>>50183557In some ways, it's actually harder to make simple characters. If a design is simple, it's less likely that any two parts of the design clash, but it's also harder to make interesting. So people try to fix this by adding more components, and making them more detailed. But more parts means that each individual component is more likely to clash with another. There are loads of characters that have a bunch of individually appealing items, but look stupid as a whole. It actually takes skill to make a simple design that's still appealing, just as it takes skill to make a complex design that's appealing.
This is also why so many classic anime and video game characters are visually simple. Anything animated has to be drawn repeatedly, which means simpler is better. In addition to being somewhat animated, space limitations on early video games enforced simple designs, which meant they had to keep it relatively simple but immediately recognizable and appealing, like Mario, Sonic, Link, Mega Man, etc, instead of doing something like pic related. Try to remember everything on this design a few hours after you've seen it, or try to draw it. Any kid can draw the previous characters from memory, even if poorly. Could anyone without photographic memory draw this?
I have to wonder how much projects like Hololive Alternative have influenced their character designs, since they're considering whether they'll need to be animated.
