Character model sheets of Tetsuo both in colour and black & white.

In animation, every character is typically drawn out in three main poses- front, back
and side. This process is repeated for every costume and colour information
is included to aid the design team/animators. Since the effect of light in animation
is acheived through colour, every costume is drawn out in different shades to suggest
various changes of light. Good examples of this can be seen in the AKIRA
PRODUCTION REPORT video/DVD.
To appreciate the mechanics and dynamics of a character, many head shots are
drawn which indicate proportion, scale and (to an extent) personality. Again, the
animation artists use this information as reference to maintain continuity
when drawing out a character repeatedly. It's vitally important for characters to
appear consistant throughout the production and such model sheets are referred to
often.
As we can see in the images of the boots below, attention is brought to costume
detail too. A character's accessories and clothing are equally important as the
character itself so items are drawn out in several angles to aid the artists' spatial
awareness and to clarify how they are constructed.