Thank you for all the interest in receiving critiques on character designs! I got 30+ DMs about it overnight and figured it might be more manageable to made a video or two going over my thoughts on designs! If you're interested in a critique and alright with having your design featured in a video, submit it here: https://forms.gle/49Vuj4S9Vn8NqDq56

I never thought that "marketable plushies" could also be useful for determining successful character design instead of just being cute gremlin merchandise. Thanks for the video!

Me, who does not have the money, patience, art skill, equipment/software or even a substantial reason to create a v-tuber model:
"Hmm, this looks interesting."

Don't know how many people will see this, but my additive piece here is to design a character entirely in black/white/grays because almost all art programs nowadays allow you to adjust the colors based on the values you put in. A strong value contrast will lead to a strong color contrast.

i was curating my playlist for 'how to vtube' advice and then I SEE MYSELF IN THE VIDEO AND I SCREAMED

I have to say, Pikamee probably was the only V-Tuber I came to because of the design. Never really watched anyone else. Here design was so unique and amazing, it was like that simplified manga style I really love. I stuck around because of who she was and it was really fun. If I ever would have to make a V-Tuber, it would be a design similar to that of Pikamee

I was always so conscious on how 'mundane' my persona looked, but knowing the appeal in simplicity and cleanliness reaffirmed myself on my design choices.

art class was always my least favorite class at school due to the teachers always complaining about how i would do it wrong and generally be demotivating, but this video like holy moly ive never been so inspired to draw something in my life i dont expect to ever become a vtuber but its so fun thinking of ideas of what my model could look like. amazing video thank you

Tips are good not only for vtubing but for desing in general. Hope you can make more content, your content as of now feels straighforward and comfy in a good way :]

I really love your view on 'good' art versus 'effective'.  Totally using this in the future.

A pixel art model?! how did I not think of that! that's an incredible idea!

I feel like there is an exception to the ladder rule and it's when you're designing a character who's personality is strict, stiff, perfectionist, etc, because then the stiffness actually works in favour of showing the character's personality through their design

i have next to zero interest in vtubers, but as someone who likes to draw i found this to be a useful guide for character design in general!!! thank you sm for doing this!!!

I am NOT a vtuber but I really liked your points about making a strong silhouette and I will keep them in mind when designing my character. Wide parts near thin parts, straight lines near curved lines. I’m having a bit of trouble understanding the latter design point but I’ll get it

I've noticed at the smaller end of Indie VTubers that there's a surprising amount of effective designs and even entertaining personalities where the issue would be they're not gachikoi bait to most straight men or deliberately are out as something that makes them only have specific gachikoi (think being openly LGBTQ or a male VTuber for example). As in some of them are fairly successful but if one moves further from the anime mold like GamerGoblinGary or my honorable mention not featured of ZozoHorrorshow of a non-anime effective VTuber design the biggest showcase outside of their usual realms might be as a design success.

I am quite glad you at least included GamerGoblinGary, Iiji.

How unique can you get in the current ocean of people trying to make it big as a vtuber? I'm seeing far fewer original designs that are cool and starting to see designs that are just "how STACKED can I make this avatar"?

"so you've just decided on your vtuber concept"

yeah, uhm, about that-

I really appreciate how you end by discussing the variety that exists within vtubers. As well as mentioning the difference in cost and work for high-detail vs. low-detail models.
Honestly, thinking about it, I'm not sure where I learned what I know about character design, but having designs that are easy to recognize when simplified really go such a long way. Especially for non-artist people like myself, who want to do some art of my own characters but don't have the skills to pull off anything more complex than simplistic chibi or adventure time style art without hitting a wall.

Squiiji is peak v-tuber design.

10:55 the second I saw her I thought "she has to be designed by Tetsuya Nomura" and I checked the wiki of characters he designed and I fuckin knew it