How to Design Great Characters (and Why the Silhouette Is Everything)
2025
character design, illustration tips, art fundamental
The silhouette is everything: learn how to build characters with personality and visual strength. I want to share some tips for creating strong characters by a.balastegui I want to share some tips for creating strong characters. For me, the most important aspect of all is the silhouette. If your character’s silhouette is well-constructed, you’ve already done more than half the work. A good silhouette makes the character recognizable, readable, and full of personality, even before adding color, details, or expression. Think of your favorite characters — you could recognize them just by their shape. That’s what we’re aiming for: a figure that communicates who they are, what they do, and their overall energy, without needing any explanation. Clarity is key. If the viewer can understand the character at a glance, it’s much easier to make a connection. Let’s look at some examples 👇
Just by looking at the silhouettes, you instantly know which characters they are.
This isn’t a coincidence.
Of course, these are world-famous characters, but a big part of that recognition comes from their design.
It’s amazing how much information a simple silhouette can convey when it’s well constructed.
As we can see in the second one (Pikachu), it’s an electric-type mouse Pokémon.
The lightning-shaped tail already tells us that.
I might not know its color or texture, but just from the shape of its tail, you can already tell what kind of Pokémon it is.
In general, a good tip for character design is to use simple and large geometric shapes.
That’s because the brain likes things that are easy to process and doesn’t want to waste energy figuring out complex forms.
When we look at characters like Mickey Mouse, they’re built in a very simple way — this makes them easy to understand and pleasant for our lazy brain.
Practical example: working with the silhouette
Let’s take a look at a practical example with one of my characters.
I wanted to create a female character with a science fiction aesthetic
someone serious, with presence and authority.
I made several sketches, but I was pretty stuck.
This is what I had so far, but it wasn’t working: it had no personality, it felt flat.
So, how did I fix it? By working on the silhouette.
The first thing I did was block out the silhouette and see what it was communicating.
That’s when the problem became obvious.
As you can see, it didn’t communicate anything.
It was just a black mass with no readable shape —
you couldn’t tell it was a woman, or that she had any kind of strong personality.
It simply didn’t express anything.
So instead of keeping on sketching, I started working directly from the silhouette.
This practice can be a bit tricky, especially at first.
It’s not easy to train your brain to work only with a solid shape, without any clear guidelines.
Personally, it takes me quite a while until I manage to solve it and reach something that actually works.
Finally, this is what I came up with.
The difference is clear.
Now it’s easy to tell that she’s a woman.
I wanted to elongate the shapes of her armor to give her a stronger presence.
I added earrings and emphasized her thin, stretched neck to make her look elegant and confident.
I built most of the design using triangular shapes.
In character design, triangles often convey tension or a sense of menace.
That’s why I tried to make every element of her design as triangular as possible.
Conclusion: when the silhouette changes everything
Once I had the silhouette figured out, it became much easier to develop the character.
The structure was already clear — the character had personality and attitude.
And this was the final result.
The difference is pretty big, right?
That’s why I believe the silhouette is so important.
If you ever feel stuck with your characters, start there.
Think about which elements you want to emphasize:
maybe they have a huge afro with a tiny hat, or long arms with oversized hands.
All those features will help strengthen your character’s personality and unlock your creativity when you’re feeling stuck.
