Delicious in Dungeon - Fundamentals of Character Design

Regarding Marcille's race and her being a walking spoiler, one of my favorite aspects of that is how she is the reader's first introduction to elves. In her rounded ears being the first characteristic we see, it not only makes her seem like the "normal", but makes the canaries feel all the more alien and dangerous when they're introduced. Plus, given how few elves are on The Island naturally, it's no wonder that none of her companions even suspected she could be a half elf.

As an artist, I am FLOORED by this artist's mastery of anatomy and body shapes, and the ease with which she can jump from one to another and blend characters races while still keeping them immediatly recognizable. Amazing.

Side note but Izutsumi has to be the best catgirl character ever. Ryoko Kui answers the age old question of "what if a girl was a cat?" with "then... she'd be a cat???" and it just... works.

I think the part where laios' build is attributed more to diet and lifestyle than genetic predisposition needs to be a little more cognizant that both he and Falin are Big, even for Tallmen/Humans. It's something I appreciate because a lot of the times artists default for showing a big stocky older brother but have their sister be a tiny waifish thing. Not to say it's unrealistic, but in dunmesh it's refreshing.

"Orcs aren't conventionally attractive" Yes, but they are absolutely the cutest to me <3

In my opinion we needed even more Senshi fan service shots

when you see the author's notes between chapters you can see how she is very passionate about this manga dungeon meshi is getting an adaptation and I can't wait for it

Something that's always stayed with me is a guy that said he has a lazy eye, and that there's very few representations for them in fiction, so he really appreciates Mithrun for having one while still being cool and hot

I feel like the appeal of practical, natural, and realistic armor and outfits in medieval fantasy stories is massively underrated, especially in manga and anime. I really appreciate styles like this

I'm still blown away by Kui's design process, going so far as to make studies of eyes and noses (ref 6:42) so every character maximizes recognizability without extreme exaggeration or making them difficult to draw repeatedly on the page. The bonus art she does where characters are drawn in modern, or each others' clothes, or even as different races, really drives home how strong this careful selection of features is. It's a remarkable talent.

Dungeon meshi has always been groundbreaking in it's representation and character design. I'm so happy to see you talking about it!

Yeh i decided to start reading this manga. I was like eating monsters cant be that great of a concept right? But i gave it a shot cus I like DND. AND HOLY SHIT THE DETAILS OF THIS WOMAN's DRAWINGS character design! WORLD BUILDING! INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS! and the explorations of VARYING RACES AND BODY TYPES! It was so much fucking variety! Plus the in world explanations of why dungeons exist in the first place. This woman is genius and is talented in so many ways that it only leaves me with adoration and immeasurable envy!

As an aspiring character designer this video is REALLY helpful, I myself noticed that a lot of my characters have similar body types, I will try to study a wider variety of body types to use for my designs now

You know the author puts lots of effort in their characters if all their eyes/ nose shape/mouth/ cheek shape/ body shape look different.

I personally relate to Chilchuck because I too am short. This manga has taught me a lot about character design, can't wait to see the anime

As a Professor of Art at a University i am really glad you talked about diversity in design, especially as it refers to race. One way i teach it is, These are the basic proportions of the face, What makes a face unique and memorable are the ways it differs from this, not the idea that it fits this exactly. Great video all around and a great message given on design on top of that.

I would assume Marcille's sleeves are stitched so that she can store things inside and the stitching keeps them from falling out. Also I hope the upcoming anime adaptation respects and loves the diversity of body types just as much as the manga (I'm just thinking of how anime adaptations will slim down bodies when it comes to female characters).

The fact that that Ryoko went into this much detail is crazy. The armor is crazy accurate, while also still keeping it fantasy. This is what we need more of. I'm gonn start reading the manga.

Dungeon Meshi feels like a true DnD Campaign with fantastic DM and Wild but smart player

With regards to presentation and body types in this manga: I really love how much thought goes into standards of beauty with the characters and the races in the world of Dungeon Meshi. It's clear that Kui spent a lot of time thinking about that sort of thing.