The eyes have it
One of my pet peeves of character design would have to be when the eyes of a character are handled in a different way than other characters from the same piece. For example, look at Barney Rubble and Wilma Flintstone. They have the black button eyes while nearly everyone else in their universe have the eyeball and pupil type eyes. When I was a kid, I reasoned that Wilma and Barney were from the same town outside of Bedrock, thus the similar eyes.
Sometimes, the eyes are done button style for some other reason. Winnie the Pooh and Piglet seem to be stuffed animals, while their friends Rabbit and Owl are real animals… thus the different types of eyes.
When done in 3D, the style difference is even more apparent to me. The starfish character from “Finding Nemo” (Peach) had the button type eyes. She stood out quite a bit from the other characters in the film… so much so that it almost looked like Peach and Gill didn’t belong in the same movie.
Maybe that’s just me. Thoughts?
-Floyd Bishop
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On September 5th, 2007 at 12:00 am
I don’t mind this. Sometime a certain personality calls for a certain kind of eye, despite a different character’s eye.
On September 5th, 2007 at 12:00 am
These types of eyes in general always bugged me, since you can’t easily tell where a character is looking.
On September 5th, 2007 at 12:00 am
For myself personally I always thought it was a way to convey some level of intelligence.
On September 5th, 2007 at 12:00 am
haha, i dont mind it at all. i think the designs are perfect, i mean, imagining them with eyes like fred flinstone. theres plenty more design like this in the rest of bedrock. i dunno, it’s never bothered me. variety in style is definitely what i love in cartoons.
On September 5th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Think of it this way: If you tried to draw a cartoon character of Conan O’Brien (think more of an iconic cartoon representation rather than anything that could be considered a full caricature), it’d almost HAVE to have dot eyes. It wouldn’t look like him if it didn’t. Now, if you then went to make a character for the same show of Andy Richter, you COULDN’T use dot eyes. It would never look like Andy Richter with dot eyes! People have different eye shapes, sizes, and colors in real life, and so they can in a show, too. I don’t think a show needs to have the Garfield design crutch of the same eyes on every character.
On September 5th, 2007 at 12:00 am
In art school, someone told me I shouldn’t give my characters the same style of eyes, and now someone’s suggesting otherwise.
What’s a guy to do?
T_T
On September 6th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Is it just me, have I been spending way too much time on “alternative” relationship sites, a probable combination thereof or are the black button-eyed characters usually submissive? (Wilma is to Fred, Barney is to Fred and Betty and Pooh is stuffed altogether…)
On September 6th, 2007 at 12:00 am
It is interesting that you ask about my opinion on this one Fred, as I had thought about responding to it when I first read the statement from Floyd.
I really never had any problem with the fact that Barney has different eyes from Fred or that Wilma has the same eyes as Barney yet not the same as Betty. I accepted that design as part of the show as I accept it in any show. I really don’t think that people outside the industry who watch these shows care about these details. I can understand how some artist in the industry can be bothered by the difference amongst characters within their own universe. I have been at this for 39 years and I’ve come to the conclusion that the audience will accept anything that you give them. Some things will be accepted better then others. In the end the fans, the audience, will not look at a show and wonder why some characters have different types of eyes.
Do what you like and don’t worry about what someone else will think.
Just one man’s opinion.