Character Creation Qotd

A blog by Rooseveltshanty to help you better build and understand your original characters!

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Feel free to reply to any of the questions I post on the tags / reblog with a reply! Share your characters with us all!

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What name would your character give themself? First name? Title? Superhero name?

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At the end of your character’s life, what scenes would flash before their eyes? Would they bear a lot of regrets? Would they be content? How would they rationalize their own existence?

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Describe your character the way their enemy would describe them.

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What kind of pets does / would your character have? Dogs, cats, fish, dragons?

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What is your character’s favorite genre of literature? What is their favorite book?

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Pick a specific street in your world. Describe the graffiti that can be found on that street.

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What video game is / would be your character’s favorite? Board game?

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If your character went to an amusement park, what kind of ride would be their favorite!

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Not exactly a question, rather, a prompt: pick a day in the life of your character, whether mundane or hectic, and write a journal entry from that character’s perspective. How do they interpret their surroundings? How do they think about the world?

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Alright. Spit it out. What is your character’s deeply embedded dark trauma?

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Does your character exist in a world with magic? If so, how would a sudden loss of magic affect them? If there is no magic, how would a sudden burst of magic in the world affect them?

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What kind of world / universe / au does your character exist in?

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Visualizing your Character

Not everyone is an artist. Many people tend to have OCs they can draw, or art is the medium through which they like representing their character. Perhaps that is you. Awesome! But, I know there are people out there who prefer writing about the character — maybe you have a Pinterest board or a popular character you model your OC’s physical appearance after. I for one dabble in drawing, but prefer some other way to visualize my characters.

Enter the obligatory AI discourse. I admit, I’ve used AI once or twice to play around with visualizing characters. I never use it for a final copy, based on my own preferences. I prefer to use other sources to visualize my characters.

My go-to is ALWAYS picrew. I love picrew!!! The original website is in Japanese, so I use a translator when I’m visualizing my characters. These are character customization creators made and uploaded by actual artists!! Most include a watermark so you can find them on social media too. The best part is there are so many different artists and styles that you can pick one that matches your story / character / vibe.

If I want a full body look at a character, I tend to use heroforge. Total disclaimer: heroforge is a website originally created to customize and order fantasy / dnd / pathfinder mini figures. Regardless, it’s a good way to design a 3D render of your character with presets and customizable color options. You can also opt to purchase the figure or an acrylic mini of your character!

Picrew is totally accessible on either computers or mobile. Heroforge is technically “usable” on mobile, but I highly recommend using a device like a computer that has better graphics, so you don’t miss anything. Also the user interface is way better on PC.

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Also the sims??? I can’t believe I forgot. I love making my characters on the sims and then playing a whole game with them. But yeah you can visualize them through the sims

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Visualizing your Character

Not everyone is an artist. Many people tend to have OCs they can draw, or art is the medium through which they like representing their character. Perhaps that is you. Awesome! But, I know there are people out there who prefer writing about the character — maybe you have a Pinterest board or a popular character you model your OC’s physical appearance after. I for one dabble in drawing, but prefer some other way to visualize my characters.

Enter the obligatory AI discourse. I admit, I’ve used AI once or twice to play around with visualizing characters. I never use it for a final copy, based on my own preferences. I prefer to use other sources to visualize my characters.

My go-to is ALWAYS picrew. I love picrew!!! The original website is in Japanese, so I use a translator when I’m visualizing my characters. These are character customization creators made and uploaded by actual artists!! Most include a watermark so you can find them on social media too. The best part is there are so many different artists and styles that you can pick one that matches your story / character / vibe.

If I want a full body look at a character, I tend to use heroforge. Total disclaimer: heroforge is a website originally created to customize and order fantasy / dnd / pathfinder mini figures. Regardless, it’s a good way to design a 3D render of your character with presets and customizable color options. You can also opt to purchase the figure or an acrylic mini of your character!

Picrew is totally accessible on either computers or mobile. Heroforge is technically “usable” on mobile, but I highly recommend using a device like a computer that has better graphics, so you don’t miss anything. Also the user interface is way better on PC.

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What is your character’s dream job? How possible is it for them to have that job?

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If you character had an interview / appointment / date / something, would they show up early, on time, or late? How early or late? Are they chronically early or late? Would their friends or family worry if they were the opposite?