A prevailing trend in character design, particularly for comedy and action-oriented content, is the intentional use of Exaggerated Proportions and highly stylized anatomical forms to maximize character appeal and visual impact. This involves distorting figures—such as huge hands, tiny heads, or dramatically elongated limbs—to emphasize personality traits, enhance physical comedy, and create striking, easily recognizable silhouettes. This expressive approach draws heavily from the principles of classic cartooning and caricature, utilizing shape language to communicate a character’s role instantly.

Our introductory and advanced character design courses heavily focus on Shape Language Theory and the effective use of exaggeration, training students to break realism deliberately to serve the narrative. Students learn that every distortion must be purposeful, using geometric shapes (circles for soft/friendly, squares for strong/stable, triangles for dynamic/aggressive) to define character archetypes powerfully. This foundational skill allows our graduates to confidently design characters that are highly marketable, memorable, and optimized for dynamic animation across various genres.