Thursday, December 1, 2011

Character Development

Research and planning

I got inspired when I was searching through pictures of superheros and all of them were young and strong and able-bodied. Like how spiderman’s body transformed after he got bitten by the spider, it shows just how much comic artists liked to make their characters seem perfect. So I wanted my character to have a flaw but live with it and adapts to it to make himself stronger. 


At first I wanted to put the flaw on one of the senses in located at the head. Visually-challenged was a good option because it didn’t affect anything else, like the hearing which is very important to fend off enemies coming from every direction but comic character, Daredevil, has already that flaw and since I already mentioned how important hearing is, I wouldn’t go on to say why I didn’t choose that after.


So I thought about the body parts again and I thought hey the leg would be different. Like how if a pirate in the past loses one of his leg and uses a prosthetic leg, he would walk really clumsy. I wanted my character not to be clumsy but very agile and fast even with a prostatic leg.

I added in the medieval era and crossbows and I thought it was similar to Van Helsing! However, my story is different from Van Helsing’s. Mine was about a boy learning how to lose his anger and hate and be focused on the sense of justice instead in his journey and van helsing was about a hero doing the right thing all along because he was trying to get rid of evil. 
                               

                                 

I wanted my character to be in a fantasy world set in the olden days which makes the environment more interesting. And to make him more memorable, I decided to make my superhero a little more different so I made him young and gave him a prosthetic leg and a signature walking stick. In my research on prosthetic legs, I found this story about a great and kind man who never stopped serving the society in every way he can until he can no longer do so. So I thought I would share it on my blog too
J
http://www.bowen-therapy.com/index.php?inhalt=bowen-therapy.history
Things i thought about when creating my character
1)Emotive nature of the story – Fantasy
2)Environment of the character – he grew up alone with his grandfather and trained hard to make himself strong enough to defeat the faeries
3)Physical capabilities – Strong arm, flexible body, one prosthetic leg
4)Strength – Righteous, brave, determined and smart
5)Weakness – Filled with hate for faeries
6)Emotive capabilities – Always holding on to his walking stick, squinting his  eyes when he is suspicious or coming up with a plan
7)Accessories – Costumes (shirt, lace up vest, waist sash tie, boot and wooden prosthetic leg)
                           - Props (Crossbow and magic walking stick/ telescope)
8)Surface Texture and Color – Fair skin, Gold Blonde hair, Green eyes, white shirt, brown vest and tie, prosthetic leg, black leather boot
Character Overview
1.      Name: Fendrel
Tagline: The Fairy Hunter
Brief Introduction: A young boy was born with legs that made him jump higher and run faster than anyone. His great ability soon travelled to the ears of the queen of evil fairies who felt threatened by his existence. When she came for him, his parents lost both their lives trying to protect him and he managed to survive secretly, though with only one leg left. Now he is back as a brave man with a prosthetic leg and legendary weapon: a magic walking stick that doubles as a telescope (for aim) and a crossbow to take revenge.

2.      This purpose is to tell a story..
In the medieval times, in a world where faeries are evil and feared, they come out to hunt and feed on human souls at night to stay young, Fendrel, a young man with a score to settle with the fairy queen, takes on the mission to kill all evil faeries. But first, he has to find the mysterious, cloaked merchant to exchange his normal walking stick for the magical one that opens the secret portal to the fairy land. The merchant ends up being his good friend and sidekick. And they both go on the journey together.

3.      What is the driving force of your character
Fendrel will forever remember the pain of losing both his parents and hate the faeries thus he is determined to take revenge and kill all faeries no matter how dangerous he knows it is. He will not let anyone or anything get in the way of his mission. However, through an incident, he finds out that his cloaked sidekick is actually a fairy but a good one and he has to find it in his heart to forgive her and accept that not all faeries are bad and not let hate control his life and perspective of everything. This helps in the end when he spares the lives of good fairies.

4.      What traits are unique to your character
Appearance:
1.      He has a wooden prosthesis leg and carries a red walking stick. He may not depend on the stick for balance much but it’s a very useful telescope to help him spot the flying faeries from far away. The wooden leg has springs instilled in them to aid in his movement well.
2.      He carries a crossbow with him and uses it skillfully for far range attacks. So fast and deadly, faeries don’t get the chance near him.
3.      His key features are his big eyes which are so green and his stare is unwavering which shows his hate and how unafraid he is.
Behaviour:
1. No one hates the faeries as much as fendrel does. He clenches his teeth every time he hears the word and hunts them down as soon as he sees one.
2. Fendrel walks with his chest up high and steady. Even though he holds a walking stick.
3 . He hardly smiles because he does not let his guard anytime for anything. Not even humor.

5.      Write a short dialogue sequence between your character and another person.

Fendrel: Two apples.
(Storekeeper glances at him)
Storekeeper: You know what they say about green eyes, it’s the faeries’ eyes.
(Fendrel clenches his fist and glares at him)
Fendrel: Do not even compare me to those filthy creatures.
Storekeeper: It is only a joke! HAHAHA!
(Fendrel remains still, glare not softening at all)
(Storekeeper’s laughter dies down immediately)

My drawings. This is not my forte but i tried this is how my character would somewhat look like.



other poses:


       

No comments:

Post a Comment