Creating Characters/Personalities

[iii]

I have some characters I've created and I was wondering if there is a better way to create them so they have there own lives pretty much. What kind of information should I apply to each of them? All I can think about are Name,age,height,siblings.. pretty much basic stuff but I want each of them to be full of info in a way. Is there a book or anything I can read about creating characters so any1 who reads a description or looks at an image they would know everything the character is about?

[Meli Hitchcock]

- Does my character have hobbies?
- What about music? What kind do they like if they even like music?
- Where do they live or does their culture have a particular appearance that makes them unique?
- What's their personality like? Secretive? Shy? Snarky? Bubbly? Even tempered?
- Are they religious? If they are, what symbols would they wear?
- Do they have a favorite color?
- Do they have certain ticks about them? Such as keeping themselves very neat and tidy? Or perhaps they only like to use hand guns as their weapon of choice... What kind of activities do they enjoy participating in?

These are just a few I listed, but there are a whole host of questions that you can ask yourself. Try examining yourself and thinking of all the things that make you ... you. Then use all the different things that make you different from others and apply that same logic toward your characters.

[cmalidore]

Wanna know what helped me? Going to the mall or something, plopping down and just watching people. Sometimes drawing them, but mostly just observation. What can you learn by just seeing? These are the things that you should be applying to those characters.

Remember, these characters are a representation of something real. We all believe something, have some sort of hobby, own things that other people wouldn't, have mannerisms and thought processes that set us apart..... observe this in other people and then try and recreate it on paper.

[Insignia]

What kind of information should I apply to each of them? All I can think about are Name,age,height,siblings.. pretty much basic stuff but I want each of them to be full of info in a way.
I think you're going at it from the wrong angle. A character is more clearly defined by what she does and wants, than by how tall she is. For example, "a solemn child who wants to become an astronaut" is a more useful start than "five years, three and a half feet". Once you have an attitude and some interests, it's a lot easier to work out the details.

[iii]

- Does my character have hobbies?
- What about music? What kind do they like if they even like music?
- Where do they live or does their culture have a particular appearance that makes them unique?
- What's their personality like? Secretive? Shy? Snarky? Bubbly? Even tempered?
- Are they religious? If they are, what symbols would they wear?
- Do they have a favorite color?
- Do they have certain ticks about them? Such as keeping themselves very neat and tidy? Or perhaps they only like to use hand guns as their weapon of choice... What kind of activities do they enjoy participating in?

These are just a few I listed, but there are a whole host of questions that you can ask yourself. Try examining yourself and thinking of all the things that make you ... you. Then use all the different things that make you different from others and apply that same logic toward your characters.

Thx alot for these :) extremely helpful since I will answer each and more for each character which will set them apart from each other :)

Wanna know what helped me? Going to the mall or something, plopping down and just watching people. Sometimes drawing them, but mostly just observation. What can you learn by just seeing? These are the things that you should be applying to those characters.

Remember, these characters are a representation of something real. We all believe something, have some sort of hobby, own things that other people wouldn't, have mannerisms and thought processes that set us apart..... observe this in other people and then try and recreate it on paper.

This is a very helpful tip! I didn't think of just observing people.. i can see how this would help since there are tons of different qualities.. the mall would be a perfect place actually

I think you're going at it from the wrong angle. A character is more clearly defined by what she does and wants, than by how tall she is. For example, "a solemn child who wants to become an astronaut" is a more useful start than "five years, three and a half feet". Once you have an attitude and some interests, it's a lot easier to work out the details.

Those questions were pretty much as basic as it could get really.. i didnt think about really developing my characters til now but i understand where ur comin from :)

thx to all of u 4 the replies!

[armando]

This book's pretty good: http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Characters-Personality-Animation-Graphic/dp/0823023494/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233215694&sr=1-1

I've been studying a little philosophy and found it helpful for getting an idea about how different people view the world, and the effects culture has on people's mindsets. Also check out aesthetics, I've only started looking into this stuff myself so I can't give many specific examples. I'm curently reading Ortega y Gassets's "The Dehumanization of Art".
Also thinking about the environment the person lives in is very important. A lot of things tie into that: just the weather will effect clothing; and as other people have mentioned, the social conditions, religion, economy, family, and all that will greatly influence the character.
Look at other artists work and pay attention to the feelings you get when you look at their characters, then figure out what is causing those feelings.

[Foxtrot Wolfwhistle]

Try writing a short biography for each, for every year of their life (Unless they're 300, then highlight major events).

I don't have anything else which the others haven't suggested, but I hope that tiny snippet helps ^^;

[Surzsha]

To make a character come to life, you must first study characteristics in real life.

What makes a person who they are?
What are their likes?
Their dislikes?
Do they have hobbies?
What about a job? Or dream job?
What tics them off?
What makes them happy?
How different are they from normal people?
What have they experienced in their younger years?
How does their mind work?
What is their standpoint in arguments?
What is their overall personality?

There are so many questions to this. It's almost psychological. In fact, you'd really need to know your general psychology to make your characters more realistic.

What helped me a bit was to study the personalities of both my friends and family. They're the closest people to you, and as such the closest points of reference for characteristics. In fact, some of my characters have characteristics of my friends and family incorporated into them to some extent. It's not needed, but I did it like that.

I also incorporated some of my own characteristics in a few characters, but that is best not to be done unless you know yourself well, and know your limits.

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Since I'm a psychology nerd I've found this book to be very interesting: Snoop! What Your Stuff Says About You (http://www.amazon.com/Snoop-What-Your-Stuff-About/dp/0465027814). Now, not all of that book will be useful in an artistic/character creation sense, but it does point out some tendencies that may be useful (orientation of tattoos, and what we assume about a person based on their clothing), and really gets you thinking about what makes people tick personality wise.

[Jem'ennuie]

I've noticed that with the 'question method', every book seems to use another set of questions. There has never been some sort of standard question set afaik.
I think disney used a specific method for some characters, but I forgot where I read that.

The general way to go about it is the same though, try to define your character by characteristics and try to convey them in your art. Either by the way the character stands, by attributes or by the way the character interacts. Anime even uses outside character lines to show anger, love, etc.

[Uli]

I felt that it helps to set some parameters/boundaries first. Like with role playing games where you have certain groups of people, certain settings, historic moment etc. A person never exists on their own- they are part of an environment, a history, a people. Think about the whole context. The approach would be from general to specific. The environment "creates" characters in a way, especially when you add some sort of conflict to that environment.

[Jem'ennuie]

General motivation: the character wants to be accepted for the person she is.
She fears: emotional rejection
Behavior: She wants to be accepted by having intellectual success and being superior to everyone- she loves it when other people adore her intelligence. (Hermione anyone?)
She studies hard so that she can later on fly to the moon (and show off to everyone)

And here you can add character traits that make her more believable..
she is.. intelligent, hard-working, overly-confident, naive, smartass (she doesn't notice), doesn't notice other people's feelings..

And smaller, more individual character traits: she wears glasses, has red hair, stands like THIS and moves like that, she has big hips but small breasts etc. that is where people-watching is crucial..
She will have intellectual or solitary hobbies that give her acceptance by her peers, things like writing math essays for science monthly.. dunno

That's interesting, because you go from general traits to specific ones. That seems to be a western approach to characteristics.

There's a lot of asian artists who will do the reverse. I've read some books about it and this is basically how it works:
You imagine 3 to 4 objects, find them in an encyclopedia or in your desk, in your pocket, online, whatever.

Now mix the 3 objects with your character by combining them.A coke bottle (cold, but flashy), a clock (a bit nervous and and anxious), a piece of gum (flexible gesture).I thought it was pretty much stupid at first, but it's possible to create characters and things like this.

The western method seem to be general traits ==> specific.
The asian method is often specific ==> general.