Brainstorming
Brainstorming is an important aspect to character design and the first step to take if you are serious about designing your own character. To create an in-depth character design, it is integral to come up with a back story, a purpose and other story elements the character will be a part of. Some people go about designing a character by just thinking up race, costume elements and hairstyles. However, the introduction of a back story and placing thought into the journey the character has taken and where the character intends to go can greatly increase the chances of coming up with a solid idea that contains a purpose. Let us say, for example, that your character was a male who fought against a strange creature when he was younger. Perhaps there was a struggle, perhaps the character received a scar in a certain place. Not only will the addition of this blemish give your character a sense of visual appeal, but it will also give purpose to the character and will help you to better describe where he has been and what they have done. Keep this in mind when you brainstorm, crafting a story in your head can help you to gather your elements more effectively.
Concept Art
Concept art is the second step in creating your character for whatever application you have in mind. Concept art is the process of creating a concept or a template for all of your drawings and sketches to go off of. Consider this a master sketch that all of your other drawings will follow. Concept art is a critical element when you are character designing for a video game, movie or any other application where a team will be helping you craft a final product. The reason that conceptual art is important is because it gives your teammates a visual aid to work with and helps them to better understand your concept. Remember the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" because in this case it is 100 percent true. Seeing your character physically can increase your chances that a design team will include all the elements you described to them. A model sheet is a good way to collect all the different elements that are important to character design (see "Resources").
Practice
Practice is the last and arguably one of the most important steps in designing a character. Once you have a character designed and have a successful model sheet, don't stop focusing or drawing that character just yet. The final step you need to take is making sure that you continuously draw your character. Draw him in different poses, styles, with different objects and in different backdrops. You need to be able to sketch your character in a certain position for reference at any given moment. When you create a character you own it, and when people come to you with questions about that character, you need to be able reference to them your exact vision.
