#character creation tips

[digitoonzmediaindia]

Character Design: From Concept to Creation

Creating a memorable character is like cooking up a magical recipe. It’s all about blending imagination, storytelling, and a pinch of technical skill. Whether you’re new to the game or a seasoned pro, the journey of character design is a wild ride full of twists and turns. Ready to dive in? Let’s explore the exciting world of character design, from the first spark of an idea to the final masterpiece!

Step 1: The Spark of Inspiration

Every awesome character starts with a spark of inspiration. This can hit you while reading a book, watching a movie, daydreaming, or even while brushing your teeth! The trick is to grab onto that spark and let it light your creative fire.

Picture this: you’re designing a character for a fantasy video game. Maybe you’re inspired by mythical creatures from ancient tales. You see a majestic, winged warrior with the strength of a lion and the wisdom of an owl. Boom! You’ve got your starting point.

“Inspiration is everywhere and often where you least expect it.” — Chuck Jones

Step 2: Concept Development

With inspiration in hand, it’s time to dive deeper. Develop your character’s backstory, personality, and quirks. Ask yourself fun questions like:

What makes your character tick?

What are their superpowers and weaknesses?

How do they vibe with the world around them?

For our winged warrior, maybe they’re the last of their kind, on a mission to find a magical relic that can save their homeland. They’re brave but feel the weight of their epic quest.

Step 3: Visual Exploration

Now, let’s get visual! Start with rough sketches to play around with shapes, poses, and expressions. Don’t worry about making it perfect; this is your playground.

Think about:

Silhouette: A cool silhouette makes your character instantly recognizable.

Proportions: Play around with exaggerated features to add flair.

Details: Scars, accessories, or funky tattoos can tell your character’s story.

For our winged warrior, try out different wing shapes, armor styles, and facial expressions. Maybe they have a battle scar or a unique emblem showing their heritage.

“Every great design begins with an even better story.” — Lorinda Mamo

Step 4: Refining the Design

You’ve got a bunch of cool ideas, so now it’s time to polish them. Pick the elements that scream "this is my character" and refine them into a slick, cohesive design. Pay attention to colors, textures, and materials to make your character pop.

Create a detailed turnaround sheet showing your character from all angles. This will keep your design consistent and serve as a handy reference for future art or animations.

Step 5: Bringing Your Character to Life

With your refined design, it’s showtime! Bring your character to life in your favorite medium. This could be a digital illustration, a 3D model, or even a traditional painting. Add depth, lighting, and shading to make your character feel real.

Imagine your winged warrior in a heroic pose, wings spread wide, ready to soar. Or if you’re into 3D, sculpt a detailed model with intricate textures and realistic lighting.

Software to Use:

Adobe Photoshop: Great for digital painting and creating detailed illustrations.

Clip Studio Paint: Excellent for character design, especially for comic and manga artists.

Blender: A powerful, free tool for 3D modeling, rigging, and animation.

ZBrush: Industry-standard for detailed 3D sculpting and modeling.

Procreate: Perfect for sketching and painting on the go with an iPad.

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” — Steve Jobs

Step 6: Storytelling and Beyond

A well-designed character is more than just eye candy; they’re a storytelling machine. Throw your character into different scenarios and see how they react. This adds depth and opens up new adventures.

Maybe your winged warrior teams up with an unexpected ally, sparking a new quest. Or they discover a hidden talent that changes their destiny. The sky’s the limit!

Conclusion

Character design is a thrilling journey where creativity meets storytelling and skill. From that first spark of inspiration to the final creation, each step is a chance to breathe life into your ideas. So, grab your sketchbook, unleash your imagination, and embark on the adventure of character design. Who knows? Your next creation might be the next big thing in art and storytelling.

Happy designing!

[soysaucednd]

Family in D&D

This topic has definitely been covered before, but I am personally against character concepts where their family was killed (with exceptions, of course). Your character having a family grounds them in the world of the game and keeps them engaged with the narrative.

Engagement:

If your character has a family in the game, then it allows for more character motivation, which will make the character more interesting to play. For instance, your character could be incredibly family oriented, but has been exiled from their community until they can prove themselves. Or, you could be sending a portion of gold from every encounter back to struggling family members. Alternatively, your character could have a family who mistreated them and their story is a revenge quest to destroy their family and their reputation. It will also force your DM to create NPCs for your family, and that will tie you into the narrative and show that the DM cares about your character’s connections.

Grounding:

If your character has real connections in the world that are indirect (outside of the party), it will make them feel more real and more connected to the narrative. Any detail about the character that fits within the setting will help the illusion that this is a place that is living and breathing despite being fictional. If the player knows the name of their character’s mother and the town she is from and a few details of their childhood in the town, the character will be able to roleplay more effectively and might even be excited for when the campaign might bring them home to visit

DM Opportunity:

This should go without saying, but the DM’s opportunities with a living family are endless. I will list possible adventure hooks and concepts off the top of my head below.

The party gets a care package from the rogue’s mother.

The town where the paladin’s family lives is being attacked.

The party passes through a halfling village to visit their bard’s family.

During an encounter with the BBEG, they hold up a crystal ball that shows the homes of the party’s parents.

The party stays at a stuffy noble’s house because the fighter needs to go home for a reunion.

The cleric’s sister tracks down the party to tell them that their father is sick from a mysterious disease.

The party must choose between fighting the BBEG or leaving to save their family.

A party member’s family is working with the BBEG.

A party member has a sibling who is a slightly more successful adventurer.

A party member’s family is very worried about them and checks in magically from time to time.

A party member has to go home once a year to tell their aging father stories about their adventures.

A party member’s grandmother dies and they have to go to the funeral and attend the will reading.

Direwolves are stalking a forest nearby the small village where the rogue’s family lives and they ask the party to bring a basket of sweets through the woods to the rogue’s grandmother’s house, but something seems amiss.

[itopazfossil]

Tips on Creating Characters

Based on my own personal experience, and I’m definitely not an expert! Do whatever works best for you! :D )

I personally struggle with creating characters that feel real, not just mannequins inserted into a story just because they have to be there. Here are some tips that help me out, at least a little!

1. Draw inspiration from fictional characters that you love already. I’m not saying directly copying, but taking little bits and pieces you especially like can’t hurt! It can actually help you visualize what the character might look/act like, if you have something to base it off of. At least it does for me. Just make sure it’s not too similar, but also try not to stress too much about that. 

2. Try not to use lists too much. I know it can be fun filling out those extremely detailed character sheets with name, age, gender, race, height, etc., but I’ve found that it can actually bog down the creative process a ton. I just end up feeling like I’ve programmed a robot, not created an actual person within my story. These types of sheets can be done later, once you’ve got a firm hold on who your character really is!

3. Think about your character’s family or backstory. Doing so will help you to visualize where your character’s personality is coming from. It will give you an opportunity to explain why a character acts a certain way, and also help you feel a little more connected to them. Don’t get too stressed thinking about your character’s family’s personality though. You’re just focusing on this one for now. 

That’s all I’ve got for now, but if this was helpful to anyone I sure will update again with some more! Happy writing! 

[im-a-writer-and-artsit]

Is there anyone in the deaf community willing to help me out with creating a deaf character? I've done some research and found some things about the deaf community already, so I know some basic things, but I'm still not super familiar with how it all works.

I'm not a serious writer, I'm just trying to have a good time doing what I love. And I'm not planning on publishing any of my writings or art or anything like that, since I've seen that people in the community don't always like stuff about them being published by people who aren't deaf. The representation is wrong, they make awful stereotypes, important facts are missing, etc. Which I agree is a serious problem

But that's why I'm asking for help. This is just my own little idea I've been messing with, and even though it's not super serious, I still want to get my facts straight and make the character as realistic as possible.

So if you're willing to help me out or give me advice, please reach out! That would be great!

Again, I'm not super serious and I just want to have a realistic character that is accurately represented. I'm just a curious person trying to understand a different culture.

[arideya]

Hi there! I was just wondering if you had any tips on creating a really good looking female character in Fallout 4. I've done it ONCE and she's the character I use for every playthrough, but I want to try something different, and I just can't like anything I make this time =\

Hey nonny!

Sorry for late reply, I am currently on holiday hiatus literally jumping from city to city so I tried to make sure I answer this properly. Which usually takes a while.

Anyways.

Its a bit of a difficult question since beauty is extremely subjective. But I’d assume since you asked me you found my characters at least somewhat attractive, so I can try to explain how I went about character creation (based on my personal preferences) and then you see for yourself if you find it useful :)

So here goes:

I usually start with the character of my well character :))) I have a rough idea of the personality I want them to have, and try to come up with the features that I usually associate with that type of personality. I.e. if the character is a doesn’t-give-a-fuck type, then I want them to have stronger features such as large jaw, longer face, thinner lips, maybe a smirk, etc., if the character is generally a nicer type, then I want them to have softer/rounder features, thicker lips, larger eyes, etc.

If I don’t have a personality in mind and I am just creating a random blank character, then I try to start with the game/real life faces that I find attractive. For example I love Witcher and Ciri is one of my all-time favorite characters, so I initially based Eva on her. Ari on the other hand, I’ve always associated with Keira Knightley. Cameron I somehow always wanted to look like Christy Turlington, Lex - Tia Carrere, and so on.

After I get down the shape of the face/features, I start modifying them according to more of my personal tastes and the personality of my characters. For example I wanted Eva to have very sharp features - sharp nose, pointy chin, defined jaw. So she got larger nose with a crook which I tried to make similar to a bird’s beak, tired eyes, and thinner lips. Ari was supposed to have a beautiful face and large eyes, but the shape seemed wrong so I made it slightly longer, her lips also got thicker. Cameron got a stronger jaw, etc.

That said, I think understanding the proportions of the human face helps A LOT in creating a fairly decent character. And while not necessarily an obligatory thing that you have to comply by, I’d recommend using it as reference (because if you use it as an exact guide you’d probably end up with an abomination lol. Fallout CC is… odd, tiny faces and giraffe necks come to mind). I do admit that I have a weakness for eyes, so I usually break the proportions guidelines by giving all my girls large pretty eyes. I make them slightly larger than normal, which sometimes gives the characters cartoony appearance.

Another thing - I ALWAYS modify characters during the game. Conversations are a good way to see how abominable or not your character is :) I was guilty myself of going by initial CC and giving my characters smaller jaw only to end up with something extremely stranger. I had to bring up console and modify them to better resemble a human being.

The commands that I use are always:

tfc 1 - freezes/unfreezes the game

FOV 30 - removes the camera lens effect and brings your char to a better field of view

slm player 1 - brings up the cc

OR you can use facial surgeons in the game. The only problem - you will not get the field of view

I am also a huge fan of Looks Menu Customization Compendium and use a lot of texture customization options. Adding couple of things from there could sometimes make the world of difference to your character’s face. Some of my favorite options are blush, face burn, Kirse’s facial contour and Freckles, Ciri eyeliner by @emissaryofwind and many others. Which brings me to another point - don’t be afraid to experiment with those things. Some options that you may think may make your character “less pretty” would actually give her more life. Kirse’s contour is probably one of my always-use customizations, I have it at around 25%-40% opacity depending on the type of ReShade/ENB I use. Playing with opacities of these options will give you great results. I can’t list all of them here, since I am away from home and don’t have my gaming comp with me, but you can find them in my character presets just to get an idea of what I’ve been using. In addition to LMCC options I always use Vanilla stuff such as: Sun burn, red nose, gaunt eyes, gaunt cheeks, circles around the eyes, scars, freckles, vitiligo, forehead/chin/neck blemishes, and lip blemish (color? i think its called color. Its not the makeup one, but the one in Damaged/Blemishes section of CC). @guidethisonekalahira in her mod Wandering Scavver - Face and Body textures has excellent replacement for vanilla freckles. I’ve been using it since I saw it, its really well done.

Huge part of my characters are their face textures. I use a mix I created myself from various parts of other modders’ work. The closest to the one I use would be @guidethisonekalahira‘s Wandering Scavver. They are awesome and very lore friendly.

And last but not least, probably the most important point actually - don’t be afraid to experiment with features and face shapes that you’d feel are not conventionally attractive. Beauty is subjective, but sometimes we lock ourselves in a certain preference and think that everything else outside that preference will not be “good looking” enough. I don’t think its true. You may be surprised how a larger/thicker nose, or smaller eyes, or strong jaw, can make your character awesome. Of course you will always stick with whatever you feel is good looking (I do too), but consider using the features that you feel absolutely MUST be certain way (i.e. large eyes), and combine them with other features that you feel are not THAT important (for example larger, longer nose). The results may surprise you. :)

And that’s that :)

Hope it was somehow helpful nonny. Please feel free to ask anything, in case this was not enough, or didn’t provide as much info as you hoped :)

[galpalaven]

@thedosian-cabbage here is a mini-tutorial for your curious anon! I don’t have a whole lot of tips, but I have some things that are important to keep in mind, so!!!

Transcript under the cut:

Dragon Age: Inquisition Taming the Character Creation Screen

Making an Asian Character

AKA fuck “There are No Asians in Thedas”

Tip 1: Find a Faceclaim

This is in no way a "You Have To" rule by any means, but is an important step if you'd like your character to stay out of the Uncanny Valley. Having a faceclaim (either a model or an actor or even yourself if you'd like) helps you manage the facial features and create a face that is realistic and won't have you squinting suspiciously at the screen because something seems off.

[Pictures of a Korean woman.]

This is the faceclaim of my main (East) Asian OC--my Hero of Ferelden. Her name is Nana. She's a K-Pop idol. These are the pictures I had pulled up while I worked, to help me get the facial structure correct.

Obviously, it's not an exact match, but it helped. A lot. A LOT.

[Pictures of my Asian Warden-turned-Inquisitor.]

Tip 2: Know How the Asian Face Works

East Asian facial structures are different from White facial structures. Often, especially on women, our features are softer and less defined. Our eyebrows sit smoothly against the forehead, and our eyes are often not as deeply set as other folk's.

[Profile images of a female model, actress Chloe Bennett, and a male model. Beside the female model, I have crudely traced the shape of her profile and set it aside for comparison. Beneath this I have written “(Forgive my bad tracing skills I only have a mouse.)”]

This is, of course, not a universal trait, as there are always exceptions to the rule, but this is a fairly consistent trait to consider. Asian men can also have this trait, but not all.

Asian faces have high cheekbones. This is just a fact. A lot of us also have rounder faces, but some of us can have square or oval shaped faces too. I recommend going back to the faceclaim tip to make sure you're getting close.

[Pictures of my Hero of Ferelden again, turned to the side, and another of my OCs with red lines highlighting the heigh of their cheekbones.]

We also tend to have lips on the fuller side, male or female. Again, not everyone is like that, but it is something to keep in mind.

I'm beginning to run out of things to say. I'm not an artist by any means, I just know what I look like lol.

The guy up there ^^ I based off of a Warden concept art instead of a faceclaim. He is lucky to have come out as well as he did.

Here are a few others I've made as well.

[Four more pictures of two other Asian OCs I’ve made in the DAI CC. On the last picture, beside a male OC, I’ve written, “I will admit, he is based off of General Shang from Mulan. I did good, didn't I?”]

Tip 3: The Character Creator

As far as wrangling the actual Character Creator (CC for this tutorial), it will take time and patience. Remember what I've said about facial structure-- Cheekbones, lips, eyebrows. Asian people are also Not One Skin Tone, so don't feel confined to the lighter skintones (or the yellow-undertoned one which I have affectionately dubbed the Jaundice One--I used it for my Hero of Ferelden, but I still don't like it.)

Anyway.

Let's talk about EYES. That's what we're all here for, yes? How to imply monolids without having a monolidded slider? (And no, I do not recognize the atrocity that is Mother Giselle's eye shape. Monolid does not mean NO upper lid. Fuck you, BioWare.)

Generally, when making East Asian OCs, I stick with I believe the first eye shape? It's already slightly thin and the most...not bulging or hideous one. Then I play with the size and spacing. While East Asian eyes come in all shapes and sizes, I find the easiest way to make your character look Actively Asian at a glance is to make sure the outer tilt (that is to say, the outer corners of the eye) are tilted all the way up. You can mess with the thinness/widness of the eyes all you like, but so long as they're tilted and you've followed the rest of my tips, your OC should appear at least somewhat Asian.

The best you can do with the limited CC sliders we get in DA:I.

Have Fun and Good Luck!

[saltyirishpotato2002]

Character Creation Tips #1

When deciding on the colors of a character, you need to think about pleasing color combinations. These are easily found on Google images, as well as here on Tumblr.

Whenever I color/design my characters, I color certain part of them to help make them stand out, which are mainly the eyes. Example: you have a very warm-based palette for your character (Ex: red, orange, yellow, pink, and sometimes purple) try making their eyes or accessories cold-based colors- (Ex: blue, green, purple, turquoise, and sometimes white).

This helps your character stand out, and allows more people to want to look at your character, as well as their eyes. ((The eyes are one of the most important parts of a character's design, and is the main focal-point when it comes to a character's emotions and personality.))