Character Development

Character Design

Developing the right characters is a crucial part of every story. Details are important in creating a good visual picture of the personality and the role the character plays in the narrative. A good narrative will develop characters so that the audience feels like they know them. You are creating a character from scratch, the more you can tell someone about them, the more credible they will be.

When working with an illustrator, the first step is to create a clear description of the characters. Often, the illustrator has not read the manuscript and does not have the benefit of seeing how an author develops her characters in the narrative. The author needs to write a clear description that creates a snapshot of the characters’ personalities and what they look like. Details that are relevant to the narrative such as exaggerated features or clothing need to be included. Basically, the author is responsible for pointing out anything that is not intuitive in the development of the character. Based on your description the illustrator should be able to get a good idea of how to visually capture the character through the use of expressive features, proportions, and clothing or accessories.

Character Development

In my own Illustration Process, the character design is the first step and I consider it a great gauge to see if the author and illustrator see eye-to-eye. The amount of effort that goes into creating characters that go along with the author’s vision is directly proportional to how smooth or difficult the collaboration will be, in many cases. It is the author’s responsibility to provide a clear description, and in his or her interest to not micromanage the illustrator’s creative process once they are on the same page about the vision, the style, and the message.