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I've worked on character design for a board-game (see reference here). Now I am working on a new project and would like to continue working with the same style of character design. For this I want to find more references so I may improve my work over time.

The problem is: I am unable to "name" this style correctly so as to find relevant results in searches. I'm not formally trained as a character designer, so I perhaps missed some 101 where I would have learned such nomenclature.

So in short: what is the name for this type of character design?

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    Not every style of artwork has a specific name. While some may ascribe things like "flat" or "vector" to this art, that probably wouldn't be entirely accurate compared to other artwork which could use the same words as a description.
    – Scott
    Dec 24, 2019 at 8:42
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    I might try adding "cartoon", or "classic caricature" to your search terms... but as @Scott has said, I don't think you'll find a distinct style name for this. Good luck though!
    – GerardFalla
    Dec 24, 2019 at 17:20
  • Yeah sadly so. I added "modern" in search which tended to bring me some old school cartoons then crawling to similar items. But didn't hit the jackpot.
    – neydroydrec
    Dec 25, 2019 at 1:05
  • Try "Vector Sprites"-these characters and backgrounds clearly look like as if they were created in a vector graphics software like Illustrator (the use of Bezier Pen tool is clearly seen in the curved outline of the characters)
    – srt111
    Dec 26, 2019 at 15:44
  • @starzar yes I did all this with Inkcape at the time.
    – neydroydrec
    Dec 27, 2019 at 8:26

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I hope we do not have a name for every "style" of "stuff" because we would need to learn a lot of names because the combinations are exponential. Sayed that:

You have to differentiate several things about a character. The underlying idea below it. I will make a list of ideas you can use for your search.

In this case, I see geometric 3D cartoon as a base. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=geometric+3d+cartoon&t=h_&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

I see a flat-shaded 3d cartoon. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=flat+shaded+3d+cartoon&t=h_&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

I also see it as the evolution of flat design, which comes in some forms, isometric cartoon. This is not isometric, but the idea is going from a 2D character to a 3D one, even if it is drawn in vectors as an illustration. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=isometric+cartoon&t=h_&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

It also as mentioned have a style of classic cartoons, "Pink panter and the inspector" comes to my mind.

But here is a thing. You need to go and learn the real bases of character design, not go and copy a style you found on the internet.

In fact, these cartoons work very nicely because they understand the essence of the character, a fat rounded general, and more squared soldiers. More expressive eyes on the main toon and more emotionless eyes on the other ones.

Study some basics about expression, not only on the face, but also on the body, angles, etc.

In short:

  1. Separate the underlying idea of a character. Give him a basic shape.

  2. Give him expression, body language, and facial expression.

  3. Define a render style, in this case flat shaded.

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