Originality in characters

[Metalbender92]

I have been trying to make a webcomic, but I find it difficult to make really unique characters. The comic strip I am making isn't character based- the characters won't really have much personality. I just need 2 characters to "tell the joke". I'm a huge fan of Pearls Before Swine, and they seem to do a good job this way.

I've just been drawing little simple figures in my comics, and I like how they look. However, I noticed that some other comics are doing the same thing. They are barely more than stick figures, but I don't want to be stealing someone's ideas. Any advice?

[Jackhass]

So...you're talking about making your characters visually original?

Either way, the best way to come up with unique characters is to just look at people in real life. Real life human beings are incredibly varied in both personality and appearance...think about the most memorable characters in the comics or TV...most of the times the creators will tell you they just based them off a wacky neighbor or their husband/wife or something.

Too often comics get inbred. Instead of looking to real life for inspiration people look to other comics and then you get characters whose personalities and looks are just a collection of cliches. Just think about a unique/interesting person in your life and caricature them.

[McDuffies]

Pick your two favourite film actors, then draw characters based on them.

[Fishies]

Two words: talking vegetables.

[Drowin]

Dual scimitar weilding dark elves. Trust me.

[Evil Jamie!]

Two words: talking vegetables.

I have so been down that road.

[War]

Really really fat people.

[Turnsky]

well, originality is fun, sure, but sometimes taking established stereotypes and turning them on their ear too is somewhat fun also..

[Mason]

well, originality is fun, sure, but sometimes taking established stereotypes and turning them on their ear too is somewhat fun also..

As well as being to done to death.

[Turnsky]

well, originality is fun, sure, but sometimes taking established stereotypes and turning them on their ear too is somewhat fun also..

As well as being to done to death.

name things that aren't though, originality also has some degree of perception, even so called 'original' creations can sometimes be linked to something else, even if the person creating it has never heard or seen the aforementioned 'older creation'.
People like to slot things into little boxes, even though by all accounts, they shouldn't really belong..

Name one webcomic that is honest to god, one-of-a-kind.. Original

[Dr Legostar]

well, originality is fun, sure, but sometimes taking established stereotypes and turning them on their ear too is somewhat fun also..

As well as being to done to death.

name things that aren't though, originality also has some degree of perception, even so called 'original' creations can sometimes be linked to something else, even if the person creating it has never heard or seen the aforementioned 'older creation'.
People like to slot things into little boxes, even though by all accounts, they shouldn't really belong..

Name one webcomic that is honest to god, one-of-a-kind.. Original

Grumpy the Fat Hamster!

[IVstudios]

I would recommend finding as many examples as you can of how what you want to do has already been done. A good way to solve a problem is to look at how other people have solved similar problems and learn from their success and failures.

I'm not saying to copy what other people are doing, nor am I saying to just do the opposite of what you see other people doing. Originality is like any other skill, it takes practice and study to get good at it.

Also know that something doesn't necessarily need to original to be good. If you do something well most people won't care if you were the first one to do it or not. And no one will care if you were the first one to do something if you do it badly.

[Paul Escobar]

You don't need originality just for originality's sake. If your comic consist of two stick-figure characters telling jokes, that's perfectly OK, as long as the jokes are funny.

Name one webcomic that is honest to god, one-of-a-kind.. Original

Boston and Shaun. It's mind-bogglingly awful, but it sure is one of a kind.

[Koad]

I have a slightly different opinion on this topic than it seems most of the previous posters had. Since your comic will be mainly driven by the jokes, why don't you start from the jokes instead of the characters? Take your best jokes and start doodling different random characters doing the same jokes. You'll probably find that some characteristics work better for your jokes than others. In the best case scenario you'll have a eureka moment and come up with perfect characters for your jokes. At the very least you'll find out what doesn't work and know what to avoid in the future.

[Metalbender92]

Thanks for all the advice.

I have been trying out my jokes with some other characters, but I just don't like using them as much. Sometimes they take away from the joke. But I don't want to be stealing an idea.

Let me rephrase the question: Has having 2 minimalist characters with little personality in a comic strip been done a lot? I dunno. Using minimalist characters makes my jokes funnier, the characters look childish in these dark situations I put them in. Drawing like this comes naturally to me, but I have to force myself to draw otherwise when I want to experiment with characters I don't really want to use.

I just don't want to start the comic strip, and then a year into it feel terrible about it not being original.

[Wendybird]

One example of minimalism in a basically gag-a-day format that is really well done is xkcd. One of the characters has a hat that comes to visually represent their attitude in the course of the comic. All the female characters look pretty much the same, but one reason for that is the female characters seem to represent an archetypal female in a lot of the jokes. So with a few exceptions there are three characters: the girl, this guy (sans hat,) and that guy (with hat.)

There are a lot of ways to make minimalism work, both in terms of art and personality. I agree that both of these should be mainly influenced by what goes well with the type of joke you will be writing - and not necessarily by what would be original.

[Paul Escobar]

Minimalist characters telling jokes has been done a lot. And stick figures may well be the oldest form of visual art. Very few ideas are truly original at the core; it's the execution of the idea that makes or breaks it. If you want to find similarities, you can. For example, xkcd and Ugly Girl are both stick-figure comics, yet they are for the most part completely unlike each other. Having your work compared with other people's work is nigh-inevitable anyway, almost no matter what you draw. So I'd say draw what you think comes out the funniest, and don't worry if it somehow reminds slightly of something else.

I just don't want to start the comic strip, and then a year into it feel terrible about it not being original.

Hey, you're not supposed to feel bad about your comics until after you've drawn them! Get with the program!

[Takuun]

See I took a completely different route when I thought up my characters. I drew stick figured first and decided on different hairs. The hair was in turn supposed to help designate who was who and in some way showed their personality. Like Tak is a guy who over thinks things and is depressed about that so his hair tends to fall foreward infront of him. El is a girl but is hyper, and a trouble maker. She likes to tease others. So when I thought her up I also thought of a rabbit. Thus she ended up with pig tails that began going upwards. While the last one is my rebel and of course he has a mohawk cause it's the most cliche thing that came to mind. After time they grew on their own and if I were to ever stack them up next to eachother as just outlines you can easily tell who is who. Everything after that comes from the characters. They tend to grow and change themselves, until then just draw, and they will begin drawing themselves.

[Dreamaniaccomic]

The most important part is YOU MUST HAVE FUN DRAWING IT! Otherwise, we won't have fun reading it.

[Td501]

We keep seeing the same themes over and over again because those are the themes people like. Those are the themes people want to see, read, and experience. Generally if you do something truly original, you’re probably going out into fields people don’t really care about – even downright hate. If people actually liked it, then it most surely would all ready have been done.

One in a million ideas may actually make people say “Wow! I’ve never seen that done before, and yet… I don’t want to barf! That’s actually kinda cool!”

But usually good ‘original’ ideas are just a rehash of a common theme with one kooky tweak. Purely original concepts are likely to make your head hurt and want to run away.