Feb 2019
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TheFireDragon
Feb '19

So, I know it's a big no no to directly base a character off of someone in real life, but how can you not in some way? It's not like you can just magically create a being the likes of which no one has seen before without any inspiration. Certain people tend to talk in certain ways and picking up on it to incorporate it into your story is a good way (I think) to add a sense of reality, which I think every story needs a little bit of.

For me, a lot of my MC's are often inspired by my younger sisters. Spunky, cynical, energetic, blunt, etc. And a lot of my inspirations for side characters come from the crowds and people I see when I wait at the bus stop. Both combined with a little originality, sprinkled on like a fine sheet of cheeez...

Just out of curiosity, where do you guys get your character inspirations? Friends? Family? Strangers?

Sexy bus drivers? 눈‸눈

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    Feb '19

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silverraven0
Feb '19

Most of the time I just, erm. Draw faces randomly...? ＼(￣▽￣; )ﾌ

I never draw based on my family or acquaintance tho.

Reign
Feb '19

I agree with you. It's okay to base characters off of people, as a way of inspiration for a character. For instance, the main character's father in my comic is based off of my father. A lot of the story is based off of my childhood, too. I've just turned it to extremes, where the design of the character looks very similar to my father, but not quite, and his desire for his son to do sports is a little over the top instead of reasonable. You could also take Gravity Falls for instance. The whole story for Gravity Falls is based off of Alex Hirsch's summers with his twin sister in the woods, but for the show he turned it to extremes with the paranormal stuff. I think he also said Grunkle Stan was based off of one of his actual uncles? I can't remember, but yeah. So it's totally doable! I think where it can become a problem is where you base a character off of yourself, especially the main character, and just make them super awesome and flawless. That's what you want to stay away from.

rmdooley
Feb '19

If I have met you, even in passing, you risk appearing in the comic in some capacity. NO ONE IS SAFE

Rhonder
Feb '19

I use my friends a lot for inspiration for characters, and sometimes myself as well. It helps writing a character when you have some sort of known base to work off of, especially with the personality and interactions.

I think the key is just not to cling to the character needing to be a 1-to-1 representation of the inspiration. Let them be their own person as you write the story. They can and should develop in a way that reflects their surroundings and circumstances, so even if you start out with a character that very closely resembles someone they'll eventually stand out on their own, if you allow them to.

AmazementComicsThe Best Fruit Smoothies
Feb '19

My characters aren't based off of anyone I know in real life. Although one of the main characters is based loosely off of myself. Other than that, my ideas come form the other forms of media.

Klaustasya
Feb '19

Usually i get inspired for characters from anime, tv shows and webtoons, but very recently i started working on some characters based on the people that i know in real life (and this is probably why i'm gonna drop it at some point XD).
Though i do believe that the best characters pops out from the most casual sketch you could do ^^

unknown_user
Feb '19
Rhonder

Mmm... I think, I've noticed the similarity between Alex and the cartoon version of you long ago. :thinking: So is this what are you talking about? :thinking:

Yes, I do the same from time to time. But most of my characters - current and future - are based not on concrete character/person, but on collective images of different sorts. So they usually combine features of multiple fiction characters (archetypes) and real persons. Like a cocktail :joy:

LT1986
Feb '19

Usually I make the designs of characters up as I draw. The personalities of my characters and the situations that they are in are inspired by people that I've interacted with in real life. Sometimes the influence is by positive things and other times the influence is by negative things. That's why I put narcissistic scenes in my web comic.

Rhonder
Feb '19
unknown_user

That's part of it, yeah. Since my comic was just intended to be a quick test run to learn how to make comics, I didn't want to spend very much time on the character design phase, so I just grabbed some old OCs that were based off of my friends and I from highschool (they used to be cameo characters for another comic I was working back in the day :joy: ) and used them for the main cast. The only main char I had to design from scratch was the thief. There are old photos on like my deviant art from middle and highschool of early versions of these chars:

image.png608x839 835 KB

graveweaver
Feb '19

I honestly usually get inspiration for my characters personalities from anime/manga/tv show characters, and usually I get most of my design sense from MMORPGs. I just stand in town and look at all the sick fashions everyone has to offer, and it expands my visual library.

I strongly pull from my own experiences and insecurities, and I can't really recall ever pulling from a real life person I know. If I do it, it's subconsciously, not intentionally.

unknown_user
Feb '19
Rhonder

Haha, that's so nice. :blush: Now I wonder about the girl on the background, will she be the part of the story, too?

punkarsenic
Feb '19

since when was this a no no?

ive consciously and unconsciously based lots of characters off friends - as you say, all our knowledge of people comes from those weve met, and thats what feeds into our characters and makes them 3D.

i feel like itd only be a no-no if you copy/pasted your friend name and all into either a villain or love interest slot - villain bc thats kinda insulting, and love interest bc thats kinda creepy

Rhonder
Feb '19
unknown_user

Not in the final draft sadly @u@ The original draft of my story had four additional characters based on characters of my friends from HS but then I realized that that was way way way too many for a 60 page short story so half were cut xD. If/when I do additional stories she may show up though~

OliviaMerteli
Feb '19

My characters are supposedly made from scratch. I say supposedly because there always the possibility I've been inconsciously inspired by someone or something. :slight_smile:

JamesBrown
Feb '19

You should also try emojis. It is very popular in application.

ZombieOwl
Feb '19

I'm sooooo bad at character deign, so all my characters look a lot like my actual kung fu brothers DX I tried to change them appearance wise, but.... only succeeded a little bit otl

Kat
Feb '19

All my characters are based off of people. Usually I'll include personality tidbits from people that I personally know, but the physical design is more likely influenced by strangers with a cool aesthetic. Even then I usually won't just straight up draw the person- I'll identify what inspires me or is fun to draw about them, and go from there. For instance, I saw a girl with really cool purple eyeliner and it led me to design a character whose signature color is purple. Silly things like that stick in my mind I guess. I'm definitely a lot more influenced by personalities than appearances though.

Strontium
Feb '19

My sister wishes I made a character inspired by her in the comic, but I didn't and won't XD

I like to say that my character Helene is 1/3 my mom and she embraces that.
But if I wasn't making a comic about Helene I doubt that aspect of her personality would be so apparent. I just use my mom's momisms to write her dialogue.