Tag: writing

30 Days of World Building: Master List

Alex Heberling

everydaychallenges:

Character Creation Sheet

Alex Heberling

yamino:

Here’s the Character Creation sheet I mentioned in my Webcomic Beacon interview! <3

It’s part of my collection of awesome resources I got during my SCAD years. I had to fill this out for Claire when I was first starting out with the comic. 

You can copy and paste it, or you can just download the word doc: www.yamiloo.com/CreatingYourCharacter.doc

Creating Your Character

The Character Physically

1. What is the character’s stature and build?  Are they overweight or lean?  What is their height and weight?

2. How old are they?

3. Describe their posture; is it good? Do they carry themselves well? Are they crooked, straight, or handicapped?

4. Are they in good shape or out of condition? Are they muscular, weak, or strong? Any special abilities or super powers?

5. How is their health? Any illnesses or conditions?  

6. Are they physically active or sedentary? A fast or slow mover?

7. Are they clumsy, awkward, or graceful when they move, walk, or run?

8. Would you describe the character as good looking, pretty, beautiful, average, plain, ugly, disfigured?

9. How does the character regard their physicality? Are they proud, ashamed?

10. Describe their complexion and skin. Dark, light, clear, marked, tattooed, branded?

11. Describe their hair, coloring, styling. Is great care taken in upkeep, or disregarded as a nuisance?

12. How is their dexterity? Do they have good hands? Can they manipulate and create or repair?

13. Is he physically tense or relaxed, nervous, controlled?

14. What part of their body would you notice first? 

15. How is their eyesight? Wear glasses, blind, going blind? Color?

The Character’s Clothes

1. How many clothes does this character have?

2. What kinds of items are in their wardrobe?

3. Do they have favorite articles of clothing?

4. What colors are their clothes, is there a wide range?  Bright or dull? What are their favorite colors to wear?

5. Are their clothes old or new?

6. Were they bought or homemade, hand-me-downs, expensive tailored-made?

7. Is your character at home in their clothes or uncomfortable?

8. Does your character care for their clothes, kept up and neat, do they worry about how they look?

9. Does your character have to dress a certain way because of his job or position? Is it a uniform?  If so, do the clothes fit their real, basic character, or are the clothes worn as a symbol or mask?

10. Do they dress according to a self-image of themselves? Is this self-image conscious or unconscious?  At what age was this self-image set, and what circumstances dictated the image?

11. Discuss adornments, jewelry, or trophies that your character might wear. Are there tattoos, piercing, brandings, or ritualistic scarring, and what were the events, rituals, or circumstances that lead your character to having them.

12. What kind of underwear does your character wear?

The Character’s Voice 

1. Does your character speak in a high or low pitch?

2. Are they a loud or soft talker?

3. Is there a wide range in the voice in volume, pitch, quality, or is the voice consistent and even?

4. Is there good resonance to the voice?  Is the voice throaty, chesty, heady, or nasal?

5. Is there tension in the voice? Anxiety? Emotion?

6. Is there an accent? Anything unusual in pronunciation? Emphasis? Phrasing?

7. Is it a trained voice or just natural? Does the character try to speak well or just however it comes out?

8. Is the speech clear or muddy? Do they mumble? Are they distinct?

9. Is the voice comforting or irritating? Reassuring or disturbing? Are they self-conscious when they speak to others? How large a group could they speak to before they become self-conscious?

10. What is the first thought one might have after hearing your character speak? 

The Character’s Mind

1. Would you describe the character as smart, dumb, or na&iuml;ve?

2. Do they think quickly? Slowly? Are they quick-witted? Dull?

3. What kind of education do they have?

4. Does the character possess a knowledge or expertise in a particular field?

5. Is the character impulsive or deliberate in reaching conclusions? Would you describe them as being logical, rational, or emotional?

6. Do they think things out before they speak or blurt out the first thought?

7. Do they contemplative times? What occupies their mind when alone?

8. Would they be considered an idealist? A pragmatist? A dreamer? An idea person? An action person?

9. Are they motivated chiefly by abstract ideals or practical rewards?

10. Can your character tell a joke?

The Character’s Emotions and Personality

1. Is your character an introvert or an extrovert?

2. Do they get along well with people? Do they have charm or charisma? Are people naturally attracted to them? 

3. Do they have many friends? Any close friends?

4. Would you describe your character as hot-blooded or cool headed?

5. Do they have a narrow or wide range of emotions? Do they show, or are the emotions concealed?  Why?

6. Do they indulge in emotional peaks, outbursts, or valleys? Often?

7. Would you describe them as sensitive or callused?

8. Is your character suspicious, cautions, trusting, or oblivious about people or situations?

9. Are they an aggressive or reactive person? Act or react?

10. Do they typically take positive or negative action?

11. In a dangerous or emergency situation, would they go toward the situation or run away?

12. Is the character basically nervous or calm?

13. Does the character have a sense of humor? Do they appreciate jokes? Can he see humor in any situation? Can they laugh at themselves?

14. Do others find them amusing? Are they a practical joker? What do they think about tricks or jokes played on other people?

15. Is their humor ever cruel?

16. Are there any conditions that would cause them to be harmful, mean, or cruel to another person?

17. Are they a loving person? Are they capable of relating to one specific person in a romantic way?

18. Is the character loved by any other person, in what way?

19. Is the character romantically in love now? With whom? Is this a happy, rewarding or frustrating situation for them?

The Character’s Wealth, Power, and Influence.

1. Does this person have much money? Does it provide position or respect from others for him?

2. Is your character generous or selfish with their money and possessions?

3. Is the character socially prominent? Are they prominent from wealth, position, office, family history, ability or accomplishment?

4. Does the character rate high in the &ldquo;pecking order&rdquo; within their own household? Town? Area? Nation? World?

5. Does this person wield much clout? Over whom and by what means?

6. Can they command others to do their bidding, by word or manipulation? 

7. How do they get their desires?

8. To whom are they subservient? Is this submission willing or unavoidable?

The Character’s Activities

1. How does the character spend their time?

2. What does their daily routine consist of?

3. What is their profession or work?

4. What things do they really like to do?

5. What things do they hate to do?

6. What are their leisure time activities? Pastimes? Recreation?

7. Do they play games? What kind?

8. Do they like to eat or drink? Does this figure largely in their lives? How important is it?

9. How important is sex to them? What sexual activities do they partake in? Anything unusual or what you would consider deviant? 

10. Is sex a rewarding, enriching area of this person’s life or is it frightening, anxious, or frustrating? Is sex a positive or negative factor in their life?

The Character’s Favorite Things:

1. Colors? 

2. Food? 

3. Drinks? 

4. Smells? 

5. Time of day? 

6. Season of the year? 

7. Books? 

8. inds of literature? 

9. Authors? 

10. Places to visit? 

11. Kinds of music? 

12. Musical instruments? 

13. Composers? 

14. Metals; gold, iron, copper, pewter, etc.? 

15. Building materials; stone, wood, clay, tile, etc.? 

16. Fabrics; silk, wool, linen, etc.? 

17. Pieces of furniture? 

18. Plants? 

19. Flowers? 

20. Trees? 

21. Birds? 

22. Animals? 

23. Fairy-tale? 

Character’s Fears

1. What things frighten your character?

2. Are they motivated by fear?

3. To what extent are they motivated by fear; never, occasionally, usually, constantly?

4. What would this character think were the three most terrible things that could happen to them?

5. What would they think were the three most wonderful things that could happen to them?

6. What is the one thing that your character would never want anyone else to find about him or herself? What are they hiding?

The Character’s Religion

1. What are their specific religious beliefs? Do they belong to a specific sect or creed? Do they advocate that group’s beliefs?

2. How important is religion to your character?

3. Are they pious, devout?

4. In what religious activities or rituals do they engage? What percentage of their time is devoted to it?

5. How does religion motivate their actions or affect them?

A Few Tips and Resources for Writing POC Characters

Alex Heberling

this-is-not-native:

writeworld:

Anonymous asked: do you have any tips for writing poc characters when you, yourself, are white?

The simple, honest answer is that you need to be very careful because you have never been a POC and therefore are in danger of portraying a group of people insensitively, unfairly, disastrously―you get the idea.

This concept is known as “Writing the Other”, and it basically refers to writing about characters whose racial heritage, sexual orientation, religion, etc. differ from your own. It can be intimidating, especially since Writing the Other incorrectly can harm you the writer, your readers, and the people about whom you write.

That being said:

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I’ve never died, but I’ve written a death scene. I’ve never waved a magic wand or dueled a dragon or gone to Mars, but I can write about it. Why is that? Imagination and research. (x)

Mostly lots and lots of research. We’re going to give you a great resource in the links below to get you started.

“But remember, there are two ways to dehumanize someone: by dismissing them, and by idolizing them.”
― David Wong

Try to write without pity or condescension or idealism in your heart. This is a sure way to mess up writing any character, but most especially a character based on a real group of people who are culturally different from you.

Instead, write characters with dignity and who are grounded in reality. Write honest characters.

Now for those resources we promised:

Need more?

Thank you for your question! If you have any concerns or suggestions about this article or writing in general, hit up our ask box!

-C

This is relevant to a question we received recently and is worded much better than anything I could’ve said.

30 Days of World Building: Master List

Alex Heberling

everydaychallenges:

Untitled

Alex Heberling

[Image: A side-by-side comparison of a comic panel lettered digital by hand vs. lettered with a font.]

I’m trying to make this comic as thoroughly mine as I can.

I’ve been interested in doing my own lettering for The Hues, as opposed to using the font tool, which I did for Garanos.  As a parenthetical, I hand letter Alex’s Guide, but that’s mostly because it’s all natural media, apart from the coloring.  I’ve never properly “learned” lettering in the classical sense, and a majority of searching for a tutorial led to hand lettering with pen and paper.

However, this three part series on Making Comics was really helpful getting me started in digital hand lettering!  Above are my results, compared to the same panel lettered with the type tool and my old technique for making word balloons.  On the left, the balloons are drawn with vectors, and on the right, they’re drawn freehand with the lasso tool.

I may look back at these letters in a year and cringe at how they look, but I’m really happy with how it changes the page, especially with the nicer word bubbles.

Now I’m freeeeee as a biiiiiiiiird

Alex Heberling

After my pre- and post-Black Friday sprints at work, I now have a mid-week-weekend of three nights off in a row! ^_^  My joints certainly feel like they’ve earned it.  I worked a few full backroom shifts, and with all that ladder climbing while holding heavy boxes, it’s definitely the most physically demanding task in the store.  It also tends to me the most monotonous, too.  Time can really drag!

But I’m VERY happy that over the last couple weeks, bit by bit, I’ve now got a rough feel for what I’m going to do for issue #1 of The Hues.  There are lots of worldbuilding details I still need to flesh out first, which will entail some research of various apocalypse scenarios.  (Mostly, this is a good excuse/oppurtunity to watch Life After People.)

I’ve been reading Codename: Sailor V over the last week or two as well, and I found that there’s a pretty shockingly fat-shaming chapter in the second volume!  I might devote a whole post about this chapter later on, but basically, an enemy of Sailor V gets the civilian population addicted to “Rainbow Chocolate,” which makes everyone gain weight.  Then, in order to suck out their energy for their evil nefarious purposes, they advertise a weight-loss spa that really just tricks people into thinking they’re getting thinner by using funhouse mirrors.

Oh, Naoko-sama.  I heart you, but I hope your views on the fatties have matured a bit since the early 90s.  ^_^;;

Today is a Self-Care Day

Alex Heberling

I woke up around 6:30 this morning, and for the first four or so hours of waking, found myself completely in the wrong frame of mind to get a comic done for Alex’s Guide today, so I decided it was best to take a day off.

Since I don’t have to work again until Monday night, I get to be a Daywalker this weekend!  I’m currently at a coffee shop sipping a latte with cinnamon powder as I write down planning notes for The Hues, my upcoming comic series.  It seemed like a good idea to get myself out of the house, and the change of scenery is doing good things for me.  It was a rough morning full of self-flagellation at not updating A’sG, so I’m trying to remember to be kind to myself and doing something good for myself.

I’m also working to let myself face my current depression and feel my feelings, instead of shoving everything into the back of my mind to let it fester, like I have been doing all this year.

I got lunch at the local Japanese supermarket, which sells bento, sushi, and onigiri; something I’ve been craving lately.  And this particular coffee shop is where the local cartoonist group (Sunday Comix) usually meets on Wednesday nights, so I figured it would be a good idea to go hang out somewhere I associate with being creative.  I have gone to precious few Sunday Comix meetings this year, thanks to my third-shift schedule.  Most of the time, unless I plan my week very carefully, I just can’t wake up early enough to attend meetings (which are from 6pm to 8pm) and still get enough rest to go to work and not feel like crap.

Sunday Comix is something I’ve missed very much this year.  I started going to the meetups about this time a year ago, but then in January, my schedule changed to nights.  I tried to keep up with the group, but my schedule and workload proved to be too demanding to do both, so I haven’t attended a meeting in several months, unfortunately.

BUT ANYWAYS.  Today I’m sitting here in the coffee shop working on the development for The Hues.  I’ve got my notebook of All Things Hues that has a few pages of notes I wrote over a year ago, so I’m going back over it to see what I like and what I don’t like now, and adding other ideas I’ve had since I picked the project back up a few months ago.

Lo and behold, I found a rough plot for volume 1 that I think I can start building from.  What I’m concentrating on today is roughing out some of the character arcs I want to tackle over the series, which will span three “seasons,” as it were.