| Written by Kyle Barghout, on 14-02-2008 09:22 |
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Over the years, the styles of character design used in anime have changed, but certain aspects have remained the same. The origins of these aspects are from all around the globe, for example, the large eyes of characters origniated from Walt Disney's chacracter designs. It is from such history that the anime styles that we know and love were created.
Character design
Body proportions that are used in anime come from proportions of the human body. The height of the head is considered as the base unit of proportion. Head heights can vary as long as the remainder of the body remain proportional. Most anime characters are about seven to eight heads tall, and extreme heights are set around nine heads tall. Variations to proportion can be modded.
Chibi or super deformed characters feature a non-proportionally small body compared to the head. Sometimes specific body parts, like legs, are shortened or elongated for added emphasis. Mostly chibi are three or four heads tall. Some anime works like Crayon Shin-chan completely disregard these proportions. It is enough such that it resembles a Western cartoon. For exaggeration, certain body features are increased in proportion.
A common approach is the large eyes style drawn on many anime and manga characters. Osamu Tezuka was inspired by the exaggerated features of American cartoon characters such as Betty Boop, Mickey Mouse, and Disney's Bambi. Tezuka found that large eyes style allowed his characters to show emotions distinctly.
When Tezuka began drawing Ribbon no Kishi, the first manga to be created, that was specifically targeted at young girls, Tezuka further exaggerated the size of the characters' eyes. Indeed, through Ribbon no Kishi, Tezuka set a stylistic template that later shōjo artists tended to follow. Coloring is added to give eyes, particularly the cornea, some depth. The depth i s accomplished by applying variable color shading. Generally, a mixture of a light shade, the tone color, and a dark shade is used. Cultural anthropologist Matt Thorn argues that Japanese animators and audiences do not perceive such stylized eyes as inherently more or less foreign.
This is a typically stylised anime eye
However, not all anime have large eyes. For example Hayao Miyazaki is known for not having large eyes and having realistic hair colors on his characters. In addition many other productions also have been known to use smaller eyes. This design tends to have more resemblance to traditional Japanese art. Some characters have even smaller eyes, where simple black dots are used. A wide variety of facial expressions are used by characters to denote moods and thoughts.
Anime uses a different set of facial expressions in comparison to western animation. Other stylistic elements are common as well; often in comedic anime, characters that are shocked or surprised will perform a "face fault", in which they display an extremely exaggerated expression. Angry characters may exhibit a "vein" or "stressmark" effect, where lines representing bulging veins will appear on their forehead. Angry women will sometimes summon a mallet from nowhere and strike someone with it, leading to the concept of Hammerspace and cartoon physics. Male characters will develop a bloody nose around their female love interests (typically to indicate arousal, based on an old wives' tale). Embarrassed characters either produce a massive sweat-drop (which has become one of the most widely recognized stereotype motifs of anime) or produce a visibly red blush beneath the eyes, especially as a manifestation of repressed romantic feelings.
While common, the use of face faults is optional. Some anime, usually with political plots and other more serious subject matters, have abandoned the use of face faults such as Gundam Wing and Teknoman. Some non-human characters further diversify the array of characters. Some include robots, animals, spirits, and demons. Also, hybrid beings such as catgirls or hanyō are also created. Non-humanoid characters have a very wide variety of shapes and sizes, which can range from miniature characters to those the size of skyscrapers. The use of size proportions will vary.
The typical style for non-humans is a dramatization of size for most, or a drastic shrinkage for others. Typical spirits and demons as well as robots and some animals will be shown out of proportion and sometimes the size of skyscrapers and buildings. Often for the purpose of giving the impression of great power or often synched with mecha-anime series in which the main character uses a giant robot to defeat another giant robot or creature. Some robots and animals though are shown to be accurate sized or even miniature for the sake of comical or story important reasons.
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