Creating people that seem real is hard. You have to know your main cast of characters as if they were real life people.
I guess they make randomizers for that reason. I just haven’t felt like I’ve needed it so far. Its difficult but so much fun.
You have to know their personalities. You have to know their background, their histories. Even the randos the main cast come in contact with, to some extent. They can’t be flat. They need to have hopes and dreams. They need to be a whole person or no one will care what they have to say. What I have to say.
That being said, I feel like I’ve come up with some really well rounded characters. I try not to rely on tropes or cliches. And despite the struggle, I am having a blast doing it.
Its kind of like having split personalities. Like they talk to me. They tell me things about themselves. That’s why I haven’t felt the need to use any randomizers.
Although, something that has really helped me is using avatar makers to visualize my character. I’ve found a couple of really good ones that don’t look to much like anime and have a lot of options for creating individual characters that don’t look like the same person. Nothings wrong with anime, but they tend to be a little narrow in options.
I’ll share these resources here, in case there is ever a reader who could use help visualizing their characters. Unfortunately, I haven’t found the greatest sites for creating male characters so if there ever is a reader who knows of one, maybe they’ll share it with me.
AZALEA’S DOLLS - CASUAL STYLE (female only)
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[ This was the first good one I found. The combinations are endless. I’ve used it to create all of my main cast of females as well as the supporting and extra female cast. Each girl turns out different from the last with clear personality traits. You can show age through the color of the hair. There is only one pose but that doesn’t really change the effectiveness. ]
AZALEA’S DOLLS - BOYFRIEND DRESS UP (male only)
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[ This one is decent for young males but it runs out of options to make every guy vastly different than the others. ]
AVATAR MAKER (male & female)
enter link description here
[ This one is only good for head shots. For the most part, you can only make young girls and old woman. There is no middle, since the art style looks childlike unless you make the hair gray. Age range is decent for the male portion with hair color and facial hair. ]
I also used an iPhone app called Dollify. This one is only good for young kids. I do recommend it if you are trying to visualize a childhood memory or writing kids in general.
I think I’m doing a pretty decent job with creating all of the histories as well. But that’s for another post.
Thanks for reading.
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