28.01.2025
How do I become a character designer

You have the opportunity to complete a training course to become a game designer in 2 years full-time or 3 years part-time and then specialize in character design. Depending on which institution you attend, there can always be differences in terms of the structure and focus of the training. The profession of character designer can be learned in different ways.

 

How to Become a Character Designer

The prerequisite for applying for such an apprenticeship is usually a secondary school diploma and a minimum age of 16 years – some schools require a minimum age of 18 years.
There is also the option of completing a degree course after the apprenticeship. This qualifies you for larger tasks and more extensive projects. Popular bachelor’s degree courses include game design, media design and communication design. Some universities require a completed vocational training, good prior knowledge and often an aptitude test

Become a Character Designer: How do I apply for the training?

You apply directly to the relevant school, as is the case with most school-based training courses. However, some schools have exceptions, such as an aptitude test that you must take beforehand.
After submitting your application documents, you will be invited to an interview in which your professional suitability for the training will be decided. Work samples are a particular advantage for your application. Given the fact that most schools require an insight into your professional skills, it is an advantage to submit varied work samples. Examples include your own game ideas, web designs, comics or self-edited and animated videos. In addition, practical experience, e.g. through an internship or your own small projects, is of course also viewed positively.

What qualities do you need to become a character designer?

Ultimately, the job of a character designer involves not only individual ideas for different projects, but also their active implementation and versatile elaboration.
You need the following qualities:

– At least intermediate school leaving certificate for an apprenticeship or general university entrance qualification for university studies
– Technical understanding
– Inventiveness
– Ability to implement ideas
– Ability to work in a team
– Organizational skills and discipline
– Interest in media and online applications
– Resilience
– Creativity
– Artistic talent

What specialization is available after training as a character designer?

After successfully completing your training as a game designer, there are several areas in which you can specialize.

The possible specialist areas include:

– Character artist
– Texture artist
– Visual effects artist
– Web graphic designer
– Level designer
– Concept artist
– Technical artist
– Modeller
– 2D or 3D artist
– 3D generalist
– Animator
– Character designer

What do I work on as a character designer?

Idea Gathering and Preparation

No matter how great the final product of a character designer’s weeks of work is, every project always starts with an idea.
The first idea for a character design can come in the form of a client brief or a personal project.
The implementation of this idea usually requires extensive research, from the context of the character to their socioeconomic status, which influences the character’s design.
As a well-researched character is much more believable and resonates better with the audience, character designers place great importance on this.
Determining the appropriate archetype
Many designers choose an appropriate archetype when designing a character to make even simple designs easy for the audience to understand.
However, there are no strict rules for these categories, and it is recommended to combine and change them to create a unique character.

 

Determining the demographics

When designing the character, it is also always important to know who your target audience is. Once the demographic data has been determined, it is usually easy to decide whether, for example, simplified or more complex designs are preferred.

Choosing the design language

The design language is also a technique that uses basic shapes to convey information about your character. The basic shapes say a lot about how your character is perceived by the audience. For example, while round characters are friendly, open-minded and usually innocent, triangular characters are usually perceived as hostile, threatening and unpredictable.

Color Scheme

Once the design of the characters is complete, a decision is made about which color scheme they should appear in. The color scheme is chosen in most cases with the client in mind in order to best represent the character. After all, the color scheme chosen can say a lot about how the character looks and stands out from its surroundings.

What are the career prospects of a character designer?

The profession of character designer plays an important role in the concept design industry. Character designers are in high demand due to the high demand for characters in film, television, games and advertising. The area of ​​digital games in particular has become an integral part and consequently a future-proof profession. The demand is great and many game developers are constantly looking for new employees.

– Your work is creative and varied
– You have the opportunity to work on large projects and companies
– You can work nationally and internationally
– What speaks for the profession:
– There is a high demand from companies

What speaks against the profession

– Difficult entry
– Time pressure from customers
– Dependence on orders