How to make or create a character?

It may seems easy to create a character, yet making one and generating a whole background based on him is as much difficult as complicated. A character is not a thing or an opportunity to push the story to a certain point; attention we’re not talking about side characters used as a training bag to the hero to be beaten or exterminated. We’re talking about characters that can develop or mantain a certain timeline throughout the story.

Here are some rules offered to you, by the moroccan author Mehdi FREEMAN, which may help you choose your character, or create one.

What are these 5 main rules?

 1. Inspiration أفكار مستوحاة – إلهام  

Creating a character cannot and will never be an idea out of nowhere. To create a character that can fits your story, or design a character from which the story will know it very first begining,  you absolutely need an inspiration. It can be an idea, an object, a dream, a place, a fictional character -yes, some original characters are inspired from other ones from diffrent stories- or a real person. Though, the inspiration shouldn’t be a typical or identical copy. Here are some characters inspirations (or what they look like from other works, or real life):

• The Armored Titan – Shingeki no Kyojin: (Brock Lesnar)
• Rock Lee – Naruto, Naruto Shippuden: (Bruce Lee)
• Shredder’s Armor – TMNT: (Cheese grater حكاكة جبن (فرماج))
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game: (Magic: The Gathering)
• Detective Conan, or 名探偵コナン Meitantei Conan’s author; Gōshō Aoyama, got inspired from so many French novels, Police fictional characters, or dedicated his characters to other authors out of respect and admiration to their respective works such as :
• Professor Agasa: (Aghata Christie)
• Haibara: (Cordélia Grey, a fictional character created by P. James)
• Coffeeshop Poirot: (Hercule Poirot)
• Inspector Megure: (Jules Maigret)

  2. Training تدريبات 

Practicing your character is the best training to learn its features, facial traits, physical gesture, and special abilities or marks that reffer to him.

You can draw your characters as many times as possible, from diffrent angles. Because if you don’t, you might forget how your character looks like. Which will backfire on you later.

Some artists develop their drawing skills from chapter to another, which leads to a light changing of the characters features. ex: Eren Yeager from Shingeki no Kyojin.

3. Body shapes أشكال الجسم

This is a crucial step into making a character. Listen closely!                       

You don’t want to have a character fully muscled with a baby face! Oh God, not that! Except if you’re intentionnally doing it. ex: One Punch-man.

The Anatomy is as mussh important as the face building and designing. Learn the anatomy shapes of diffrent aged people, animals, insects.. It will help you a lot. Anatomy studies may take more time than you expect but it’s worth it. Lot of anatormy books exists, in medicine, or just on online websites. Gender is absolute, you have to draw female bodies, no shame or religion is required, because it’s art. I’m not telling you to draw female bodies for pleasure, but for studies and examinations. Your story needs girls. Common, (لا حياء في الدين), you can’t have a story full of men.

Hint: Pinterest is full of lessons and tutorials of body shape drawings for beginners and amateurs, youll find there what you need ~Gambare!

4. Poses وقفات إستعراضية

Do those JOJO poses, don’t be ashamed of them. They will help you!       Poses will help you improve your character skills, and you’ll find yourself drawing your characters in diffrent poses from diffrent angles. Readers won’t be bored, I can guarantee you that. Imagine reading a manga in 2D, with the character looking from one single side though all the chapter, naah. Doesn’t look good, right?

5. Facial expressions تعابير الوجه

Imagine your character in a delicate situation, or in a more frustrating one, wouldn’t be so odd to see him ith a smirke on his face, or a smile ?                  

 Emotions are important. Draw your characters in diffrent situation to see the extend of your skills, Happy, sad, Angry, Mad …

Before we close the article, you must know that when a character is needed, it has to FIT in the story or the timeline. So many authors can show how incredible their writing style is by using characters so (damn) well. Do not create a character for the sake of filling the void, your characters are live exprecience of your own imagination. Write wisely, think wisely, perfect your skills of building and writing to know the value of each and every living, or unliving aspect you may create.

آش مازال كاتسنا، عفط ا بطل على ستيلو، سير رسم مع راسك

Mehdi FREEMAN