Character Redesign
| Synonyms: | canon redesign, redesign |
| See also: | Dekudog, Kinsona, Chromatic Recasting |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
A character redesign, also called canon redesign or just redesign, is when a fan takes the design of a canon character and redesigns aspects of them. Character redesigns are more common in animation fandom than live action fandom.
History
Character redesigns have likely existed for as long as characters have existed. However one of the first instances of a character redesign online is "Knuckls redesign" on Furaffinity, a redesign of Knuckles from Sonic the Hedgehog posted on May 11, 2006 by the artist shadowravyn.[1] Another is a redesign of Sally Acorn posted on July 15, 2007 by mayathehedgehog.[2]
An early mention of a canon character redesign from DeviantART comes from a 2012 journal entry [3] hosting a redesign contest for the artist's Kingdom Hearts fanfiction. Another comes from a 2011 group contest for Transformers, where the challenge was to redesign a canon character to fit within a different Transformers series.[4]
Character redesigns may have potentially been popularized by My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic from 2010. On DeviantART, "Canon Redesign" sorted by "popular this century" is almost entirely composed of MLP:FiM redesigns. However, many of the MLP redesigns are between the years 2017-2020. This may coincide with concept art leaks which occurred in 2018.[5][6]
Opinions and Reactions
Fans redesign canon characters for a variety of reasons that sometimes reflect opinions towards canon held by the redesigner. This can be wanting to put a personal spin on the design, or wanting to include more diversity in the design that was not present in canon. For example, adding intricate details to a design that specifically appeal to the redesigner, such as changing Applejack from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to be piebald. Or, changing a character's skin color or body type for increased representation, such as changing Dr. Coomer from HLVRAI to be fat with a darker skin tone. Or, the redesign may be making a statement that the redesigner believes the original design is "objectively bad."[7] For example, changing the color scheme of a character with purposeful statements about the "poor design skills" of the character designers, such as Steven Universe Critical artists changing Lapis Lazuli to have gold highlights due to the belief that, without the highlights, the design is objectively bad.
Redesign v.s Style
Some fan designs may not be considered "redesigns" because the artist did not intend for their design to be an intentional redesigning of the canon character. Instead, some designs that do not adhere closely to canon may be considered the "style" of the artist rather than a character redesign. This means for a design to be considered a canon character redesign, purposeful intent has to be stated by the artist.
Comments
[DeeDoof, Jun 2, 2019. Boku No Hero Academia Reddit.]
By edits and redesigns, I’m talking about all the art on Tumblr where people change the characters’ skin color/ their body types/ facial feature, usually the 1-A students.Now, it’s not necessarily a bad thing imo because it’s just fans interpreting their own vision of the characters but I’m curious to what think when they’re referred as “fixed”.
Examples/common changes in general:
-Making their skin darker.
-Adding prominent lips.
Various accessories such as earrings, rings, pride pins, makeup etc.
More realistic body types such making the girls more pudgier.
-Giving them more visual flaws such as scars, body hair, etc.
Not gonna point to any specific artists because that would be rude.[8]
[nijicx]
Redesigns for the purpose of fun or putting you're own little flare on it, as like, an alternate costume or design that's all in good fun. There even was a user here who redesigned all the characters in a mecha form, which was neat to see. When you say "I'm fixing something" you kinda imply that it's broken in some way to begin with. I don't think that is in good taste...I don't really have an opinion on the rest, I just really think it's kinda distasteful to say "My idea/design is better nah-nah-nahbooboo, stick your head in doo doo"
I think redesigns can be fun and interesting, when they are approached with the intention of challenging oneself to make your own version with your own knowledge or style. Not when they are approached with the intention that "I'm gunna fix it for you"
It is a bit pretentious.
[JPLangley]
It’s racist as fuck. Whitewashing is done to make movies more “palatable” for white audiences. Racist or at the least more than ignorant. Blackwashing is done so that these Japanese characters are more palatable for their minority artists, but so they’re also not white (Even though they’re not). Also racist.
Like on a different note aside from my own insecurities I’ve never understood redesigning OTHER peoples characters?? Like???? Like if you wanna redo a story or something that’s okay but you can’t just completely redesign someone’s character (Unless they’re Y@ndere dev) like that. Sometimes you’re not even “redesigning” a character you’re creating an oc and then attracting someone else’s characters name to it. You didn’t redesign anything just created something inspired by a different character. It’s like rude or something I guess. Just like destroying someone else’s creativity just because you didn’t like it? Does that make sense?luckithri, Mar 16, 2022[9]
i love you drastic redesigns i love you artistic interpretations of characters i love you colorful personal designs i love you intricate hard to draw characters i love you redesigns of characters with official designs i love you alternate universe designs i lov-chocolate-milk, Aug 27, 2022[10]
Popular Redesigns and Examples
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
- My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic characters, particularly the "Mane Six," are popular for fans to redesign. MLP redesigns often add many intricate details that are not easily replicated in animation, such as adding extra colors in the mane/tail, adding coat details such as piebald/freckles/gradients, and additional fur details such as flared legs/fluffy faces.[11]
- Half Life VR but the AI is Self Aware characters often have redesigned body types, hair styles, and skin colors. These align with headcanons, such as Dr. Coomer being shorter and fatter than Bubby.[12]
- Monster High
- Steven Universe redesigns often change character colors schemes and outfits, sometimes as a criticism of the show's design.[13]
- Five Nights at Freddy's characters often have fan redesigns; for Security Breach this typically expresses as fans designing the glamrock animatronics to be more glamrock.
- Genshin Impact characters are commonly redesigned on Tiktok and other social medias, often the characters redesigned are from the regions Sumeru, Inazuma or Liyue
Gallery
References
- ^ Knuckls redesign {old}, Furaffinity. May 11, 2006 (Accessed 9/22/2022)
- ^ Sally Acorn redesign, Furaffinity. Jul 15, 2007 (Accessed 9/22/2022)
- ^ Redesign Contest! I need your Help!, DeviantART. Feb 16, 2012 (Accessed 11/15/2022)
- ^ August challenge!, DeviantART. Jul 31, 2011 (Accessed 11/15/2022)
- ^ MLP G5 Redesigns, DeviantART. Jan 12, 2018 (Accessed 11/15/2022)
- ^ MLP G5 LEAKS - MANE 6 DESIGN CONCEPT, DeviantART. Jan 10, 2018 (Accessed 11/15/2022)
- ^ Fnaf security breach sucks ass so I’m redesigning, Twitter. Jan 4, 2023 (Accessed 1/5/2023)
- ^ What are your opinions on character edits/redesigns?, Reddit. 6/2/2019 (Accessed 9/29/2022)
- ^ I’ve never understood redesigning OTHER peoples characters??, Tumblr. 3/16/2022 (Accessed 9/29/2022)
- ^ i love you drastic redesigns, Tumblr. 8/27/2022 (Accessed 9/29/2022)
- ^ i used to wonder what friendship could be, Aug 31, 2022 (Accessed 9/23/2022)
- ^ I cant get myself to do Benrey, Feb 27, 2021 (Accessed 9/23/2022)
- ^ redesign out of boredom. and also for fun? oh worm!, Tumblr. Apr 15. 2020 (Accessed 9/23/2022)