Alive Character Design: For Games, Animation and Film Paperback – September 23, 2011

The media could not be loaded.  The author Haitao Su has been creating character design, cartoons and illustrations for nearly 20 years. It's a privilege to have a character design book written by him. Good character design books are rare, and this is a wonderful book.The book starts with the definition of character design, basic principles and procedures for character design, sources of inspiration, concept development, techniques and even talks about the handling of proposals. The latter half of the book looks at nine categories of characters: Female Male Q-Style Monster Animal Supportive Role Bad Guys Inanimate MechanicalThe amount of character designs featured are immense, beautiful and incredibly varied. The pages are packed with unique and expressive characters which are a joy to look at. The physical form of the characters can be felt and that really adds on to the believability.Almost all examples are drawn by Haitao Su himself. They are all accompanied by insightful commentary and really gives you lots to think about when designing your own characters. Lots of individual characters that he drew for commissions are analysed. There's even a chapter on inanimate character designs which gives tips on how you can turn static household objects alive.The book ends with interviews with five top character designers, namely Dean Yeagle, Stephen Silver, Florian Satzinger, Francisco Herrera and Ben Caldwell. There's also an interview with Haitao Su himself.This is a inspiring art book on its own, made even better with useful information that's shared.Highly recommended to character designers and art book lovers. This should be one of top 2011 art books.(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

I don't get it--i have seen some pretty chimpy reviews on this book but I love this book--it is thorough and thoughtful--he is not the best writer in the world, I will concede that but he's an artist that we need to sit up and pay attention to--this is a beautiful book and there are tips to pick up on if you actually read the book and quit staring at the pictures. One of the complaints I heard was that of his depiction of women--horse hockey--he is presenting Archetypes that people use to convey characters--If you are hung up on PC, don't get the book--if you are into good art and being a good artist and actually learning something, pick up this book.

This book is very well written. The very talented, seasoned author writes in a narrative style almost like a class of the same subject. He explains the design process, history and media execution like no other book I have read or used as a guide. I would recommend this book.

*** Pros:The artwork is nice, and the painting is beautifully done. Some of the characters are really interesting, and there is a nice range of styles within the book. :)*** Cons:However, the text was rather painful to read.The terminology used was really strange and confusing (ex: "magic band" tool instead of "magic wand" tool), which may or may not be due to translation issues.And while I can't speak for other people, I, personally, found the explanations to be slightly insulting and grossly overly-generalized. A good equivalent would be to say that white people are rich, and people in California are surfers or movie stars. It isn't necessarily wrong, but it only works for specific circumstances, and assuming that it's right all of the time results in rather boring and two dimensional characters (no pun intended).Even if the character designs are interesting, cliche characters are still cliche characters. Side characters aren't always bumbling idiots, women don't all have to be bombshells, men are not all superheroes or secret agents, and combining anatomical parts from different creatures just because you can is not necessarily a good reason to do so.Character design is about making each character visually unique, and characters with no depth will visually reflect that as well.*** Conclusion:If you want a reference book with a couple of different styles and artwork that is well-painted and [mostly] well-designed, then this would be a good book for you.If you're looking for a book to teach you how to design characters, unless this is the first day on your character design journey, you should probably look elsewhere.

Very good book！ It has a lot examples! All of them are very useful for me. However, I would like it has more turn around example. Showing the character in 360° way, including front, back, 3/4 side and 1/2 side.

Fast shipping book looked like it was brand spanking new even though it was used. Very nice and amazing artwork for referencing.

Reviews on character design books basically amount to a review on the designer and his ability to explain his methods. And in that vein, this book is... fine.This book is far too verbose, and the fact that English isn't the author's first language doesn't make it better. Throw in a really tiny font, and it's pretty easy to just tune out and look at the pictures.the authors work is very appealing and he has a descent variety of style, though not of approach. The section on females is all half-naked pin-ups, and the males are all brick-chinned hero-types.Physically, it's a very nice book with strong art, and having profiles on some other designers is a great addition.If you're looking for a book on character design, get  Creating Characters With Personality , but if you can happen to find used copy of this really cheap, go ahead and get it for the pictures.

this book has been great as an inspirational reference to add to my library. The speed in which i recieved the item and the condition were perfect for my liking thank you for your great service.

This is an excellent book if you're looking for reference material as it's filled with undreds of great character creations and so if you're looking to buy a book to be inspired this one is a great choice.Although if you're looking more for tutorial book, wich explains in detail how to create works of this type be warned this is not the book you want. Most of the excellent texts in it describe more what goes behind the motivation and reasons to create each character than it tells the reader how to do it. It explains in detail why some details on the pics need to be that way and in this regard it's packed with lots of valuable information that probably you never thought of when creating your own characters.But it's not a book that shows how to draw images like that.If you want a character reference book ,this is a must own.If you're looking for a illustration tutorial book look elsewhere.

the book is amazing!!!amazing character designs from the author .there are step by step stuff too.a lot of explanation about how the character design process works, has been given by the author,,,but u need to have some good experience with drawing characters before u buy this book...but i do believe that its a must have for anyone who wants to learn ways to understand and create characters of their own !!u wont get bored or that dull feeling from any page,,its great stuff!!

Well first of all I want to say that I was really exited when I have found this book here on amazon for this price. It really cost much much more then its current price =) A lot of useful information, links and advices for beginners and for experienced artists. Well among the beautiful looks and informative contents you'll get tons of satisfaction just out of holding this book in your hands. The only minus that I have found while reading the book is the language, sometimes phrases or sentences have strange structure. But even with this minor thing I recommend you all not to hesitate and order the book right a way. It's really a 5 star book.

If you buy this book because you like his style of characters, you won't regret it. The quality of the images is great and I love what he does. Great inspiration!

This book is just amazing! Indispensable to anyone wanting to work in concept art or illustration. At the very least, the book is full of gorgeous, inspiring art. It's quite obvious how much experience the author has and he spends a lot of time talking about the process of making conceptual work and working in industry. So it's a very helpful book if you've been drawing and/or working for a while and need more help in realizing your ideas, but less help if you're looking for basic tutorials. He does discuss characterizing anatomy and some tips for drawing digitally, but this is definitely not a book for beginners. If you're a beginner then it's still worth investing in the book because it is inspiring, but it may seem a bit overwhelming to start. This book is perfect. I can't recommend it enough.