Uploaded January 2017 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Get COMPLETE COURSE FOR FREE at tr4ckit.com/gna2
This is a lesson from the course Character Design For Animation in Illustrator.
Hi, this is Mark Diaz for 2D Animation 101 dot com, and in this lesson we will learn about character psychology.
Ok. Let’s get started.
A character has to be believable, even if it’s a cartoon, you need the audience to believe that the character is alive, has needs to get something. He has to want to get something.
To achieve this, you need to work on probably one of the most important elements of your character. Your character's personality.
You can check a short Video from Sydney, who talks about personality in the 5th episode of “The Art of Character Animation”. You can find that video in the training center of our website, 2danimation101.com
Now, if you want to really get it done... hang on the following lessons, golden knowledge is coming your way.
Let’s talk about character personality.
In the 1930s, Walt Disney and his staff discovered that characters with no personality were boring, they had nothing interesting to offer to the audience.
Ok. So far, we got boring characters and nothing interesting. Those are the good news, want to hear bad news?
We live in the 21th century, and many animators are still doing animation with characters who have no personality, even after all the efforts and secrets that Walt and his team uncovered.
Walt would be so disappointed (probably screaming from the heavens, or that special place that awesome talented people go when they end their lives here)
But lucky you! I have compiled all of my research notes and created a process.
The point to have interesting characters is by giving them personality.
Answer the basic question: What does your character want to get or achieve?
That very basic question will get things going for your character development.
Now, for those of you who want to really stand out and create memorable characters, let’s dig even deeper.
Once you know what your character want’s to get, you can give her a way to get it. How? With a set of personality traits.
According to a theory by Briggs Myers, there are 16 personality types, but we will keep it simple and just determine the 4 basic areas of personality, so we can define our character quickly.
Just answer four questions, and your character will have a very strong personality.
Ready? Let’s give your character’s personality some love.
First...
1. How is your character energized?
Is he/she Extraverted? Or Introverted?
This one refers to the way your character gets energized. Does he/she like to interact with other people? Or prefers to be by himself/herself?
For example, if your character is an inventor:
You could have her be an introvert, because she likes to be solving math problems and formulas by herself in her lab.
“No interruptions, please!”
But if she was an explorer, and liked to travel around the world, then she would be an extravert.
She would enjoy meeting different people with different cultures.
“I hope I meet someone interesting today!”
So, deciding if your character is an introvert or extravert can give you a clue of her hobbies, interests and regular activities.
And also, give you a very strong foundation on how your character interacts with other characters.
Great! You now have one area of his/her personality.
Nice, that’s it for this lesson, now that we covered the first basic area of the personality traits, let’s move to the next lesson, in which we will check the second area, which covers, the things that your character naturally pays attention to. See you there.
Get COMPLETE COURSE FOR FREE at tr4ckit.com/gna2
This is a lesson from the course Character Design For Animation in Illustrator.
Hi, this is Mark Diaz for 2D Animation 101 dot com, and in this lesson we will learn about character psychology.
Ok. Let’s get started.
A character has to be believable, even if it’s a cartoon, you need the audience to believe that the character is alive, has needs to get something. He has to want to get something.
To achieve this, you need to work on probably one of the most important elements of your character. Your character's personality.
You can check a short Video from Sydney, who talks about personality in the 5th episode of “The Art of Character Animation”. You can find that video in the training center of our website, 2danimation101.com
Now, if you want to really get it done... hang on the following lessons, golden knowledge is coming your way.
Let’s talk about character personality.
In the 1930s, Walt Disney and his staff discovered that characters with no personality were boring, they had nothing interesting to offer to the audience.
Ok. So far, we got boring characters and nothing interesting. Those are the good news, want to hear bad news?
We live in the 21th century, and many animators are still doing animation with characters who have no personality, even after all the efforts and secrets that Walt and his team uncovered.
Walt would be so disappointed (probably screaming from the heavens, or that special place that awesome talented people go when they end their lives here)
But lucky you! I have compiled all of my research notes and created a process.
The point to have interesting characters is by giving them personality.
Answer the basic question: What does your character want to get or achieve?
That very basic question will get things going for your character development.
Now, for those of you who want to really stand out and create memorable characters, let’s dig even deeper.
Once you know what your character want’s to get, you can give her a way to get it. How? With a set of personality traits.
According to a theory by Briggs Myers, there are 16 personality types, but we will keep it simple and just determine the 4 basic areas of personality, so we can define our character quickly.
Just answer four questions, and your character will have a very strong personality.
Ready? Let’s give your character’s personality some love.
First...
1. How is your character energized?
Is he/she Extraverted? Or Introverted?
This one refers to the way your character gets energized. Does he/she like to interact with other people? Or prefers to be by himself/herself?
For example, if your character is an inventor:
You could have her be an introvert, because she likes to be solving math problems and formulas by herself in her lab.
“No interruptions, please!”
But if she was an explorer, and liked to travel around the world, then she would be an extravert.
She would enjoy meeting different people with different cultures.
“I hope I meet someone interesting today!”
So, deciding if your character is an introvert or extravert can give you a clue of her hobbies, interests and regular activities.
And also, give you a very strong foundation on how your character interacts with other characters.
Great! You now have one area of his/her personality.
Nice, that’s it for this lesson, now that we covered the first basic area of the personality traits, let’s move to the next lesson, in which we will check the second area, which covers, the things that your character naturally pays attention to. See you there.
