Hey, so, i have this custom character for my W.I.P game. When i draw him like normal, he looks alive, and like an actual character. But, in game, i don’t know why but, no matter what i do, i just can’t help but feel like he looks soulless. I’ve done everything from adding blinking, to adding idle animations, and i still just can’t pinpoint what the problem is exactly. It’s not the animations, it’s just specifically his face. It just feels off. And kinda uncanny too. Any help please?
maybe try making his pupils bigger? I don’t think he looks soulless as you put it haha so i dont really know what else to tell you except just trying to make his pupils bigger
I think it has more to do with the facial expressions being fixed in most animations. This is most apparent in the running and sliding animations, where it just doesn’t really look lively.
I guess he blinks occasionally but something still feels off and I don’t think it’s just the eyes.
Echoing what a few others have said, the character looks great - I think the body shape and texture work is good. The reason why your character feels a little ‘off’ is because of the face. The eyes are a little intense and ‘bug-eyed’ (spaced out). I think an easy way to improve your character’s vibes is to bring the pupils inwards closer together when the character is looking forwards.
Some more suggestions, while more of my opinion and taste for character design, perhaps play with the line weighting for the face parts. Thicker, more dynamic eyebrows maybe? Make the mouth line go from thick at the smirking corner to thin at the lower end?
I would consider some changes for the pupils too. To me, having the specular highlight on the pupil when the character is in a dark environment makes the eyes feel a bit “glassy”. It’s up to you to play with potential design changes : )
Great project work by the way. Really good to see a passion project with custom designed character rigs and a unique atmosphere
