Organizing with shape language

Shape language is a term you may have seen floating around various other art, character design, or animation tutorials you may have seen, but what does it mean? While there are many different functional definitions of shape language, in the capacity of this book, shape language can be defined as simplifying complex areas of a painting into basic geometric shapes, giving us the "essence" of what we are trying to communicate to the viewer. Instead of focusing on the main focal points as the item's terminology or definition in the context of the subject matter (for instance, referring to something as a mountain, clouds, a vehicle, or a character), think of basic shapes that make up the silhouette of the subject matter, such as triangles, circles, ovals, rectangles, squares, and diamonds.

This is useful for clarifying our designs and breaking our artwork down into repeatable steps for others (such as an art team). Another usage for the...