Original Character Help and Resources @oc-help-and-resources - Tumblr Blog

Do you have any tips on getting to know your characters?? I feel like I'm not connecting to them properly :/

I was actually looking forward to answering this one when I opened up my inbox because one of my favourite things is character development and character driven stories!

The Basics

The first step in fleshing out your character is setting their traits in stone. I like to use those character questionnaires where you fill in eye colour, hair colour, star sign, likes/dislikes etc.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t fill all the categories in— some like ‘their Starbucks order’ might not be essential to your story or even fit with the setting. But I do like to fill these in even if I know they’ll never appear in “canon” as I feel like it helps me start to see them as a multi-faceted person, and not just a two-dimensional cutout.

I’ll know that my character might like gold jewellery, but detest silver jewellery, and they love sugary coffee, but not tea (unless it’s green), and likes daisies, but not lilies because they smell like funerals. It’s not important to the story, but I can start to see who they are.

Here are a few handy character questionnaires that I like to use:

http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/aktoura/question.html

http://www.eclectics.com/articles/character.html

http://dehydromon.deviantart.com/art/Abridged-Character-Sheet-320864509

http://character-resource.deviantart.com/art/Big-Ass-Character-Sheet-Updating-167182524

Character Motivation

A big part of making a character more than a dull, flat cut-out is to give them a motivation, a goal (or several) that they’re striving to in your story. Along the way they’ll encounter trials and be bumped further away from their goal, setting up conflict in the story.

What does your character want? Fame and fortune? To protect their family? Love? Just to make it to the next day?

Your character’s motivation should reflect their world, and drive the story, therefore driving the plot. You might want to think about what they need VS. want. A starving peasant is probably more concerned about securing food rather than becoming the next American Idol, while a bored rich, businessman might be yearning for adventure and probably doesn’t even need to think about food. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs illustrates this idea well:

Character Image

This isn’t an essential step but I like doing it because it really helps me visualise the character fully, but I like to make playlists and mood boards for each major character in my book. I listen to music a lot when writing and I find it helps me to quickly get back into the tone/mood of the story. I use Spotify to put together playlists (I generally make one for the book itself as a whole, and then individual playlists for the characters), but you can also use 8tracks or youtube playlist function. For mood boards, I use Pinterest to pin images of people who look like I imagined my characters, or inspiration for things like hair, clothing, weapons, etc.

Here’s an example of my mood boards on my Pinterest page: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/kr_forsyth/

I hoped this helped a bit! Feel free to ask me anything, I’m always happy to share some advice (although I can’t promise it’s always the best advice, but still, I’ll try!).

-Katie

@krforsyth

Hi! I was wondering if you guys have any ideas for how an alien speaking a different language could learn English VERY FAST?? They use can use magic, but they are not very good at it. I'm trying to write a story and I am so stuck help!!!

Woo, blog revival! What I would suggest is possibly using magic to cast a spell on themselves that allows them to understand or speak any language they encounter. That, or you could go a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy route and have some kind of device or creature that fits into one's ear and allows them to understand languages. A third option is having the technology to learn languages faster than normal. You could also just make the alien race able to learn languages really fast in general. Hopefully this helps!-Mod Doc

Hi! I need help. So for Nanowrimo, I made up a story with a main character named Haven. It didn't seem like a boy's name or a girl's name so I just kept switching between him and her but I later settled on Haven to be a girl. In the first few pages, another character openly questions her gender (and you get the sense that she hates that) so I was wondering how I should deal with that from now on. Like, I don't wanna beat it to death but I know people in real life get curious and ask questions.

Thanks for the question! As a transgender person myself, I personally think Haven should be assertive about not liking herself behind questioned in such a way. If the other character is respectful, they should let off and possibly sprinkle any questions they have throughout the story, and not railing into her all at once. I hope this answers your question!-Mod Ruby

myfirstoc

Not great at character design? Love OCs? Need inspiration??

I know just the things you need, my friend!

(Video by @crowned-corvid x )

Though the video says it all, ComPro is a Community Project in which you can submit character to the public domain, and every character design they accept (you can read more about submission stuff at the link above) can be used by anyone for anything at all! You can recolor it, redesign it, rethink it, whatever! Use it in a story or a game! Make a fan character from one, make a whole new species! It’s all up for grabs.

Maybe this sounds familiar to some of you who’ve been on tumblr for a while? That may be because of it’s predecessor, Fanpro!

Fanpro (ran from about 2013 thru 2016) ended with 2,250 Public Domain Designs! Above are only a few examples of what you’ll find in the design folders in the sidebar of their blog.

I was (am) a big fan of Fanpro (I submitted a lot of designs,) and I’m very excited to watch ComPro grow and flourish as its own thing with old friends of Fanpro, and hopefully some new friends like you. You can check out the designs and more at the blogs @fanpro and @com-pro on tumblr!

javicandraw

CHARACTER DESIGN MASTERLIST

Hi! This video is a colecction of links to all the lessons I’ve done on character design. This has months and months of lessons for you to choose. Most of the links have compilations of various lessons on a subject, so if you want you can look at other, shorter lessons on the channel.

If you like my channel, then I recommend Easy Things To Draw! https://www.youtube.com/user/EasyThingsToDraw101 . Enrique works as a Stereo Artist for films like transformers and shares with me the passion for helping other people learn art on the web! Check him out!

Thanks for watching this video and remember to Subscribe for the best drawing lessons, tutorials and videos on How to draw eyes, head, the human body and more! All using Photoshop, Manga Studio, Sketchbook Pro and more!

Want to support me? Check out my patreon! http://www.patreon.com/javicandraw

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/javicandraw Web: http://javicandraw.com DeviantArt http://javicandraw.deviantart.com Twitter http://www.twitter.com/javicandraw Facebook http://www.facebook.com/javicandraw

diabolicalunicorn-deactivated20

Helpful hair drawing tutorials (for people like me who can’t afford drawing classes or don’t have any decent places to go in their area)😐😓

starrify-everything

peachy-jeans

Please tell me if any of the links aren’t working

Faces:

Face Tutorial

Quick Face Tutorial

Profile Anatomy

Drawing Heads

Basic Head Layout

How to Draw Ears

Drawing Noses

How To Draw Mouths

Lips

Lips Ref

Semi-Realistic Eye Tutorial

Tips for Drawing Eyes

Manga Eye Tutorial

Pixel Eye

Expressions

Step by Step Expressions

How to Avoid the Same Face

Head Angles

Beards

Hair:

Drawing Hair In Pencil

How To Draw Braids

Another Braid tutorial

Headband Braid Tutorial

How To Draw Hair

Hair Tutorial

Another Hair Tutorial

Also Another Hair Tutorial

Tutorial: Hair

Tutorial for Hair

Simple Hair Tutorial

Hairstyle Tutorial

50 Male Hairstyles Revamped

Let’s Do Hair!

Curls

Pixel Hair Tutorial

Manga Boys Hair Tutorial

Bodies:

A Guide to Drawing the Human Body

How To Draw Hands

Hand Tutorial

Hand Gestures

More Hand Gestures

Arm Tutorial

Feet Drawing Guide

Foot Tutorial

Drawing Feet

Knees

Sitting Poses

Drawing Torsos

Abs Tutorial

Clothes and Accessories:

Clothing Tutorial (Notes)

How to Draw Flower Crowns

Helmets and Hats

Hoods

Fashion

How to Draw Tights

Jeans

Boot Tutorial

Plaid Tutorial

Lace Tutorial

Armour Tutorial

Creatures:

Wings

Folded Wings

Tutorial on Creature Design

Bat Wings on Humans

Pegasus Wings

Animal Legs on Humans

Dragon Tutorial

Dragon Wing Tutorial

Dragon Hands and Feet Tutorial

Dragon Mouth Tutorial

Dragon Head Tutorial

Dragon Scales

Clawed Hand Tutorial

Basic Horn Tutorial

Sauropod Tutorial

How to Draw Centaurs

Werewolf Anatomy

Animals/insects:

Animal Noses

Basic Animal Anatomy

Paw Tutorial

Fur Tutorial

Pixel Fur Tutorial

Painting Fur

Ponies

Horse Tutorial

Horse Proportions

Horse Hooves

Horse Legs

Dog Anatomy

Simple Dog Tutorial

Wolf Paw Tutorial

Wolf Head Tutorial

Drawing a Wolf

Canine Leg Tutorial

Feline Comparison

Big Cat Paw Tutorial

Lion Head Tutorial

Cat Faces Tutorial

Snow Leopard Tutorial

Tiger Tutorial

Fox Tutorial

Rabbit Drawing Tips

Butterfly Tutorial

Rat Tutorial

Owl Anatomy

Feather Tutorial

Bear Anatomy

Objects:

Glowing Stuff

How to Draw 3D Rooms

Gun Ref

Slime Tutorial

Chain Tutorial

Gemstone Tutorial

Bullet Metal Tutorial

Lightsaber Tutorial

Gold Coin Tutorial

Jewel Tutorial

Nature/Food:

Tree Tutorial

How to Create Stars (With Photoshop)

Stars Tutorial

How to Draw Clouds

How to Draw a Rose

Simple Roses

Grass Tutorial

Another Grass Tutorial

Quick Grass Tutorial

Bush Tutorial

Rain Tutorial

Water Tutorial

Underwater Tutorial

Fire Tutorial

Snow Tutorial

Light Tutorial

Light Sparkle Tutorial

Mountain Tutorial

Another Mountain Tutorial

Moon Tutorial

How to Draw a Apple

Strawberry Tutorial

Colours:

The Psychology of Colour

How To Colour

Colour Blender

Colour Scheme Designer

Colour Meanings For Roses

Color Hex

Colour Harmony

Skin Colour Palette

Pastel Colours

Greyscale Tutorial

Colouring Cloth

Hair Colouring

Photoshop Colouring Tutorial

Other:

Pixel Art Tutorial

Another Pixel Art Tutorial

Photoshop Brushes

Photoshop Layers Tutorial

Glitch Effect (with Photoshop)

Gimp Soft Shading

Blending Tutorial

Free Digital Sculpting Tool

Skeleton Drawing Tool

Repeating Pattern Tutorial

Free Art Programs

Silk - Interactive Generative Art

Creativity Cards

Don’t Know What to Draw?

better than school tbh

*heavy breathing*

Reblog this just to make it easy to find before it gets lost into the tumblahhh sea

HALLELUJAH! KEEP THIS POST ALIVE!

Finally, a design of my Gem OC, Zircon!

Yeah, it doesn’t look the best, but hey, this is my first time drawing him officially.

I suck at drawing hands, but I wanted to show his gem placement, so

yeah

- Mod Metta

#gem #oc #steven #universe #original #character #zircon #mettaton #gets #dunked #on #mettatongetsdunkedon

anomalously-written

Let's Talk About: Minor Character Development

“Creating one interesting character is hard enough — but when it comes to writing a whole novel or series of books, you have to create dozens of them. How can you keep your supporting cast from seeming like cookie-cutter people? There’s no easy answer, but a few tricks might help you create minor characters who don’t feel too minor.” [x]

10 Secrets to Creating Unforgettable Supporting Characters

Give them at lease one defining characteristic. “…lots of people have one or two habits that you notice the first time you meet them, that stand out in your mind even after you learn more about them.”

Give them an origin story. “…Your main character doesn’t necessarily need an origin story, because you’ve got the whole book to explain who he/she is and what he/she is about. But a supporting character? You get a paragraph or five, to explain the formative experience that made her become the person she is, and possibly how she got whatever skills or powers she possesses.”

Make sure they talk in a distinctive fashion. “…you still have to make sure your characters don’t all talk the same. Some of them talk in nothing but short sentences, others in nothing but long, rolling statements full of subordinate clauses and random digressions. Or you might have a character who always follows one long sentence with three short ones.“ ”…One dirty shortcut is to hear the voice of a particular actor or famous person in your head, as one character talks.“

Avoid making them paragons of virtue, or authorial stand-ins. ”…People who have no flaws are automatically boring, and thus forgettable.“ ”…Any character who has foibles, or bad habits, or destructive urges, will always stand out more than one who is pure and wonderful in all ways. And nobody will believe that you’ve chosen to identify yourself, as the author, with someone who’s so messed up. (Because of course, you are a perfect human being, with no flaws of your own.)“

Anchor them to a particular place. ”…A huge part of making a supporting character “pop” is placing her somewhere. Give her a haunt — some place she hangs out a lot. A tavern, a bar, an engine room, a barracks, a dog track, wherever. It works both ways — by anchoring a character in a particular location, you make both the character and the location feel more real.“

Introduce them twice — the first time in the background, the second in the foreground. ”…You mention a character in passing: “And Crazy Harriet was there too, chewing on her catweed like always.” And you say more about them. And then later, the next time we see that character, you give more information or detail, like where she scores her catweed from. The reader will barely remember that you mentioned the character the first time — but it’s in the back of the reader’s mind, and there’s a little “ping” of identification.“

Focus on what they mean to your protagonists ”…What does this minor character mean to your hero? What role does he fulfill? What does your hero want or need from Randolph the Grifter? If you know what your hero finds memorable about Randolph, then you’re a long ways towards finding what your readers will remember, too.“

Give them an arc — or the illusion of one. ”… You can create the appearance of an arc by establishing that a character feels a particular way — and then, a couple hundred pages later, you mention that now the character feels a different way.“ ”…A minor character who changes in some way is automatically more interesting than one who remains constant…“

The more minor the character, the more caricature-like they may have to be. ”…This one is debatable — you may be a deft enough author that you can create a hundred characters, all of whom are fully fleshed out, well-rounded human beings with full inner lives.“ ”…some writing styles simply can’t support or abide cartoony minor characters. But for your third ensign, who appears for a grand total of two pages, on page 147 and page 398, you may have to go for cartoony if you want him to live in the reader’s mind as anything other than a piece of scenery.“

Decide which supporting characters you’ll allow to be forgettable after all. ”…And this is probably inevitable. You only have so much energy, and your readers only have so much mental space. Plus, if 100 supporting characters are all vivid and colorful and people your readers want to go bowling with, then your story runs the risk of seeming overwritten and garish.Sometimes you need to resign yourself to the notion that some characters are going to be extras, or that they’re literally going to fulfill a plot function without having any personality to speak of. It’s a major sacrifice they’re making, subsuming their personality for the sake of the major players’ glory.“

Keep reading

anatoref

Female Portraiture and Hair Reference Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4 Source 5

solthrys

@ripwitch

Horns are tough since they’re complex 3D shapes that often overlap. Until you’re comfortable with them I’d highly suggest always looking up ref pics of the type you want or try to buy a set so you can move them around to see how perspective distorts them.

wxrmandfxzzies-deactivated20190

fat bodies tutorial!

ALRIGHT SO my pal @kalreyno wanted help with drawing fat characters and as a fat artist i felt like i could give a bit of helpful insight on that. there’s also been a lot of complaining about “boo hoo fat characters are hard to draw so i can’t include them in my work Ever” goin on lately so if that’s your case then this is for you too!! and also just for anyone who would like help with fat bodies in general, ofc. anyway, let’s get this show on the road!!

let’s start with some common misconceptions. these are the two main attempts at chubby bodies i run into, so i’ll focus on them.

the Anime Chubby i see everywhere, and it’s just……so wrong in many ways. first of all, there is almost no additional body fat compared to your average thin character - except for where it’s added in “attractive” places (breasts, hips, thighs). the breasts are way too perky, and don’t have the realistic shape fat would give them (though how to draw accurate breasts is another tutorial all on its own lmao). there is still a thigh gap, which usually only happens in very thin people, and bones are still visible on the surface of the skin, which also rarely happens in fat people.

the Michelin Man is better in some ways, but still not that great. it’s a slightly better attempt, but basically all that’s done there is taking a thin character and blowing them up, while giving no thought to fat distribution. the thigh gap is usually still present, and they look a lot more hard than soft - and fat is very soft and pliable.

here’s a chart on how fat usually distributes (if you can’t read my messy writing, “1. next to no fat, 2. moderate amount, 3. most of the fat distribution”). basically, the more muscle an area has, the more prone it is to develop fat, such as the abdomen, thighs, and upper arms. it’s important to note that fat sits on top of muscle, and that it does distribute in different levels, and not evenly across the body as shown in the Michelin Man.

now, here’s an accurate fat body with all of that kept in mind!! notice how the fat isn’t only kept to aesthetically pleasing areas, and how it sits realistically on the character’s body. their breasts sag a lot more, which happens even in thin people with larger breasts, and the nipples are pointing more downwards than straight out. there is no thigh gap in sight, there are no bones in sight, and most importantly, they have fat rolls, which are very important in drawing a convincing fat character!! as far as i know i’ve never met a single person with no rolls at all, and everyone has them, whether thin or fat - they’re just more prominent and more consistently present in fat people. pay close attention to where they are and how they’re shaped.

here are a couple of drawings showing how fat is affected when sitting vs stretching. as seen in the first, the fat specifically on the stomach is distributed a lot more evenly and stretched out, so it becomes “flatter”. the love handles are still pretty visible, though, as well as the fat on the thighs and arms. the breasts are raised with the shoulders, and the fat on the shoulders and near the neck forms rolls as it’s being pushed together.

in the second, there is a lot less room for distribution, so the fat is all pushed together. the breasts sag and the stomach forms rolls and spills into the lap. a good analogy for the way fat works is to liken it to a water balloon, and thinking of how its shape would change when resting flat on a surface, hanging off of a ledge, held upright, etc.

here are a few extra tips i find a lot of people miss!

first on the top is the hip/pubic region. the first circle is showing the way the bellybutton is folded in fat people, as opposed to stretched out in thinner people. the second is the stomach fat spilling over onto the pubic region and creating a separation in the two areas, which is something that’s missing in a lot of art. in addition, the pubic mound also gains fat, making it round as seen in the profile drawing i did up there (i’ve heard people refer to it as fupa?). the last in the hip region is the lack of a thigh gap. i can’t stress this enough!!!! if you’re trying to draw a convincing fat character, make sure their thighs are pretty much always touching!! for reference, mine literally don’t separate until my feet are about 2ft from each other.

the bottom right is showing the double chin, which a lot of people are afraid to draw!! fat does distribute itself here too, and there’s nothing wrong with it, so don’t feel like you shouldn’t give fat characters a double chin in your work for fear of it looking like a caricature.

in the bottom middle, it’s showing how fat affects different types of breasts with the presence of more or less breast tissue.

lastly, at the very right are stretch marks with their usual locations and directions, which i also can’t stress enough!!!!! i sometimes forget to add them honestly, but they’re so important in accurately portraying fat characters, as they literally come from the skin being stretched from fat being gained (and they’re also just rlly neat lookin like why wouldn’t you lmao). some people have less and some people have more, feel free to experiment with them!

the last thing is body types!! there isn’t one single way for a person to be fat, so feel free to experiment with shapes once you’ve learned the basics!!

so there you have it, a tutorial on how to draw chubs!! now go forth and make some accurate fanart or some rad fat characters, because the world could always use more of both. hmu if you have any questions or concerns, and thanks for reading!!

EDIT: someone pointed out the bad wording in the tutorial. thank you for bringing it to my attention and sorry for offending anybody. i’ve updated the tut, so please reblog this one!

thundercluck-blog

Hey, friends!

It’s Meg for today’s TUTOR TUESDAY! Today we’re going to have some fun with hair! Don’t hesitate to send in a tutorial recommendation either here or to my personal blog for next week! Keep practicing, have fun, and I’ll see you next Tuesday!

drawingden

manga girl hair reference sheet II - 20130113 by StyrbjornA

drawingden

Tutorial : dress with pleats by Scarlett-Aimpyh

Tips For Making and OC

1. Don’t make your character overpowered. Make your character reasonable, and have some major weaknesses. Sure, they can be strong, but they can’t be the greatest thing in the world because plot convenience.

2. If you’re making a fan-character rather than an OC, I suggest not making your character related to, married to, in love with, has killed, or anything with the main cast of characters. Have them be friends at the most

3. Have you character not have an insane backstory. Example: Being created by the Dr. Xegleborb in an Underwater Volcano in Space

There y’go

- Mod Metta

#original #character #characters #oc #tips #help #mod #metta

loish

moar mini-tutorial gifs!

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