Push - Character

As I mentioned in my last post, one of the things I'm working on this year is developing my characters more. Whether writing or drawing, I want to push beyond the static.

I want you to be able to look at my drawings, or read what I write and KNOW the person. Facial expressions, gestures, body language, clothing choices, quirks...all the things that go into making a person an individual.

In a workshop earlier this year, I wrote a manuscript for a picture book. I used a stereotypical character we've seen in a hundred movies from a particular genre. Due to my movie watching experiences, I really KNEW this character, and it came out in my writing.

The manuscript practically wrote itself. I never had to guess at the dialog. I knew exactly how this character would react, what he would say, and how he would say it. When I read the story out loud to critique buddies, I naturally read it with his accent and mannerisms. I knew him.

I want to try to know all my characters that well. It's so much easier to give them depth if you know them first.

I wanted to point out a few illustrators who, I think, really manage to give their characters personalities:

• Barbara Johansen Newman - Barb's past life as a puppet-maker shows in her work.
• Ilene Richard
• Christine Schneider
• Jack E. Davis

Great stuff, don't you think?

Comments

[violetismycolor]

I think your witches personality shines in this painting...

[mark heath]

On a similar note, I had the same problem with my comic strips. I'd come up with an idea. I'd write hundreds of strips, hoping that the characters would define themselves. Sometimes they did, other times they didn't. With Spot the Frog, I have a neighborly understanding of who the characters are, but it took a full year before the recognition kicked in.

Writing a picture book with fully-understood characters must be much harder...unless the writer spends a good stretch of time with the character(s) first. I've tried writing a few picture books, usually in a frenzied month, but perhaps the best way is to live with the book for a while -- revisit the manuscript over the course of a year or so.

Or, and this just struck me -- what if you write a book with a particular character, and rather than work on the edit, the rewrite, let it be and write another book with the same character, and then another. The only way I can discover who Buddy or Lumpy are is to watch them act and interact in different situations...if you wrote a book, then another, then went back to the first book, you'd have insights into the character, even if the second or third book was never published...

[Janee]

This is an excellent suggestion, Mark.

I've been kind of writing a plot line (or story arc) out and letting it brew in my head before I start the actual writing. This helps with letting the story build, but not as much with the characters.

I've thought of keeping my character's diary for a couple of weeks as a way to get to know him/her. This is very similar to your idea of writing pre-books. I like it.

I love your frogs' characters, so I think you've really found their voices!!

[Barbara Johansen Newman]

Janie, thanks so much for the nice comments! I love your work and see much character in the most subtle ways: hair, posture, expression. Sometimes charcaterization is more gentle, and doesn't hit you over the head. That is good, too.

I did enjoy creating characters when I was a puppeteer and dollmaker. I even used to write small bios for alll the dolls. They were hand written on small cards and attached to the arms of the dolls--little character sketches about who these small people were.

Of course when we draw or write it is fun to create a character, rich with detail. But for me the challenge is: what the heck do I have them do to make a plot worth reading? If anyone knows the secret to coming up with great story lines, please let me know!

Barb