How has your character(s) changed between when you created them and when you started publishing your story?

[linZcomics]

Do you have a character that has made dramatic changes either in their personality or appearance? Maybe both?

My example:

My character Makota has made the most dramatic change from when I started creating him. He originally was going to be more like my MC: reckless and naive. He was also suppose to be a double axe wielder. However, as the story started to develop, I started giving him more of his own personality until he is the super smart, awkward, timid, sweetheart he is today. His character design also changed to reflect his personal changes.

So I'm curious about how other characters may have changed in the process. ^_^

Also feel free to use this as means of promoting your awesome stories!

[CarltonIsaac]

[Kuma]

Oh boy... this might take a while.

Callis, one of the protagonists of my Novel centris, so his inception around 11-12 years ago, as a secondary character on a shonen manga I wrote and the amazing genso_x (You can find him on twitter) drew. We never got to his introduction, but the character was plotted and had many of the current Callis elements, like being a dual wielder of weapons, being incapable of casting regular magic and being half human half beastman.

He had a whole arc learning how to cast runic magic using his swords on the ground to trace complex arcane circles to activate magic themed around the constellations of that world. He was going to be a rival/friend character to the main character, who was more of a Shonen protagonist.

If you compare the world map of this proyect to the one in Centris you will of course notice certain similitudes (And some differences)

[AmysGames]

I've been writing a lot of my characters for quite a long time—most of the Niji Chikara cast came into existence when I was 14 years old! And while the characters themselves have certainly evolved over the years, I personally feel like the bigger shift has been how I view them.

One of the themes that comes up later in the comic is characters who are unsatisfied with their current life circumstances, dealing with things like horrible jobs, unfulfilled dreams, and abusive relationships. These were concepts that I didn't fully grasp at the tender age of 14, and I'm ashamed to admit that I initially imagined some of these characters as unlikable losers who just needed to try harder. But as time went on, especially as I started to experience a lot of these same emotions growing into adulthood, I started writing them a lot more sympathetically, to the point that they are now some of my all-time favorite characters.

(Now just look forward to meeting them in 3 years...)

Read Niji Chikara | Tapas Web Comics

[ralyash]

Funny enough, this is one reason I stopped using character creation sheets XD. Instead I started writing what I call 'trash chapters' that have the characters acting together in situations that may never appear in the story (and usually from something that was more likely mid-to-late story) because it was always a better indicator of their character for me. Kind of like a stress test.

None of my characters have ever ended up the way I originally planned them--especially as I've gotten older. This has worked /for/ me, and /against/ me, as it's led to me changing love interests and even main characters. One time I had an alien race that I ended up changing as I learned more about what the biology should have been like, and that was really annoying to go back and change the details for XD.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

From left to right respectively, old (2009) to new. This image is drawn recently based on some old images I could find.
No need to describe the personality change, the image conveys it enough. There are core concepts and parts of personality which remains the same and carried over to various iterations; it is notable from the outfits alone.

[linZcomics]

That is really cool! The character went through alot of changes and the personalities do all come through.

May I ask what inspired the changes?

[linZcomics]

I do the same! I have a whole document full of stories and scenarios with notes at where they would take place. It really does help with understanding the characters.

[linZcomics]

I found myself doing the same. Everything about my story I feel like matured with me: characters all have more complex emotions, bad guys arent just bad guys, the themes are more serious and the entire tone shifted from what I originally started to write. ^_^.

[linZcomics]

It's cool he gets a chance after the first project! 12 years is a lot of time for a character to float around your head. It also a lot of time for changes to happen.

I did have a full roster of characters and story for a different project that I wrote years ago, but eventually gave up on because story was a huge mess. . I never thought about taking some my favorite characters and bringing over to my current project.

[Katzalcoatl]

Well for starters their personality and their character growth has changed. Becoming more natural. Their relationship with other characters has been better designed.

When I started I had a vague idea of how I wanted to present my characters. But now a year (almost 2) later I have a much better idea of how I want to depict each character to my readers.

[WorldBreakerNovels]

Jethuun has had the most changes since he was given form in Gluttonous: The Devil's Mistake Vol 1. His body shape was made more flexible and less bulky, so it feels more fluid as he moves savagely.

My artist also does very well to show great detail in the first introduction of characters or important scenes, so that's also part of the reason for the design change.

As per Dante, he's aged significantly since his opening. Well, for the most part. His actual look is showcased for a brief moment in the beginning, then the story proceeds to show his childhood and aging process as he performs his lifetime research.

[KevinReijnders]

Oh boy she has changed a lot since her first inception!

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1) With the very first sketch, the concept of a scavanger girl in an apocalyptic wasteland, piecing together weapons and a big warmachine from all sorts of scrap laying around. A very familiar concept to what Trespasser would eventually turn into.

2) Kyara from the animated short. Here I ditched a lot of the earlier ideas to fit it into a 60 second runtime. A lot of characterization was missing in this version and I focussed mainly on her being a scrappy little fighter, scavanging for cool weapons. The big robot from the initial idea became her opponent in this version.

3) Comic book Kyara. Expanding on the world of Trespasser, I decided she needed a partner, a best friend. So, I took the crafting part of her orinigal characterization and molded it into a whole new character (this would eventually become Zack!). In this stage she became the character we know and love today, an impulsive badass who'll always be there for her firends. The Big warmachine from earlier versions also made its return and would transform into Blip.

4) Kyara's endgame. This is the version the story of Trespasser is working towards. I'm not going to go into detail with this one, because I don't want to spoil the twists and turns of the story.

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Read Trespasser :: Chapter 02 - An Adventure's Beginning p. 083 - 090 | Tapas...

[Kuma]

He went to several iterations, I used him for a Forum RPG universe and he changed again, and then again, and when I started planning the current novel he went through multiple iterations as well, same goes for Novus, the other protagonist of the story.

[linZcomics]

Looks amazing! Your character looks like they matured so much and has really nice upgraded gear.

[ArtGremlin]

OH BOY SOOO MUCH
Ooh I just remembered I made something for this specific question a while back

I love mocking my past hair designs for him 🤣

Read August | Tapas Web Comics

[LostKelp]

Not too much? Najm is basically the same, their civilian designs lean a bit more masc than fem nowadays (some of the original designs were pretty horrendous), Alya is more skinny, scarred and rabid. Rahat looks basically the same but in the beginning I wanted him to be an overly optimistic nervous people pleaser, now they're nervous and still very in love with the beauty of the world but also incredible callous to the pain around them. Qam also looks basically the same but more tired, I think I originally wanted them to kinda suck and to hurt people randomly because they're bored. Then it turned out that having a jaded but very caring person was more interesting also they wear more skirts in civilian designs.

[allisoncandraw]

Apprarance-wise, the only one who changed is David. He had shoulder-length hair when I first created him and uh....it didn't look good at all lmao

All of the characters in my comic "Signs Point to Bobbie" were actually intended to be side characters in an entirely different story. But after a couple years I decided to scrap the old story, and eventually made them their own comic

[KevinReijnders]

Thanks! Especially in her comic incarnation the growing more mature is a big part of the story. I've really embraced the 'coming of age' aspect in recent rewrites.

[Kuma]

This is one of the earliest "Callis as main character of the novel" art.

This is a later version for an alternative version of the novel

This is one of the forum iterations, essentially is an alternative Callis that was "Reverse Isekai'd" into a world closer to us and through different adventures acquired new powers allowing him to create swords. Later he gets a different power-set that turns him into more or less a paladin.

And this is how Callis looks as the start of the current version of the novel