Originality in characters

[Yeahduff]

Legostar's on the first page of the guide. His opinion is worth more than both of yours.

[Dr Legostar]

Legostar's on the first page of the guide. His opinion is worth more than both of yours.

you know it never occurred to me to use that argument, but that works too. I was gonna go more with the "being part of the majority doesn't mean you're right, just that you're in the majority."

I kinda like yours more though, duff.

[McDuffies]

I always knew that Yeahduff had a potential for evil scientist's sidekick,

[Yeahduff]

Sidekick? Hell. More like second-hand elitist.

[Dr Legostar]

i see it more as

Legostar: Pull the swtich!
yeahduff: pull it yourself.
Legostar: *sighs and pulls switch*

[McDuffies]

SuburbanLetdown: You fucking poser can't even pull a fucking switch.

[Yeahduff]

Yeah, can't say loyalty and motivation are my strong suits.

[Tentoumushi]

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.

Spoken from truth. Nearly everyone in my comic is someone I know (used with permission of course) and to be honest, everything has been done. The object is to find something and make your own spin on it. The reason taking people you know is a good idea is because everyone is unique. You can't get much more original than your own life experiences.

[Dr Legostar]

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.

Spoken from truth. Nearly everyone in my comic is someone I know (used with permission of course) and to be honest, everything has been done. The object is to find something and make your own spin on it. The reason taking people you know is a good idea is because everyone is unique. You can't get much more original than your own life experiences.

i've always found, personally that basing characters off people I know makes them really two-dimensional. there are certainly aspects of myself or people i know in some characters but I find a character becomes better when you start with something and build on it to create, as best you can, a unique personality that eventually takes a life of its own.

[Tentoumushi]

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.

Spoken from truth. Nearly everyone in my comic is someone I know (used with permission of course) and to be honest, everything has been done. The object is to find something and make your own spin on it. The reason taking people you know is a good idea is because everyone is unique. You can't get much more original than your own life experiences.

i've always found, personally that basing characters off people I know makes them really two-dimensional. there are certainly aspects of myself or people i know in some characters but I find a character becomes better when you start with something and build on it to create, as best you can, a unique personality that eventually takes a life of its own.

I've never had that experience, granted some of the best characters I've created started out as "base" characters BUT later, after incorporating aspects of both myself and other people into said base characters, it made them more multi-layered. I think maybe a mix of both might really make for a good, well rounded character...though I have more experience with literature based characters rather than comic characters...so maybe its a little different.

[Dr Legostar]

I've never had that experience, granted some of the best characters I've created started out as "base" characters BUT later, after incorporating aspects of both myself and other people into said base characters, it made them more multi-layered. I think maybe a mix of both might really make for a good, well rounded character...though I have more experience with literature based characters rather than comic characters...so maybe its a little different.

using people you know as the foundation is good, but people often get into the trap of turning the character into one or two characteristics of their friends. this produces more of a characicature rather than a character.

[Yeahduff]

It's a risky proposition, because as you proceed with your comic, you may end up wanting to take your characters into places you may feel uncomfortable placing your friends in.

[Dr Legostar]

another good point, the more your characters are like actual people the less you can do with them.

[Eve Z.]

when you create a character, you make his kind of personality. what's s/he like? What kind of past did s/he have? what's his/her opinion and attitude towards another character? How does the past and other characters influence his/her current actions in certain situations? his/her quirks and qualities? if they have a sign, they must act specifically to that sign... etc.

I'm not picking on real people, but on different sides on MY personality and I develop them as much as I need to.
you have a complex personality, you create complex characters.

imagination, anyone?

[Caduceus]

Having simple non-descript characters is a device. The success and failure will lie with your jokes.

I agree with that. If you are going "just funny jokes" then you better be damn sure your jokes are so devastatingly hilarious that you don't need compelling characters to bring people back. I think sticking to dead simple characters may actually be a good way to hone joke writing. Makes a lot of sense.

If you want to make more distinctive characters: a good way to develop personalities and strong cartoony visuals: base your dudes on animals. The drawings don't even have to be elaborate. Here we go (I drew this up real quick for an example):



Just giving them a different shape and attitude can add a lot of interest.