Character Design: A Brand New Character
When preparing for this blog post, I decided I wanted to do a brand new character. One that I had never written about before, and one that I had never tried to develop before this last week. This was partially because I had a new story idea and I wanted to work on the main character, but I realized that I should probably start with a brand new character anyway, since this is all about character design and how it can help you develop your characters.
So, what I know about this character so far is this:
Gender: female
Age: Between 15 and 30 years
Place of residence/birth location: Dragon Graveyard
Name: Aeonian
I don't know what she looks like, I haven't nailed down her age, I know nothing about her personality, I don't know if she has a family, or a job. I know more about her culture and the place she lives than I know about her.
Assuming you have roughly the same information let's get started!
The first thing you need to know to start your artwork is their body type. Male, female, thin, fat, somewhere between, tall, short, average. Along with this you'll need to know their sex. Male or female. This will give you the basic info you need to start your line work.
Assuming you don't know much about this character's personality yet, you'll probably want to start with a pretty generic pose.
As you can see, I drew this lineart with as much of the body visible as possible. I did not, for example, allow her feet to go off the bottom edge of the paper. Like in the last example, you want as much space to work with as you can manage. I typically draw very thin characters. If you look at the line art above, you can see that she's still relatively thin, but not to the degree as the example we did last week. I wanted this character to have a much closer to average weight. I knew that, based on environmental factors, she would not be super thin (her people would have had access to good food sources around the time she was growing up) but she would also not be overweight (life, while good, is not easy, and they have a fairly healthy diet).
Once you have your base line art done, the next step is to decide what type of clothing you're going to put them in. If you're writing a period piece, or something based on a time period, you'll want to look at fashion of the time, and also consider how this character is going to be living and what kind of work they're likely to be engaged in.
I decided that since the story I'm planning is going to be similar to both medieval and pioneer/Victorian times, that the women would likely do most of the cooking, and would also probably wear long skirts, and blouses with high collars.
As you can see in this revised line art, she is wearing a tunic-length blouse with long, gathered sleeves and a high neck. She is also wearing a long skirt, medieval-inspired shoes, and a belt. Because she is going to be doing cooking, her sleeves are gathered at the wrists and fastened with buttons. Because her people are currently living in a colder climate, her skirt would be made of heavier cloth, both to help keep her legs warm and to prevent wind gusts from blowing them around too much.
I then started work on her face, hair, and the things that express personality in her appearance. Being an old-fashioned type society, long hair is a typical feature for women, as is pulling it back or up to keep it out of the face while cooking. I had to decide if Aeonian was going to stick with convention here, too, or if she was going to do something different.
For every decision you make about a character's appearance, you need an explanation. Example:
I decided that she would have her hair cut short. And she would have cut it short because she saw no reason to have long hair at all if it was only going to be pulled back to keep it out of her face. This made me decide that she's a highly practical person.
I also decided that it was unlikely she would have someone else cut it for her for several reasons. Firstly, anyone who cut hair would likely be either confused, offended, or even angry that a woman was asking for such a thing, and they might even outright refuse. Since she is practical as well, it seems unlikely to me that she would pay money for something she could easily do herself. So I decided that her hair would be cut roughly and in different lengths.
I also decided that she was unlikely to have a family. If she did, then a mother or father would have tried to talk her out of cutting her hair, and she would not have needed to be as practical. I decided that her practicality was a matter of necessity, having been orphaned as a child.
The more you get into details about their appearance, or, in the following case, their expression, the more you have to put together for their history.
I expected her to be severe, strict, or bitter. But as I drew her face, it didn't come out as a severe or strict woman. To me, her face looks young still, as if she's thinking deeply and hasn't quite given up on dreams yet. So, she's had to work hard and push her dreams away, but she hasn't yet abandoned them. She started out her life as a vibrant child, dreaming, playing, having fun. But as life and adult responsibilities took over, she had to push her childish dreams and wishes further and further back. She still has hope.
As I continued work on the details of her face, I realized she also looks wary, as if suspicious of something. Perhaps she's seen someone she doesn't trust. But who in a community would she not trust, and why?
As an orphan, she likely had to depend on other people when she was young. I decide another family took her in for a time, and she mistrusts them later, because they removed her from their household. Perhaps the children of that family were bullies.
I also realized that she has a pretty face. In the kind of environment that she grew up in, a pretty face would draw a lot of attention, positive (from men) and negative (from other women). Perhaps this was another motive in cutting her hair short. Long hair is often associated with beauty, and after being mistreated by other women or girls, she decided she would rather be without it.
The mistrust or suspicion on her face may also have to do with the behavior of men. I decide that she's been approached by men before, because of her pretty face, but that the subsequent conversations did not impress her, and she may have been harmed by a man in the past. As a result, she tries to blend in - hence her ordinary clothing.
I decide she is also single. Having had bad experiences with men before, she finds it hard to trust them. Though most young women her age have been married and many have children, she has no desire to marry and put her life in the hands of someone she doesn't believe she can trust.
Results
Name: Aeonian
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Occupation: Cook
Family: None
History: Aeonian was born in a village in the Dragon Graveyard. After the death of her parents while she was very young, she was placed temporarily with another family that had two sons. When she grew older, she was mistreated by this family in subtle ways, and eventually removed from their home to live on her own. At the age of six she was expected to do much the same work as a fully grown woman in helping in the fields, preserving food for the winter, and cooking. As a result, her childhood was cut short. By the time she entered her teen years, it became obvious that she was going to be a pretty young woman when she reached adulthood, and she was forced to learn to spurn unwanted advances from men and boys. Due to her negative experiences with the father and sons in her foster family, the attention both frightened and angered her. By the age of fifteen, Aeonian had no female friends, as she refused to socialize, and many were resentful of her beauty, though by that time most of the men had given up on her as a prospect for marriage. She cut off her hair around this time, finding it a nuisance, and knowing it was considered a sign of beauty. She works hard, and in silence, during the hours she is required to do so, and spends her free time in her own tiny apartment, alone.
If you've tried this method, share your results below!
So, what I know about this character so far is this:
Gender: female
Age: Between 15 and 30 years
Place of residence/birth location: Dragon Graveyard
Name: Aeonian
I don't know what she looks like, I haven't nailed down her age, I know nothing about her personality, I don't know if she has a family, or a job. I know more about her culture and the place she lives than I know about her.
Assuming you have roughly the same information let's get started!
The first thing you need to know to start your artwork is their body type. Male, female, thin, fat, somewhere between, tall, short, average. Along with this you'll need to know their sex. Male or female. This will give you the basic info you need to start your line work.
Assuming you don't know much about this character's personality yet, you'll probably want to start with a pretty generic pose.
As you can see, I drew this lineart with as much of the body visible as possible. I did not, for example, allow her feet to go off the bottom edge of the paper. Like in the last example, you want as much space to work with as you can manage. I typically draw very thin characters. If you look at the line art above, you can see that she's still relatively thin, but not to the degree as the example we did last week. I wanted this character to have a much closer to average weight. I knew that, based on environmental factors, she would not be super thin (her people would have had access to good food sources around the time she was growing up) but she would also not be overweight (life, while good, is not easy, and they have a fairly healthy diet).Once you have your base line art done, the next step is to decide what type of clothing you're going to put them in. If you're writing a period piece, or something based on a time period, you'll want to look at fashion of the time, and also consider how this character is going to be living and what kind of work they're likely to be engaged in.
I decided that since the story I'm planning is going to be similar to both medieval and pioneer/Victorian times, that the women would likely do most of the cooking, and would also probably wear long skirts, and blouses with high collars.
As you can see in this revised line art, she is wearing a tunic-length blouse with long, gathered sleeves and a high neck. She is also wearing a long skirt, medieval-inspired shoes, and a belt. Because she is going to be doing cooking, her sleeves are gathered at the wrists and fastened with buttons. Because her people are currently living in a colder climate, her skirt would be made of heavier cloth, both to help keep her legs warm and to prevent wind gusts from blowing them around too much.I then started work on her face, hair, and the things that express personality in her appearance. Being an old-fashioned type society, long hair is a typical feature for women, as is pulling it back or up to keep it out of the face while cooking. I had to decide if Aeonian was going to stick with convention here, too, or if she was going to do something different.
For every decision you make about a character's appearance, you need an explanation. Example:
I decided that she would have her hair cut short. And she would have cut it short because she saw no reason to have long hair at all if it was only going to be pulled back to keep it out of her face. This made me decide that she's a highly practical person.
I also decided that it was unlikely she would have someone else cut it for her for several reasons. Firstly, anyone who cut hair would likely be either confused, offended, or even angry that a woman was asking for such a thing, and they might even outright refuse. Since she is practical as well, it seems unlikely to me that she would pay money for something she could easily do herself. So I decided that her hair would be cut roughly and in different lengths.
I also decided that she was unlikely to have a family. If she did, then a mother or father would have tried to talk her out of cutting her hair, and she would not have needed to be as practical. I decided that her practicality was a matter of necessity, having been orphaned as a child.
The more you get into details about their appearance, or, in the following case, their expression, the more you have to put together for their history.
I expected her to be severe, strict, or bitter. But as I drew her face, it didn't come out as a severe or strict woman. To me, her face looks young still, as if she's thinking deeply and hasn't quite given up on dreams yet. So, she's had to work hard and push her dreams away, but she hasn't yet abandoned them. She started out her life as a vibrant child, dreaming, playing, having fun. But as life and adult responsibilities took over, she had to push her childish dreams and wishes further and further back. She still has hope.As I continued work on the details of her face, I realized she also looks wary, as if suspicious of something. Perhaps she's seen someone she doesn't trust. But who in a community would she not trust, and why?
As an orphan, she likely had to depend on other people when she was young. I decide another family took her in for a time, and she mistrusts them later, because they removed her from their household. Perhaps the children of that family were bullies.
I also realized that she has a pretty face. In the kind of environment that she grew up in, a pretty face would draw a lot of attention, positive (from men) and negative (from other women). Perhaps this was another motive in cutting her hair short. Long hair is often associated with beauty, and after being mistreated by other women or girls, she decided she would rather be without it.
The mistrust or suspicion on her face may also have to do with the behavior of men. I decide that she's been approached by men before, because of her pretty face, but that the subsequent conversations did not impress her, and she may have been harmed by a man in the past. As a result, she tries to blend in - hence her ordinary clothing.
I decide she is also single. Having had bad experiences with men before, she finds it hard to trust them. Though most young women her age have been married and many have children, she has no desire to marry and put her life in the hands of someone she doesn't believe she can trust.
Results
Name: AeonianAge: 25
Gender: Female
Occupation: Cook
Family: None
History: Aeonian was born in a village in the Dragon Graveyard. After the death of her parents while she was very young, she was placed temporarily with another family that had two sons. When she grew older, she was mistreated by this family in subtle ways, and eventually removed from their home to live on her own. At the age of six she was expected to do much the same work as a fully grown woman in helping in the fields, preserving food for the winter, and cooking. As a result, her childhood was cut short. By the time she entered her teen years, it became obvious that she was going to be a pretty young woman when she reached adulthood, and she was forced to learn to spurn unwanted advances from men and boys. Due to her negative experiences with the father and sons in her foster family, the attention both frightened and angered her. By the age of fifteen, Aeonian had no female friends, as she refused to socialize, and many were resentful of her beauty, though by that time most of the men had given up on her as a prospect for marriage. She cut off her hair around this time, finding it a nuisance, and knowing it was considered a sign of beauty. She works hard, and in silence, during the hours she is required to do so, and spends her free time in her own tiny apartment, alone.
If you've tried this method, share your results below!
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