VILLAINS

"... a GOOD villain drives the conflict of a story... without the villain, the hero cannot overcome obstacles and develop as a character..."

Think of some of your favorite villains.
Why are they your favorite? are they scary? are they cool? are they predictable? are they are gross?

before designing a villain, everybody should refer to this article:

 http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Credible-Villain-in-Fiction

When it comes to designing villains, the #1 thing is story.  You have to know their role in the story you are trying to tell.

How does the Villain mix, match and collide with the Hero? Does the Villain eventually get redeemed or stay a bad guy? Is this villain a Demon, a crime boss, an obsessed genius, a serial killer? what was the turning point in the villain's life? what is his motive?

STORY, STORY, STORY, STORY, STORY - REMEMBER, WE ARE VISUAL STORYTELLERS!

How you portray your villain will determine how the audience views your Hero.  if the Antagonist is too Silly,  then too much fear on the part of the Protagonist will make him foolish.    If the Villain is too scary (also consider your audience) and your Hero is ridiculously outmatched, then the Hero will still feel foolish rather than brave for confronting him.  Remember, you Hero is only as good as his Opposite.

WHEN DESIGNING - CONSIDER

1) Story
2) Shapes used - Diagonals, Triangles, small detail and sharp shapes vs. rounds and horizontals.
3) Silhouette - also consider different types of Straights vs. curves
4) Costume (also colors) - Adversaries that represent different ideals should have costumes that represent who they are and contrast with what their nemesis wears.
5) Gesture

Take all of these into account.  for more on shape, reffer to the Shape Language Post.

DEMO - this is a great demo, showing 3 different kinds of Villains - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2VCjqGcTFA

Article - Justify Your Villains - http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/2011/07/justify-your-villains.html - This one is amazing, and has great insight into the character design in Disney's Tangled.