Many try to create anime characters, but few are able to do it successfully. What makes a character truly interesting and capable of arousing viewers' attention? How to make it magnetic? The answers are different. First, you need to understand what he is motivated by. If you want him to lead the story, you have to know him intimately, as if you were in his mind, feeling his emotions, thinking the same way and talking like him.
Steps
Method 1 of 1: Structure the Profiles
Step 1. Describe your character's life, talking about the past and present
Did what happened when he was younger changed him? How is your life going right now? Try not to go too far. Just a couple of paragraphs.
Step 2. Decide on the basic characteristics
In this section you must enter all what you consider "personal data". If necessary, you can add more factors than those listed in the following list. It would be ideal to expand it to describe the various relationships.
- First name.
- Age (if you don't know the exact age of your character, then you can use an approximate one, for example he can be in the age range 35 to 40, 25 to 30, etc.).
- Date of birth.
- Blood group.
- If you like, you can add the zodiac sign.
- Nationality.
- City of origin.
- City where he lives now.
- Job.
- Income.
- Is it the first-born or the second-born? Is he an only child?
- Brothers and sisters (describe the relationship).
- Husband or wife (describe the relationship).
- Children (describe the relationship).
- Grandparents (describe the relationship).
- Grandchildren (describe the relationship).
- Partner (describe the relationship).
- Best friend (describe the relationship).
- Worst enemy (describe the report).
Step 3. Create the physical features
In this section you can indulge yourself. In fact, your character must be completely different from any other anime protagonist. It must belong to you and be unique. Her appearance can reflect her personality, so keep this in mind when creating.
- Height.
- Weight.
- Race.
- Eye color (be specific).
- Hair color (again, be specific).
- Combing.
- Glasses or contact lenses?
- Skin colour.
- Salient features.
- How do you dress?
- Style (elegant, unkempt, etc.).
- Vices (smoking, drinking, etc.).
- Health.
- Disability.
Step 4. Establish intellectual, mental and character attributes and describe his attitudes
In this section, you will discover the general way of being of your character, his interiority and the depth of his personality. Don't let yourself be limited in any way. It is another time to dedicate to exploration. Be creative and go where no one else has been to create their characters. Yours must be as unique as possible.
- General behavior. It represents how the character usually behaves and his interpersonal interactions.
- Instruction.
- Intellectual skills.
- Prejudices. Does the character hate those who drive too cautiously? Don't you have a good opinion of those who don't play video games? Can't stand people who don't care about dinosaurs or who don't participate in political debates?
- Do you have mental illness?
- Learning experiences.
- Short-term goals in his life.
- Long-term goals in his life.
- What do you think of himself?
- How do you think you are viewed by others?
- Do you feel confident?
- Does it seem to be driven by emotion, logic, or a combination of all of these factors?
- What is the best memory of your childhood?
- What is the worst memory of your childhood?
- What was your biggest fear as a child?
- What is your most important need?
- What do you drive?
- Oddities.
- How does he walk?
- Hobbies: do you have old ones (since childhood) or new ones?
- Favorite sayings.
- Language style.
- Its biggest flaw.
- Its best quality.
- Talents / skills.
- Interpersonal skills.
Step 5. Decide on his emotional characteristics
In this case you will have to deal with the temperament of your character and the responses to the various situations that arise in their life. You will dig a little deeper into his soul and uncover the truest emotions hidden beneath the surface layer. Maybe the role he plays in public is different from his true interiority.
- Strengths and weaknesses.
- Are you introverted or extroverted?
- How do you manage anger?
- Do you feel sad?
- Do you have any conflicts going on?
- It's changing?
- Did he suffer a loss?
- What do you want from life?
- How would you like to change your life?
- What motivates him?
- What scares him?
- What makes him happy?
- What makes him laugh?
- Do you tend to judge others?
- Is he generous or stingy?
- Is he generally polite or rude?
Step 6. Decide on the spiritual characteristics
If you want to introduce this aspect as well, be sure to describe exactly their religion and related customs.
- Do you believe in God?
- What are his spiritual beliefs?
- Is religion or spirituality an integral part of your life? If so, what role does it play?
Step 7. Decide how much your character is involved in the storyline
By doing this you can expand its description quite a lot. It's up to you to create the story and the roles the characters play within it.
- Role of the character in the plot: is he the protagonist? The antagonist? A secondary character? The hero or the heroine?
- Decide where it will first appear.
- Establish the relationships he has with other characters.
Step 8. Take these guidelines for profiling a character when you can't characterize one, and you will see it come to life
Since we have suggested detailed questions to you, you will create interesting and multifaceted characters.
Advice
- Is there a growth on the part of the character within the story you have created? Well-developed anime characters always learn something and evolve over the course of the plot.
- During the interviews, many famous authors claimed to have created only the basic characteristics of the personality of the characters, who then "came to life" on their own and ended up guiding the story themselves. In short, having good characters is the secret to writing a compelling storyline.
- If you know what happened to this character in the past, you will be able to understand what events led him to evolve. Has an accident as a child or a friendship determined how you now react to different situations?
- If you get stuck due to a character who doesn't look realistic, you may need to add new features, a hidden trauma, a fabulous skill, or a cumbersome secret.
Warnings
- This article offers guidance only. It's a starting point for expanding your characters later. Add anything you want.
- Remember that characters should never be completely good or bad. All their stories should be more complex than that.
