A Study of Facial Features of American and Japanese Cartoon Characters

Abstract

Many researchers think that the characters in animated cartoons and comics are designed according to the exaggeration or reduction of some features based on the human face. However, the feature distribution of the human face is relatively symmetrical and uniform. Thus, to ensure the characters look exaggerated, but without breaking the principle of symmetry, some questions remain: Which facial features should be exaggerated during the design process? How exaggerated are the faces of cartoon characters compared to real faces? To answer these questions, we selected 100 cartoon characters from American and Japanese animation, collected data from their facial features and the facial features of real people, and then described the features using angles, lengths, and areas. Finally, we compared cartoon characters’ facial features values with real facial features and determined the key parts and degree of facial exaggeration of animated characters. The research results show that American and Japanese cartoon characters both exaggerate the eyes, nose, ears, forehead, and chin. Compared with human faces, taking the eye area as an example, American animation characters are twice as large compared with human faces, whereas Japanese animation characters are 3.4 times larger than human faces. The study results can be used for reference by animation character designers and researchers.