Silhouette

The Silhouette of a character is very important.  Most people don't realize how important silhouettes are.  Characters who have great silhouettes are the ones that work.  They are easier to see, more appealing, and you can also understand the function and personality of an object/character by it's shape.. for example here are the silhouettes of several characters.  See how many you can recognize

as example of how with silhouettes you should understand the characters function.  By just looking at their silhouette you should be able to figure out what each of these characters specialize in?

It is very important in animating and in posing characters.  Good silhouettes makes it easier to recognize what is occuring in a scene and makes good storytelling.

Disney uses shape to design characters. Using circles for friendly and soft, squares for stable and strong, sharp for dangerous, and active is widely accepted and used