@_Pencilcreations's post on Artfol
@_Pencilcreations
United States of America
Noalea| Multi fandom sometimes| second account: @Pencilcreations22 Artist/Animator|
So… To all of my writers out there, I need your assistance... How does a character come to life? I'm very excited to be producing my own web series! But I'm not sure how to go about developing a character.Feb 27, 2022
#questions
Comments
I think what make a character most alive is to make them human (character wise, not necessarily their appearance).
Give them goals and things that they want, give them family and friends, and personality. Give them all kinds of small details that make them who they are. Most importantly though, Give them bad habits and things they're ashamed that they do. There has to be balance between the good and bad. Maybe the character really really loves their friends and talks their ears off whenever they're together and gives them good advice, but maybe the character also overworks themself and doesn't have any time for their friends quite often. Character flaws are good and make a character more relatable and believable!
Give them goals and things that they want, give them family and friends, and personality. Give them all kinds of small details that make them who they are. Most importantly though, Give them bad habits and things they're ashamed that they do. There has to be balance between the good and bad. Maybe the character really really loves their friends and talks their ears off whenever they're together and gives them good advice, but maybe the character also overworks themself and doesn't have any time for their friends quite often. Character flaws are good and make a character more relatable and believable!
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I am not a professional writer in any means I have only been doing it occasionally for 2 years but I think little character quirks are just the cutest thing. Do they do lil calligraphy with colorful fineliners in their diary? Do they eat their apples peeled or not? Just subtle things and preferences really make a character feel real!
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Honestly? Listening to a song, and making up the characters story as it goes along, kind of like an animatic. Music can really help spark new ideas for me sometimes.
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•I take one trait of a character and I run with it.
Spark is a celebrity and I wanted to play on how some celebrities don’t care about their fans so for the most part he’s a narcissistic jerk. He was also a child star and has been exploited by the industry. This was to offset his other trait and make it easier to sympathize with him. He also has a crush on his manager for the jokes but at the same time it shows that he can’t let go of the things that are hurting him.
Spark is a celebrity and I wanted to play on how some celebrities don’t care about their fans so for the most part he’s a narcissistic jerk. He was also a child star and has been exploited by the industry. This was to offset his other trait and make it easier to sympathize with him. He also has a crush on his manager for the jokes but at the same time it shows that he can’t let go of the things that are hurting him.
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•I don’t quite know how to explain it, but (stay with me here) playing D&D helped me learn a bit about developing a character!
For example, I started with a blank slate of a character with literally little no backstory; I gave him one of those amnesia backstories, so he only remembers half of his life (& I literally barely have a clue what his life was like before it, I let my friend the DM have probably too much freedom with it!)
Now (from playing him), I have a anxious but friendly gentle giant of a character who’s (because of low dice rolls/rolling poorly) has been established to be really good at accidentally causing “incidents” that have mostly escalated higher than the last; AKA he’s accident prone to the point people have died, but he doesn’t want to hurt most people! From the establishment of the incidents, I’ve since made it a thing that goes back farther, like he’s always been accident prone & he’s got some of the craziest stories to tell if you ever asked him about it! And then, because I have ADHD & it ended up really showing through when I’ve played him, I made it so he has undiagnosed ADHD! It’s part of his character sheet that he’s not the best at interacting with folks, & the ADHD would actually explain it, as well as the impulsiveness that had caused the incidents! His clothes are pretty simple in design (originally because I wasn’t the best at drawing outfits when I originally made him) but I incorporated it into his backstory/character that he usually doesn’t have enough money on him to afford better or more interesting clothing; to the point that he’s actually made some of his clothes himself, which is why they’re so simple in design!
I hope this makes sense, because I don’t know how else’s I can currently explain it!
For example, I started with a blank slate of a character with literally little no backstory; I gave him one of those amnesia backstories, so he only remembers half of his life (& I literally barely have a clue what his life was like before it, I let my friend the DM have probably too much freedom with it!)
Now (from playing him), I have a anxious but friendly gentle giant of a character who’s (because of low dice rolls/rolling poorly) has been established to be really good at accidentally causing “incidents” that have mostly escalated higher than the last; AKA he’s accident prone to the point people have died, but he doesn’t want to hurt most people! From the establishment of the incidents, I’ve since made it a thing that goes back farther, like he’s always been accident prone & he’s got some of the craziest stories to tell if you ever asked him about it! And then, because I have ADHD & it ended up really showing through when I’ve played him, I made it so he has undiagnosed ADHD! It’s part of his character sheet that he’s not the best at interacting with folks, & the ADHD would actually explain it, as well as the impulsiveness that had caused the incidents! His clothes are pretty simple in design (originally because I wasn’t the best at drawing outfits when I originally made him) but I incorporated it into his backstory/character that he usually doesn’t have enough money on him to afford better or more interesting clothing; to the point that he’s actually made some of his clothes himself, which is why they’re so simple in design!
I hope this makes sense, because I don’t know how else’s I can currently explain it!
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•I’ve never really thought about it too much but I’d always recommend figuring out the characters role first since that’ll effect them a lot. Think about what sort of character they’ll be and look at similar characters in media it’ll help with new ideas. Developing the characters personally and voice is probably the most important part as that’s what gives them life and makes the feel real, this can take a while but is totally worth it. This’ll also play a massive part in their design.
If you have any specific questions about anything relating to characters or just stories writing in general then feel free to ask, I always love answering them.
If you have any specific questions about anything relating to characters or just stories writing in general then feel free to ask, I always love answering them.
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