Modern RPG Character Portraits

CEO & Founder at RetroStyle Games | Mar 28, 2023

Fantastic, real, fabulous, or even alien — each character should be a well-crafted part of the game. These are the rules that will make your project different from hundreds and thousands of others. Your character portraits must have a unique appearance, face and facial expressions, personality, and, of course, clothing that matches the context of the game. Remember: the plot of any modern RPG game is driven by characters.

In our studio, the creation of fictional character portraits and game character concept art plays a crucial role when creating illustrations for card battles, icons, conversational dialogue pieces, and more.

Are you ready to learn more about character portraits? Well, let’s get started.

RPG Character Portraits History

In RPGs, we, the players, choose what our characters do. We assist them in overcoming barriers, confronting enemies, and coping with the consequences of their choices. However, via these experiences, we may transform them from their two-dimensional origins into something truly unique with deeper depth, personality, and purpose. It is our choices that can turn them into true heroes. As a result, we can have more fun with the gameplay.

In short, the history of character portraits came to us from pen-and-paper games and continues to this day. Art and game artists have continued down this path of development until now so that the characters of modern RPG games can impress you.

In the course of history, the style has changed, and technical capabilities have changed to implement more daring ideas. The portraits of the characters looked more and more like real people and lost their connection with cartoons and fairy tales. Whether hand-drawn or AI-created, the main characters or other NPCs in games have been transformed year after year to become an essential part of the gameplay experience.

RPG Character Design Tips

The concept artist must be able to draw professionally and have a thorough understanding of anatomy, as well as comprehend the primary distinguishing aspects of a figure based on physiognomy and how to highlight them effectively. Many factors should be considered while making your character more expressive, catching, and memorable, including the influence of age, the use of “assets,” facial emotions, a character’s background, aesthetics, and much more.

You should analyze different personalities from a variety of sources, particularly successful ones. You could begin to collect emotions, clothing, actions, and other items to use for your unique characters. There are some important questions you should discuss with your art team to help you determine the foundation of your character:

Who is the intended recipient?
What is the character’s setting?
What would you like your character to stand for?
Do you want a straightforward or complex character?
What universe will the character inhabit?
That last question is crucial and is sometimes overlooked. You should think about what kind of world they live in and who they interact with.

Types of Modern RPG Portraits

Several games feature a portrait-style drawing of a character’s face. These are generally displayed next to the character’s name in RPGs or other games with menus. In some games with talking NPCs, where it is impossible to see the characters’ faces, a portrait may be displayed next to their dialogue box. Frequent in RPGs due to the high number of NPC, as well as a standard in visual novels.

In some games, a variety of portraits for the same character may be used to show facial expressions and the like. At least a few facial expressions.

So let’s take a look at the different types of portraits available for modern RPGs:

1
2D SPRITES
This is a bitmap image that the player always sees from the same angle. In other words, it’s just a picture. Most often, such images of character portraits are used in visual novels of the old type. Here, the artist can create portraits of the main characters with only one facial expression or take the time to create a whole range of emotions for each situation and plot choice of the player.
2
3D MODELS
Most modern RPG character portraits are now created in 3D. The faces of the characters look real, and it doesn’t matter if your game is about humans, elves, or aliens. This type of modern character portrait also allows you to create hyper-realistic characters in your games, which is a big bonus.
3
Digital art
Digital portraits are created entirely on computers, using techniques similar to those used in painting but recreated in digital software. The idea is not to achieve a digital appearance in the final photograph. Alternatively, programs use various brush or pencil thickness effects in conventional portrait genres to try to replicate the look of painting.

Resources and Inspiration

If you want to create impressive and realistic character portraits, first of all, observe real people. Try to repeat on paper their emotions and facial expressions.

And for more inspiration to creating more portraits, we’ve put together some helpful resources for you:

Conclusion

As we can see, the appearance of modern RPG character portraits is solely determined by the artist’s skills and the genre of the game, as well as the audience’s needs and industry trends. Creating a portrait of a character is a complex and fascinating process.

You have a lot to learn and a lot to be prepared for, but the result will definitely bring you pleasure. If you are looking for a team that will help you create amazing RPG character concepts, then just contact us. And we wish you creative success!

RPG Character Portraits History

RPG Character Design Tips

Types of Modern RPG Portraits

2D SPRITES

3D MODELS

Digital art

Resources and Inspiration

Conclusion