A Great Beginning

Book Review: Creative Character Design by Bryan Tillman

Bryan Tillman's Creative Character Design is a good beginner's guide for creating graphic or even literary characters. He emphasizes the importance of "the story", the history of the character and how that will affect the appearance and development of the character. This is an important rule for authors as well as artists.

Tillman also approaches the role of archetypes in character creation. Archetypes appear in every facet of human storytelling, from pre-literate cave paintings to the modern day, and the creative artist ignores them at their peril. He breaks down and the most common archetypes and illustrates how they can interact and even overlap.

Tillman utilizes a light tone in his lessons which may strike some as a trifle un-professional -- but that I think is well suited to the topic and level of the lessons. It isn't physics, it's art, and beginning level at that; I think the pop and zing of his narrative style work just fine. The artwork is not overwhelming, but what beginner wants that thrown in his face? The art and text is completely at home for the target audience (Tillman talks about that too!)

My only grievance would be that the book stops too soon; I wanted more. It helps lay a good foundation, and I wanted to start building walls. A great beginning!