Character Theory Do you prefer to design characters apperance first or last?

[tsukioni]

It's interesting to me the wide variety of how people design characters here, and I'd love to hear your thoughts even if you don't draw.

Personally, I do draw. I'll normally come up with a character concept first (very vauge, like 'man with the ability to summon liquids'), and then work on the design. Then I just slap 'em into a world and see how their personality develops from it's baseline.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I usually search for images last or write a description. I usually try to come up with background and personality.

 

[Onmyoji]

I usually make up character personality first, according to the rp setting, what my rp partner wants to play with and what I want to play as at the given time.
And I think of appearance after that or simultaneously.

I don't really draw my OC, mostly just text descriptions are enough.
Sometimes I may draw them if I want to illustrate something that happens in rp... so it's usually later on, when the character is established and the rp is ongoing.

 

[Imaginary]

I usually come up with the appearance last.
Many of my characters are inspired by songs, for example the theme song of my cyberpunk criminal is 'Wrong side of heaven' from FFDP... I think a song is really great for describing their personality, and after all that is established, I try to find a fitting face claim or draw one.
I just never use text descriptions for their appreance because I like to visualize^^

 

[gingira]

It's interesting to me the wide variety of how people design characters here, and I'd love to hear your thoughts even if you don't draw.

Personally, I do draw. I'll normally come up with a character concept first (very vauge, like 'man with the ability to summon liquids'), and then work on the design. Then I just slap 'em into a world and see how their personality develops from it's baseline.

Yowza, a kindred spirit! Your method is exactly how I make characters!

I feel as if this way is really... organic? By dropping a character design into a setting, it's as if they already have a story and we're just piecing it together. It makes them feel more alive IMO.

 

[Idea]

Well, I can't draw to save my life, so typically it isn't a safe strategy for me to get a pic last, otherwise I could be eternally searching for a pic and just not find one that fits if I intend to use a faceclaim (which I usually do).

My typical method goes through

character idea/appeal > Base character concept and immediate ramifications > Finding a pic > Working out the details

While the pic is chosen with a base concept and, therefore, most important things about a character already defined, the image chosen will still influence some of the character's final detail more extra details.

That said, there have also been cases where I simply found a faceclaim I simply felt I NEEDED to use somewhere, and ended up developing entire characters around an interpretation of the pic.

 

[vvoahnelly]

I like to come up with everything about my character before I like to delve into their appearance. I feel as though if I have an image in my head, it will somehow skew my perceptions of the character before they're fully fleshed out.

 

[The Dark Creator]

My favorite thing to do is create a personality, backstory, and everything else off of a character description. When i actually create a character from scratch, i always start with an appearance with a character goal in mind. My goals go from "I want a supernatural hunter" to unique things like "Lets have a vampire that doesn't use fangs."

 

[Fantome]

I typically think of their personality and backstory first, appearances always come secondary to me.

 

[baddervibes]

This is constantly up in the air for me. I.e. I was really fascinated by having a character named "Dogface" and I designed him around the idea of a junkyard dog personified: he's all skinny, scratched up, and permanently scowling. Dogface's backstory and personality came waaaay after I was satisfied with is look.

Then I'll have other characters who'll come to me in personalities and backstories: "I want a fuck-up heroine who failed to save the world and her friends, but was sent back in time by a powerful sorceress (and her best friend) to re-write their fates..." or "I want a 6'10 man in his mid-thirties that feels isolated by his body image but learns to love himself after nursing an injured cryptid back to health..." etc. But then it'll take me like two weeks before I even figure out what they look like oTL

 

[PhoenixMire]

I ALWAYS design the appearance first. I draw my characters, and as I’m designing them, everything else falls into place. The design elements just kind of... happen as I draw them, and based on those elements, I’ll start thinking about what powers and abilities my character would have. Depending on their expression, it helps me decide their personality. And from there my creative juices get going; as I’m sketching, I’m thinking about how exactly they fit into the world, what their backstory is, and how it shaped them to be the person they are today. Any attempts I’ve made to create the character before the appearance always fail. The appearance helps me decide everything else about the character.

 

[Malphaestus]

I suppose it is a simultaneous effort for me.

 

[Lord Aphrodite]

I do appearance last, as I find pictures. If I do it first, I usually have to redesign the character to make more sense, because they usually end up shallow.

 

[Shuusuke]

I usually figure out some key aspects of the character's personality and backstory first, then I think about their appearance. For me, coming up with an appearance first often gives me tunnel vision regarding their personality and backstory. I either just have a mental image or search for an existing image somewhere, since my artistic skills are imaginary.

I have to say though, I can see some interesting effects of coming up with appearances and personalities separately, then randomly assigning those to characters. But I wouldn't like to be the one doing that. There's a link between the way appearances and personalities are portrayed, and breaking that is pretty risky.

 

[catsidhe]

It differs character to character, but at the same time usually.

Most of the time I'll sketch someone new, come up with a vague story or gimmick for them, edit their design, refine their story, and keep repeating until I'm really satisfied.

The exception is usually when I'm making a monster/fantasy race character, I'll research a bunch of monsters from mythology, pick one that inspires a personality and works with the characters story, and sketch the design.

 

[Tremaine]

It highly depends for me. It depends on what inspires me so to give some examples on my main ways of building up a character.

1 - visual inspiration.

At one point i wanted to make a character with a mechanical arm. So it's appearance based. I started out with making their appearance though i always keep an open mind on it. After i was alright with the appearance i moved on to the story, trying to write down why he looks the way he does. With this character especially it was important to know why his arm was missing, and also since he has white hair how he got that. He also had a very futuristic yet rough look, like a bit of a tinkerer. So what I settled on was a man who was in an airship crash and now still works on an airship as a captain, but no longer in a combat ship but a cargo ship instead. So i altered his appearance again to the story line, as i thought it makes sense that if he lost his arm in an airship crash, he would likely have some more scars from it all. Making him a former engineer than rose to the rank of ship captain also expains the rest of his look, it's made by him and a few members on his crew partially from scraps.

2 - Theme/feature inspired.

I wanted to make a character that correctly portrayed the struggles of a not so masculine man. Not all mag are strong macho fighters, no there is also smart inteligent guys who perhaps don't have muscle paired with it. And i also often see a tragic backstory of abuse, but it's highly uncommon with male characters. Those that i do see i often find are a character more than a person and aren't always to believable. So what i did is research, lots and lots of research into -real life- men that have gotten abused and how it changes them. And what shows is that they often are a bit more shy and timid, but in crawling back and away from the outside world they have often gotten a great tallent. These are often writing, drawing, gaming, or something else. Sports can also be among there but that wasn't the route i wanted to take. So i made a man who's been hurt and abused, but an insanely good mage because of this, and incredibly strong emotionally. Even though he did get hurt and weak, he got very strong later on, only his body doesn't show it. So then i started to look at appearance to see what fit him.

3 - Story inspired.

So i love to write. And at one point i wrote a story just going for it, not too much thought. And so after a while it was done and i wanted to make the main character from the story for rp and made the story his background, and i honestly just took whatever i imagined him like as a character.

 

[2inchlich]

It really depends. Some of my characters started with a concept and I designed an appearance based off of that, and then developed the personality later. Others, I had a really good idea for a backstory/personality that I wanted to flesh out more, so I made a design based on that. And then others still were just neat designs that I drew that I felt needed to be turned into legitimate characters. I just kind of go with the flow.

 

[-_Princely_-]

For me, I normally choose a picture online. I'm not very good at drawing so :'). The appearance of my character would depend on what I'd be roleplaying and what my character's personality would be.

 

[peritwinkle]

The appearance of a character always pops in my head first. I would compare building a character with meeting a stranger - you see them first, and then as you hear them talk and simply exist, you get to know them. Therefore I start learning about my own characters in pieces - I feel like they sort of create themselves.

I almost always sketch my characters as well, or even make a full painting if I get very invested in them. Or I put together edits to bring their aesthetic (in a sense) to light.

 

[elextrified]

i don’t draw (because i can’t) but when i create my characters, i do appearance first. in my experience, if i wait until the end, i find it nearly impossible to find a model that satisfies me since i’ve already developed this extremely specific appearance in my head.

if i was capable of drawing my oc’s however, i would probably create a rough outline to start, and then wait until the end to complete it.

 

[BackSet]

I flip flop.

'Nuff said.