Animation Source Forums

Note: If this in the wrong section then please move it. Also most of this will be MY personal opinion and/or view(s) on things.


Ok so we all love our characters I'm sure, wether they are old or fairly new, and of course we "probably" put a lot of effort into them, but yet we never truly stop and ask ourselves or think about what really was the most difficult thing to develop for this character? I think when you stop and ponder this only for even the briefest of moments, it makes you a bit more proud of the character and more willing to show it off. Now lets take a moment and see and or discuss the hard or more finer points of developing a character:

The Breed:

Ok this is quite important when creating a new character. You need to stop and think for a moment, and ask yourself a few questions: Where is my character going to live? What will it be doing? or whatever else.

To me this is difficult because:

A. The world consists of many breeds, not only domesticated but wild
B. You don't really want to create a repetative breed/mix. Like for example there are like 50 million Border Collie/Husky mixes on this site.
C. You want to try to base your character's personality off that said breed.

Also people tend to get annoyed if a "popular" artist creates a dog/breed and the someone else uses that breed, I can see why but yet maybe that breed ment something to that other person or maybe it was a favorite.

But it is annoying when BillyJoeBob5543 (NOT a real user) created a poodoodle (Not a real breed I don't think?) just because HappyMarySue (NOT a real user) creates one.


Finding a Name:

To me this is probably one of the most troublesome things when making a new character.

A. Deciding if you want the name to be male or female
B. Deciding if you want it to mean something.
C.You don't really want a common name like Spot, Rover or Fifi. A name should be uniqe, if not to everyone to you.


Designing The Character:

Like picking a name this also has to be one of the hardest things for me to do.

A. Most people tend to find pictures of said breed(s) and base markings off of that or combine if they are making a mix.
B. The markings are also hard and I myself have been guilty of this: Designing a "compilcated" character, atfirst you love the design then you end up scrapping it because you start to get lazy and grow tierd of placing specific markings.
C. Also you really don't want your character to look like someone elses

Developing the Persona/Likes/Dislikes:

This I must say is the hardest thing for me personally.

A. Too many "Mary-Sue characters": overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors or readers or creators.
B. Trying to keep your character from turning into an invincible one
C. Trying to keep it from "sounding" like someone elses character. Lets face it, character bios are getting pretty repetitive, particually with the Likes and Dislikes (Yes I am guilty of this)


Developing The History and Backstory:

This can also be a pain in the butt for me, but the persona tends to help a bit.

A. What happend to it as a baby? We try to stay away from all of our characters having "oh so happy" lives
B. Deciding on if you want to knock off a character and how you want to accomplish this can be difficult as well. I've seen tons of people who have characters who have been killed by bears or the "owners" had the vet put them down because they were "depresssed"
C. Like personas the history starts to sound repetitive...The character is a sled dog, the character is a show dog, the character is a breeding dog ect...


And yet most people wonder why we as the creators ger mad when their characters look/sound like or act like our characters or go throught the same "past/future" events....-_-

the name and the personality/history is the hardest part for me xD

Great topic! ^^
I usually have troubles with the personality. Since I have so many already, it's getting hard to find original attitudes, likes, and dislikes.