Creating Characters with Personality: For Film, TV, Animation, Video Games, and Graphic Novels

Tom Bancroft's "Creating Characters with Personality" provides a solid foundation for folks who are interested in creating and developing characters for sequential arts and animation. All the basics are explored here, with copious examples: simple shapes, line of action, appeal, etc.

One thing that sets this book apart from the rest is how several examples of the process of character design are shown. The book reiterates several times that the first design isn't always the best - that one should continue to explore other design possibilities before settling on the final look and feel of a character. If you are interested in refining or creating your own character, I would recommend purchasing this book along with Ben Caldwell's Action! Cartooning and Fantasy Cartooning.

While beginners can certainly appreciate this book, I think it's best suited for intermediate level artists who are looking to refine their technique. Highly recommended.

This book is a terrific view of the craft of character design from someone doing it for a living. It's a great insight to the process, and really assists with sparking creativity.

It also shows various takes on the characters used as examples from working artists in various disciplines, and seeing the differences in how the characters are portrayed by each demonstrates the wide-open interpretation of a character's description and the limitless possibilities for variation.

The exercises are well-designed and really assist with reinforcement of the concepts, and the artwork is really fun too. A great book overall. Highly recommended, not just for character design, but for insights into interpreting your own creative processes and exploring it more fully.

Despite the poorly designed cover, this is an out standing book. My wife is a flash ad designer and knows nothing about character design, and was able to create a professional looking project with the help of this book.

This book has given me a new appreciation for the design process. Well, drawing period.
To see you character on paper before you model is a great joy.
I highly recommend this book to all character designers and aspiring ones.

This book is amazing. It tells you how to create your characters from scratch. How to develop your character's personality by knowing the plot he's in, among other stuf... Really great.