Ruixue Zhang, Hongya Zhou

Ruixue Zhang

August 23, 2026

Chinese network animation, Technical media, Male character, Evolution of aesthetics.

The Chinese network animation with male as the protagonist from 2011 to 2024 is the research object. From the perspective of technical media, this paper systematically discusses the aesthetic construction and evolution of male character image under three main technical forms of 2D, 3D and cel-shading. This paper uses Stuart Hall's 'encoding and decoding' model to analyze the text of male characters, and combines technical logic and market audience to explore the meaning of its visual elements. The study found that the technical form has a profound impact on the aesthetic expression of male characters. 2D animation shapes a symbolic body from borrowing Japanese style to integrate local aesthetic elements through line generalization and proportional reorganization. Relying on the continuous iteration of technology, 3D animation has realized the transformation of male character from early rough symbolic image to the type differentiation of masculinity aesthetics and femininity aesthetics, and finally towards the highly realistic bodies; Cel-shading animation seeks the balance between 3D structure and 2D style, forming a unique harmonious aesthetic form.

© 2026, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license