3 Key Points to Make Your Character Stand Out

Hello everyone!

"My character doesn't stand out! What should I do..."

Have you ever felt this way?

Today, I'd like to explain three key points that will help make your character stand out. These points are "Size," "Color Contrast," and "Information Density."

1. Consider the Character's Size Relative to the Screen

First, determine your character's position and size. This is about layout.

The character's presence changes depending on how large they appear relative to the screen size.

When a character is small compared to the screen size, you can guide the viewer's attention to the overall scene, including the background. When the character is large, attention naturally gravitates toward them.

Also, positioning matters just as much as size.

Even if you make the character large, poor placement won't effectively guide viewers' attention. Choose appropriate sizes and positions based on your scene and intent.

2. Consider Color Contrast Between Background and Character

To make a character stand out, the relationship between background and character colors across the entire screen is crucial. The key points for color contrast are "Brightness," "Saturation," and "Hue."

Let's first look at brightness, which is easiest to understand.

Brightness Contrast 

While the center colors are identical in both cases, the center appears bright against a black background and dark against a white background. When the brightness levels match, the center blends into the background.

Creating brightness differences between the character and background is essential for making the character clearly visible.

Next, let's consider saturation and hue.

Saturation Contrast 

When the background has low saturation, the center appears more vivid. Conversely, when the background has high saturation, the center appears duller.

Hue Contrast 

How a color appears changes depending on the background color. Against a blue background, the center appears slightly reddish, while against a red-purple background, it appears slightly bluish. This is due to "complementary colors" - colors opposite each other on the color wheel that enhance each other. (This might require some color theory knowledge. It's a bit tricky.)

As this extreme example shows, simply adjusting background colors can make your character more prominent. Since hue is somewhat complex, it's best to start by focusing on "brightness" and "saturation" contrast when composing your scenes.

3. Control Information Density

Eyes are naturally drawn to areas with high information density.

For example, adding blur to the background makes characters more visible because the blur effect reduces background information density.

The blur has made the character more visible. However, the "red bus" in the background still stands out, so let's adjust its size to crop it out of the background.

With the red bus gone, the background's information density has decreased. The character should now be more visible.

By controlling the overall information density to increase it where you want attention, you can effectively guide viewers' eyes.

Summary

When trying to make characters stand out, it's often difficult to know where to begin. In such cases, it's helpful to check these three points in order:

1. Consider size and position in the layout.

2. Adjust colors to prevent blending with the background.

3. Control information density to guide attention.

By effectively combining these three points, you can make your characters more appealing. While actual production requires adjusting the balance according to the situation, remembering these basic concepts will surely be helpful.

Try applying these tips to your work!