Character design

Character design is a combo of physical and narrative traits. like their role in a story. you think about personality before designing what they look like, the looks should reflect what they're like and their role in a story, like a hero will dress in friendly clothes, no reds or blacks as predominant colours in an outfit, the 'baddy' will often look very much like a bad guy, in the same way in a western you wouldn't see a man dressed in causal 2014 street wear.

'A face is the primary channel to express emotion of a person' - Colman

this is a reason behind the many large headed cartoon characters we see, they need a large surface if you will to show emotions predominantly enough for anyone to see. 

'A lot can be said in posture and body language' - also Colman

Solarski - 

'Hands are effective ways of expressing personality'

'how a character  carries their weight also informs us about personality - particularly which body part part they lead with'

leading with:

Chest: confident, proud, heroic eg- Johnny Bravo

Pelvis: lady, dumb, dopey, shaggy eg- shaggy from Scooby Doo

head: intelligence 

knees: coward

Power - take up more space

weak - take up less space

like nature, peacocks etc