Character Info Sheets Anyone?

[insomniascrawl]

I just made a character sheet for my Rooftop Bookshop characters and I like the way it came out, I'm really happy with it!
So I was curious if other people made them as well and what they looked like/ what their characters are like.
Here's mine:

[Ringarune]

yup yup, I'm not the biggest fan of making them, but I have 2 from my comic Star Pace

[zerofruits]

what a coincidence! I made my first one today

To be honest, I was a little anxious on what to actually write as info? On one hand, I want to give readers an overview of the character, but on the other hand, I don't want to spoil anything that will be revealed in the story anyways/is crucial to the plot. How do you deal with this dilemma? And how much information is too few/too much?

[insomniascrawl]

Oh my gosh your characters are adorable, I really like their outfits too.

[insomniascrawl]

I totally understand what you mean. I tried not to go too deep into the backstory of my characters since it's a biiiig part of my story cough that I still have to add*cough*, so to avoid too many spoilers, I just went with general info about the characters, like their personality and ages and stuff.

Your art is lovely by the way

[dratinigirl]

I made reference/info sheets for all of my characters I make sure to use them so I don't forget details about a character.

[insomniascrawl]

Whoa, Very nice, I like your style a lot, I'll have to check out your comic!

[Sanz]

These are so nice and organized makes me want to make some lol i just use my tumblr. And dont tag anything ^^; or.....color them http://losesmeraldas.tumblr.com/

[shazzbaa]

I just need to say that I freakin' LOVE your personality descriptors for Rooftop Bookshop xD

As for me, after watching a lot of other webcomic artists struggle with having cast pages that they'd always feel the need to update or completely redraw as their art evolved, I decided I would make it as easy as possible to use art cropped from pages, so I can just crop a new panel every time a piece of art starts looking too old. xD So my cast info isn't in an "info sheet" in the same way, but I do have all that stuff on my cast page, like this!

(the rest of them are over here : D )

On one hand, I want to give readers an overview of the character, but on the other hand, I don't want to spoil anything that will be revealed in the story anyways/is crucial to the plot. How do you deal with this dilemma? And how much information is too few/too much?

For me, other than picking out songs and birthdays and other silly vital statistics, I just add a sentence or two that give an glimpse of the character and what they're like and what their deal is in the story. So for example, Xira's bio implies that he's nervously hiding the fact that he can read minds. That's TEEECHNICALLY spoilers if you're not caught up, but I'm okay with that -- it's a pretty early impression of the character, and it's also the sort of thing that, if I were a potential reader, might make me think "oh that character sounds neat, I'm gonna read this story."

Basically I guess I think of the character bio like a pitch for that character -- a piece of what makes them interesting, without explaining them too much.

But I'm also updating the cast page as I go, so you'll never see a character that's yet to be introduced. If I were gonna show the ENTIRE cast page up front, I'd probably just give first impressions; like, Xira would just be described as helpful and "strangely perceptive" to sort of suggest his issues without revealing them early to everyone.

[Damatris]

Ooh, these are really good ideas/ examples!

I've been wanting to make a character page for ages but still haven't really figured out what o tell or how to go about it.

[insomniascrawl]

Your art style is cool, I think character sheets for your characters would come out nicely if you decide to make them

[insomniascrawl]

Thanks, I tried to describe them as elequiently as their personalities would allow haha.

I really like how your character sheets came out too, the 3images of the character caught my attention since it kind of gives the character more dynamic, if that makes sense.

Also great advice on information to put on the sheets. I agree that at times too much info can be overwhelming and tell too much to keep you from wanting or needing to read the story. Just enough to try and get the reader hooked with a tidbit about the character can be enough most of the times.

[BraveHeartTatsumaki]

Oh this is cool! Everyone's design are just so beautiful <33
Here are some of all I made for my comic

I have more but this post would be too long ^^
I just noticed many put things of their personality, I didn't cause I'm terrible at describing those things, I'm better if people figure it out while reading the comic ; v ;

[apocryphagraphics]

Heroes for Ghosts is a story about soldiers so I made my character profiles look like a kind of military file.

[insomniascrawl]

Nice! I think it's interesting that you put some of their initial designs on the sheet as well, I've always liked seeing those in things. The zoom in on their specific features (weapons and whatnot) are also very interesting.

I get what you mean about putting the personality on the sheets though. I tried to keep mine fairly vague for the same reasoning haha.

[papachan]

So do you post these on your comic? Or do you just keep them for yourself for reference?

[insomniascrawl]

Before I even read what you wrote I saw the profiles and thought 'Military Files' you totally succeeded with the theme. Your character profiles are also pretty interesting too, I'm curious now, I'll have to check out the comic.

[insomniascrawl]

Personally, the one I put up is for use in the comic, for the readers to keep track of the characters and get an idea of what they are like.

I keep far more detailed word based sheets for myself for each character so that I can keep them as constant as possible. But that's just my preference.

[chanalli]

Actually my character sheets are part of my story.
Everythime a new character is introduced I will add his or her sheet at the end of the chapter, for example in chapter 3 there is a new character so I will draw his sheet at the end...

Here are the sheets of my characters so far: Meet the Clovers

PS. I love Quinn's design!

[insomniascrawl]

What a clever idea to do it that way. It really keeps the focus on each individual character that way. I also love their designs, and the texture of the background that you used on the sheets, the height on the back is very subtle and I thought it was an interesting way to show their height without flat out writing it, very cool

Also, thanks! I think Quinn and Z tie as my favourite characters to draw haha.