Drawing Practice: Appeal

One of the most important 12 principles of animation, outlined by the writers of the animation bible 'The Illusion of Life' is the appeal of a character's design and the effect it has on the audience. Ollie Johnson and Frank Thomas state while 'live action has charisma, the animated drawing has appeal'. How a character is drawn can have a significant impact on how the audience interpret's their intentions in the story. Often designs that are overly complicated or hard to read lack appeal, as does weak drawing. Good appeal can be as simple as good drawing, according to Johnson and Thomas, but an understanding of the effect certain lines and pen strokes have on the audience is important when designing a character with appeal. 

'In nature we see forms in balance, ready to move in any direction. Few fluid forms are completely symmetrical, and the contrast in form and shape makes an active type of balance. One side can be straight while the other bellies out with the relaxed weight, or they can both bend or stretch or twist or turn- it is always possible to make a drawing that is solid, round, pliable and in balance. We call these forms 'plastic' as opposed to 'static'.

-Excerpt from The Illusion of Life regarding Appeal

Examples

An example of a character design that lacks appeal. While the actual drawing is technically competent, the design lacks basic primitive shapes and the character's costume is cluttered with lots of different conflicting shapes with no logical consistency. The primary colour scheme is also overly complicated, as most characters usually only consists of one or two colours, while this design has 3 primary colours, each with various different tones.

Carl from up is constructed almost entirely form primitive shapes with rounded edges, from his comically oversized nose and square glasses to his sticky-out ears which lend an air of ridiculousness and charm to his character. His square head with rounded edges suggests a friendly persona despite how we may first perceive him and while the other character relies mostly on small facial expressions to get a idea for how they're feeling, we can read Carl's facial body language and gesturing due to the exaggerated proportions of his design.