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Thermostatvia β How Much Should You Know?
#birdskull #characterdesign #characters #crow #disscusion #questions #somber #nomouth
Published: 2016-01-17 01:00:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 634; Favourites: 9; Downloads: 0
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Hi everyone! I came across an idea of a work to post today when I was doing some sketches for another installment of Girlfriend Quest which I may or may not be too embarrassed to post later on! But I was working on an animal design for my character Kentaro! A Crow of course then I had a thought to myself. I said "Sometimes I ignore Kentaro, but I wonder what would make him feel sad on a deep and personal level. Is that a bad thing that I wonder that?"ΒWell is it? As an artist who creates stories and characters should you know anything and everything about the characters you create or can somethings be a mystery? Does not knowing what makes Kentaro feel a certain way make him an underdeveloped or flat character? Did I not do a good job should I simply just make up things that my characters think (arbitrarily or not)?Β
Should you create your characters as people or people you know?
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Comments: 49
This artistic concept regularly gets me.
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How so? Tell me moreΒ
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I dunno. People see different things in what I make.
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Ah I see, well I guess that's a good thing but also an inevitable thing as well. I think your work is good and interesting, not only interesting to look at but also to think about. I don't know eitherΒ
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The overall feel, however, is meant to be distorted. There are some who compliment endlessly and some who generalise - both of them make me mad.
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Oh okay I get the distorted feeling, but do you mean that people who over complement your work and people who make generalizations about your work and others make you mad?Β
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Yes. It's annoying that they gauge nothing from the art itself. I don't make art to please people or for vanity.
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Okay, I actually have thought about this as well. I guess you have to take into account that this is Deviantart and many of the more popular artist here strive to make art that will please people, weather it's characters of a fandom or anthro drawings what have you. So I guess there is a rather vapid mindset that some Deviants have. I am guilty of this too as well but I do strive to make my works the least bit conceptual or to respond to some part of culture if I can. Perhaps you could get more meaningful feedback by posting your works to a specific group or maybe even trying a new art site. I'm not sure (Thanks for sharing by the way!)
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It's not even fandom stuff that some of them make. Some are just too focussed on "complimenting" whilst others are idiotic. I have a few good friends here, though.
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It's good that you have friends here! You should stay by all means then, but now that you talk about this I bet for certain artists that can be rather frustrating. I guess the complementing this can be an underlying selfish thing or even a defense or something like that, people just feel good complementing and they think if they say something constructive or anything without a direct "good job" thrown in there then they'll get retaliation from the artist. Who knows!
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All I get is the same word: "beautiful". It undermines what I'm trying to do - smash beauty!
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I can see how that would be frustrating, perhaps it's the way you are going about creating art that keeps getting you the "beautiful" comments. I think that the use of text can totally aid with lessening those comments but it that's the way you chose to make work and you're not willing to change then you certainly don't have to change, but maybe you could make something 3D or do some writing. I think that your mission in what you want your art to do and say is pretty cool but I guess you're still on the journey to nail it
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I change my style very often but people's attitudes towards what I do just don't. I don't even know if they come for the aesthetic any more...
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Dang, sorry that you're struggling with this. It is difficult to get people on here to think about art I'll tell you! But maybe you just need to keep on doing it you know keep on trying to build your specific audience! Or maybe just do some small personal pieces to take a short recess from all the stress of striving for certain feedback.
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I already did that - and I get spammed by FNAF fans for some reason.
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Oh boy not the FNAF fans! Well I totally understand though. I wish you good luck in the futureΒ
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OMG, I still think Girlfriend Quest is the best name ever!!! I think your question is an interesting one. I think it depends on the situation. I want to know everything about my characters before I start a story. But sometimes more information comes while you're in the process of writing it all down. Like it starts to write itself. Sometimes it's just fun to have a basic idea and let the back story details pop up as you go along.
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Aww thanks for the comment! And I'm glad you think my question is interesting. I agree with you wholeheartedly but I guess some other people do not, it does depend! It also depends on what art of the character you are posting, like they may need full development for a huge story but little pieces like I do not so much!Β
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Sometimes not supplying back story makes the character more fascinating. But that's different than just not knowing what the back story is. I don't think I could write without having a back story. It would bother me too much to not know the characters motives. But an artist not knowing the characters inner thoughts doesn't make the story worse. It just makes it different.
I missed your second question before. You can do both. Sometimes basing a character on a person you know is fun. Because you just have to create the situation of the story. Then think of how they would react to that situation.
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All this is very true! I would imagine it being pretty hard to write well about a certain character without knowing their backstory. In my characters I give them characteristics that people I know have but I don't think I'll ever make a character based on a person I know haha it's a tad bit weird but some really good characters are made that way as well!
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I kind of do that too.
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To chirp or not to chirp, that IS the question lol
But yes this DOES peek my curiosity and raise questions
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Haha to chirp or not to chirp XD I guess is to Kaw or not to Kaw for crows but no matter! I'm glad this catches your interest too! I feel like some of my questions are answered differently for different people too!
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Lol good thing that's what bios are for. And I guess it's okay for characters to have things based on other people, it adds to that character, plus it can be like a little Easter egg.
On a side note, I seen on a comic where a group of crows was referred by "murder", don't know if that's true or not but thinking about it, seems kinda dark, but fitting I guess (guess cause of the stereotype that crows give creepy vibes in the night but that's just my guess)
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Yes! I like easter eggs, but I guess I'm still working on Kentaro you know, I'm still working on all my characters so I guess it's okay!Β
A group of crows is called a Murder haha I think it's pretty unique and fitting just like you said. I wonder if a group of crows has ever just attacked a person or something like that and that's where the name came from.
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Makes sense. Birds are vicious in a group, not to mention the sharpness of their claws and beaks, definite chaos there lol
And hey, take your time on the character creativity, it'll come. Plus you just recently made info for the wizard OCs so I know it can't be THAT quick and easy
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They really are! And sometimes crows are really scary too!Β
Yes, I must be patient, and now I'm getting less and less time to work on that kinda stuff. Cause I have classes now :/
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Yeah so I read on your post. Fucked up how responsibilities can keep you busy, but school is important. Oh well lol (although the teachers could be MORE direct with schedule listing. Wouldn't be surprised though if they set their alarms at 3:00AM to list the schedule just to troll people haha XD) either way I wish the best of luck to you and thanks btw for taking the time to comment my stuff regardless of your busy schedule
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Very true! Ugh that teacher just made a crazy decision but everything's fine ^^ Thanks so much and I love to comment and talk to people on this site! It's always fun when you post things I try to comment whenever I have the time!Β
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It's Kentaro! ^^ Thanks man! Do you have any thoughts about the questions?
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I don't think he can shoot milk out his nose
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Haha I don't know that either but I was talking about the questions in the description XD If you haven't read it yet then maybe you should only if you want to, I'm talking about a topic that's actually blowing my mind right now!Β
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OH, i'm stupid. Β I didn't see it on my tablet, sometimes the description doesn't load on my tablet or phone.
in response to your description. Β I think the reason you have trouble telling what he'd do in situations, is that you don't feel you truly know him yet, your are still creating him.
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Oh I'm sorry haha that sucks that the descriptions don't load, DA should hop on that because sometimes my descriptions are sorta important haha but I think that's true as well ^^ but that also raises the question does knowing how he would exactly react in situations really matter that much? I mean people's characters only exist on paper (or screens whatever) in their own universe and they only do what the creators draw them doing, so should you talk about made up characters like they are people!? Like should we say "*insert character here* would totally flip out if that happened?" ? I guess it doesn't really matter I'm just being crazy hahaXD
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It's just the tablet, my phone does it fine, no clue why. Indeed, your descriptions are recently asking cool questions.
You just gotta figure it out as you write him. The way I see it is thus, even if you don't choose to think about it, your fan base will. I know I have thought about how games would be different if just one event happened differently and how characters would respond to being in situations they weren't. A good example of this thought is in Warcraft 3, I always ask myself "what if Jaina had gone to northerd with Arthas instead of kalimdor, would Arthas had become lich king?" So in a way, it is sort of important to do so to help you know your own character. But maybe I'm crazy
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^^ Yeah I see that, haha I guess I don't think about it in that sense cause what I do doesn't have a fandom behind it but you are right about what fan bases do (i've been there) and I guess it's better if you figure everything out instead of your fan base creating crazy theories about stuff and fighting about it haha! Developing characters is important but I guess like you said it happens gradually!
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I guess that does make sense that you wouldn't think about something that isn't there yet, but at the same time, I end up doing so without meaning to. I like the idea of having a huge fan base so I think about the "what if," you know? It's not that you don't want the crazy theories, it's that you want to resolve the ones that actually cause argument. Yeah, the way I see it is this, when you first make a character. You don't know where they'll be the plot until you implement them, at that point, you build, based on that
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Ha yeah always thinking of a "what if" is really fun! You're right haha crazy theories can be pretty fun even if they aren't canon, I like the way you see it man! I guess you should try and know as much as you can about your character as you keep working on them!Β
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Though the "what if" for me are all social goals.... The crazy theories are fun to read at the very least. I'm a positive guy when it comes to that regard. Exactly, eventually you start thinking about the "what ifs" yourself
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Ah true!! I guess it's only natural to look inwards as well! And you could always add new things to characters no matter how long it's been!
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It is indeed. Yeah, you can, its crazy how different it can be.
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a character who's mysterious is great! Because you can guess what their backstory is and try and put two and two together on why they are so mysterious,hell I just made a character like that! And this guy you made here is cool! I like already! π
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^^ You're very right! I do like a mystery and thank you so much for the comment I'm glad you like him! But I'm wondering should Kentaro be mysterious to people who look at him while at the same time should I know all about him? I guess it all depends!Β
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It's your choice stats β€οΈ
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^^ you're right! Thanks again for commenting!Β
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No prob bob π
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