{"id":512,"date":"2014-10-28T00:47:57","date_gmt":"2014-10-28T00:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/?p=512"},"modified":"2014-10-28T00:50:40","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T00:50:40","slug":"constructing-a-character-visualization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/constructing-a-character-visualization\/","title":{"rendered":"Constructing a Character : Visualization"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"characterdev_postimage2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For me a visual reference helps keep my mind in focus and really feel and experience what I’m writing about.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Previously in my Constructing a Character\u00a0Pt.1<\/a> I showed ways of finding inspiration.\u00a0Now I’ll show you\u00a0another way to approach constructing a character for your film or short story.<\/p>\n

Here is a quick example I scribbled:<\/p>\n

\"characterscribble_ex1_sm\"<\/p>\n

The above image would usually come about when I’m sitting around\u00a0playing with a theme in my mind. This character theme could be “everyday people with superpowers” or something like that. Then I branch off to the first thing that comes to mind, for me it was a girl in a red dress wearing blue converse sitting alone at a bar. I quickly sketch that out and from there play with other concepts. A\u00a0pyrokinetic\u00a0with an\u00a0odd fashion sense. Then from there I imagine\u00a0a few ways we could introduce her to the audience\u00a0along with her powers.<\/p>\n

The sketches aren’t meant to be storyboard quality. It’s just one of my methods of brainstorming.<\/p>\n

The Mental Process Step-By-Step<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"characterscribble_ex2\"<\/p>\n

I’ll see a person in my mind sometimes I’ll immediately start sketching them down or I’ll ask myself these questions and then draw then out:<\/p>\n

“Who are they?”<\/strong>
\n“What makes them a unique individual?”<\/strong>
\n“What story are they telling about themselves with the way they look?”<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Character Book\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Just like someone might have a book of ideas written down I find the things I do are a\u00a0combination of both. Rough sketches of characters along side key points about them.<\/p>\n

\"characterscribble_booksm\"<\/p>\n

This kind of process is useful if you have a little bit of an artistic or design background. I do and that’s why I really like this approach. If you don’t feel like sketching but still are very much a visual thinker and like to see your ideas try a little Photoshop magic.<\/p>\n

The Character Collage<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Use Adobe<\/a>\u00a0Photoshop<\/a> and Google Image<\/a> to stitch together a scene or character.
\nThat way you have a visual reference you can easily share with others.<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

In the above image I can start brainstorming about her backstory, where she’s from and the obstacles she\u00a0encounters in the story.<\/p>\n

Adobe<\/a> also has a free mobile and iPad app Adobe Photoshop Mix<\/a> that helps you easily cut up and create a collage from images you capture on your phone.<\/p>\n

There is never a single way to expressing\u00a0this mysterious power called creativity. Sketch out your characters, or write a journal pretending to be them, make collages or act them out.<\/p>\n

Find ways to express your story through words or through images, whatever you choose, have fun with it!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For me a visual reference helps keep my mind in focus and really feel and experience what I’m writing about. Previously in my Constructing a Character\u00a0Pt.1 I showed ways of finding inspiration.\u00a0Now I’ll show you\u00a0another way to approach constructing a character for your film or short story. Here is a quick example I scribbled: The … Continue reading Constructing a Character : Visualization<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[56,58,59,57,54,44],"class_list":["post-512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-character","tag-character-development","tag-constructing-a-character","tag-creating-a-character","tag-nanowrimo","tag-writing-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1Xv5J-8g","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":522,"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions\/522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}