face and skin tone issue it could also alternatively make either like the skin or the hair a little darker but I don't think that's inherently 100 necessary I would also produce some of the detail in the mushroom spots to just Blobs of one color that you have up on your head there to make them a little less distracting and you know this would also make them match the tail maybe a little bit better too because that's how it's handled on your shirt I would angle all those blue lines to slant upwards instead of into the center so that way it's directing us up to the face instead of into the chest the duck earring seems to be like it may be important to the Lord so I'm gonna leave it be but I would suggest making some of the patterning on the sleeves and elsewhere darker so it's less distracting or maybe just alternatively just fully removing it because I don't think it's inherently necessary here but overall album I would say you've got a pretty dang good design here and I'll be excited to see your fully finished design in the future so I wish you good luck our next design to go over is this one by Moni I in the file and I was like oh you are so cute you get sailor moon bonds we got cute little pose a little creative water theme in the dress got a lot of nice things going on here so here's what my thoughts are for your color palette you're definitely reaping the benefits of analogous palette it feels very unified and calm there's also a strong color hierarchy with the blue dominating green is a secondary color you get some accents of white and gold that are kind of like peppered throughout I think it's all good I think you also have a nice really solid palette for silhouette it's a little hard to judge because the pose but if I draw just kind of like an approximation of what I think you look like in a standing silhouette I'd say it works broad Lily Pad is really distinct and the earrings are a fun touch the sleeves and Ruffles of the waves like dress they're all working together give you memorable silhouette here you also have like the slit on the one side of the dress you got a hip ornament a special coloring on the skin and hair and those things don't preventing any issues you could have with the ladder design so that all checks out to me for complexity versus Clarity I think the design is a good example of how less can be more sometimes designs really paired down into just the important aspects of the water like dress new detailed accents of jewelry throughout and so this character would pass the plushie test probably as is and I think it also works relatively well from a distance too there's like a teeny teeny teeny tiny bit again with like the low contrast between skin and hair on like the white bang side of the head but like honestly this is still kind of minimal for focal points the lipstick will help with your expressiveness and your eyebrows really aren't too badly hidden so I don't take any issue there I do have one thing though I do comment with your Lily Pad we really look at the head because of how big it is and it's the only item with that dark and vibrant of a green so I think that that's really great but I do have a concern which is that the lily pad if you're streaming or making videos or something is really big and it's gonna block a lot which sucks because it's so cool I like it a lot but I feel like it's gonna end up as a toggleable item as a result sadly which in that case I think you probably need something else that color around that area of the head so that way it's still working as a focal point the way that it should be you know even if we don't have the lily pad maybe this is an issue maybe you have no plans to remove it but it is something that I'm thinking about seeing it for motifs it's clearly the water lily pads pretty obviously here and the two work together pretty well they're very interrelated thematically get some fluffy sleeves that mimic the lower Hem of the dress and repeated leaves and the pigtails you have to Lily Pad with the lower half of your design all good things and finally for art style this is a very sweet and clean style you're definitely scoring in the clarity Department minimal or like simplified shading consistent thin lines all great things here plenty of delicate kind of like ethereal feeling to your design and I feel like that's in keeping with the personality we're kind of getting so I think it all looks good here a final score for this would be maybe a 9 out of 10 with my own deduction coming from that slightly low contrast with the hair and skin and maybe some minor concerns about the lily pad size or potential for removing when streaming so my proposal here would probably be really minimal I'd boost the contrast between the face and the hair a little bit and maybe add something a little more like bold eye shadow and a green hair accessory under the lily pad that way in case it's you have to like toggle it off but that way those things could really help us make sure that face is staying as a focal point here but otherwise I think this design is really pretty stellar it's succeeding from its Clarity and motifs and silhouette in particular I think it's all pretty good here so good job up next is nymphadora's design and to be completely honest I was a little overwhelmed by the colors when I opened the image but a lot of that's coming from the vibrancy in the background perhaps but and I do think you are still pretty cute though you do appear to be a cherry blossom themed wolf and this isn't the first time I've seen this specific combo which is not to say there's anything wrong with it but it is something to keep in mind if you're aiming for a unique character design and also kind of unrelated but are your toes out or free am I misreading what this is that's crazy here's my thoughts or color palette the pink blue purple palette is relatively common YouTubers although you usually see it in more of like a pastel variation and I think that it's coming across a little bit strong because all the colors around the same level of vibrancy here this can overwhelm a viewer and usually one of the main reasons that black and white are included in many designs as main color is to kind of avoid that kind of overwhelming feeling we're getting now you do not have to add those colors but I think change the saturation of some of those colors might help to make it less overwhelming and secondarily there's something just slightly off about the skin tone to me it has a very yellow undertone which contrasts kind of strangely with the cooler colors that are happening in the outfit for a silhouette it's not bad but you turn into a diamond with a tail and ears I think you could benefit from breaking that exterior shape some more and most of what's causing this is the Empire waistline turning into a dress and the hair Edge leads just like straight directly into the shoulders so maybe the shapes of those can be modified a little bit to help you out with the silhouette a little more for complexity versus Clarity Your Design isn't too complicated and it's pretty clear from a distance too so I think it could pass the plushie test without maybe too many alterations while staying recognizable so I think you're succeeding this category not too much else to report here for focal points you got pink lipstick it's for sure helping your face work as a focal point you get the whole bright hair against neutral skin tone thing and the eye color it's not as Leaders to rest her eyes in the face so I think that's all checked out pretty well but there is a little bit something happening with the level of detail and contrast around your knees that also does draw the eye down there sometimes too so just to keep that in mind for motifs you have a lot of cherry blossoms going on in the design so they're working very obviously as your Motif and they're working in like a decal kind of way where they're just a repeating pattern kind of of the same cherry blossom there's also a wave pattern on the edge of the top which combined with dark blue color does make me kind of wonder if there's a water Motif going on as well that I might have missed which definitely does remind me that I should be adding a category for letting you explain some things on submission form because that would make it make more sense finally for art style you know pretty Classic live 2D anime style with Blended out cell shading which is nice and not overly complicated I think it's working well I think it's pretty classic my final score for this would be a 6 out of 10. right now I think the colors are really holding the design back and they're just too intense and don't necessarily know why well with each other the silhouette could also maybe be jazzed up a little bit to help it Go the extra mile too you know so my proposal for you would mainly hinge on the color palette in silhouette because I think pretty great otherwise I would desaturate maybe one or two of your colors and integrate the purple of your hair a little bit more into the rest of the design here is just like one idea I came up with of maybe some changes you could make to it but with art there's always a million options so you do not have to go with what I thought of or anything for that reason I change up the silhouette I'd extend your face framing hair kind of point out to break that kind of edge I make your super cute little heart-shaped Fly Away bigger so we can capitalize more on it it's so cute I would also maybe add a little bit more change and shape to the sleeve so that they're kind of not just like straight angles going down and maybe hear me out for the skirt be fun to give it kind of like an edge shape like that kind of like notched cherry blossom leaf pattern that way edge of it is reflecting your cherry blossom Motif too wouldn't that be cool right and then it would be distinct just from those things alone overall I think you're looking pretty cute I don't see any like huge make or break like destruction type issues here I think you're on the right path here if I wish you good luck in your journey keep going finally we'll look at one more today this design of Echoes and you are so clean look looking very cool and laid back another good example of a simple but effective design so here's what I'm thinking color palette you're mostly monochromatic maybe you get a little bit of gold warm skin tone happening makes you lean almost maybe slightly into a complimentary palette it all helps with the kind of cool mature laid back Vibe you seem to exude here so I think that that's working well for silhouette I think this is probably the only category I have much of a critique on here you almost have Bullet Head you need something to break up that external shape and aside from the cape you don't really have much distinct happening with your silhouette maybe it's the like so-called cartoonist in me but I think you could use a little exaggeration here I do also enjoy the Insignia you have breaking up your symmetry but the asymmetry could be played up a little more to add some interest too you know and one final thing which maybe sounds a little bit silly but do you know those kind of like illusion type clothing people wear like you see it in like leggings and stuff I'm kind of getting that kind of effect or like vibe from that Central white part of your outfit being like unbroken but my brain is reading it as being like your legs going really high maybe that is just me more complexity versus Clarity your Clarity is great you've got good contrast you work well from a distance you get plushy pretty much as is get enough detail to draw my attention all great things happening here focal points the lighter blue in your hair only appearing around the face really draws the eye into that area and there's nothing distracting happening elsewhere so I think they're winning in this category too four motifs I'm getting sort of sort of like a Star Trek or maybe like Galaxy Railways vibe from it where there isn't much of a visual Motif unless we count the vertical white stripes now this isn't like the end of the world or anything I don't think your design is having any problems it's working pretty A-Okay without it adding one could be a fun way to introduce another element to the character right you mentioned a distinct past and Far Away future in the image but we're not I don't know if we're necessarily getting both of those from the design as is oh maybe some element of that could come into play here as a motif and could be involved and that could help my final score for your design would be a 9 out of 10. I feel like it could maybe use just a little more detail and like spicing if your silhouette could really take your design that Final Extra Mile for that last point so my proposal is super quick let's maybe spice up your hair silhouette a little bit with some like flyaways or something and accentuate your cuffs and Boots a tad maybe and kind of trim the bottom of the skirt part to eliminate that kind of false silhouette adding a motif relating to the Future Past kind of part can be cool too but I don't know your concept or Laura will have to suggest something specific here but I think it could be a good opportunity but overall I think you look pretty solid you look cool and laid back I like your Vibe good work thank you all again for sharing your designs with me the response I got on my character design tips video was amazing but also kind of a tad overwhelming I'm still going through like over 100 DMS on Twitter and I'm working as fast as I can but it's kind of a lot so if I haven't gotten to you yet or if you'd like me to critique or make your design I've got a link to a form down below that you can fill out to join this if I decide to have another episode there's still like 10 people who submitted for this video but I didn't want to make this too too long critiques are a great resource for all of us in terms of learning and inspiration and I'm always learning things from my like students I teach in real life they always have ideas I've never considered and you guys are no different so I benefit from these critiques just as much as you guys do and I hope you all benefit from the critiques of others in the same kind of way too I hope you found this helpful and that I got some Wheels starting for you if there's any other youtubing or art related content you'd like me to discuss let me know in the comments and good luck on your youtubing journey everyone farewell thank you

Channel: Squiiji

Views: 26,848

Keywords: critique, rating, ranking, indie, vtuber, envtuber, character design, vtuber design, mushroom, monstera

Id: VYOY5SLZqtc

Length: 16min 12sec (972 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 05 2023