Candid Character

I talked about listening to my characters yesterday. As I've said in a previous post, I like to be able to see my characters, too. In that post, I also explain my tendency to "Frankenstein" photographs of my fictional friends.

Since he's already out in the world via the button for What If It's a Trick Question? on the left, I thought I'd show you a "snapshot" of Jeremy Strache. [As if you haven't already seen him on the cover!] I'm not trying to win any sort of graphic manipulation award. Nor am I looking for praise of my skill or lack thereof. Just sharing a simple but fun assist in the writing process. In case you're wondering what I do with them, they make great inspirational desktops.

This picture is taken along a route I frequent. In fact, it became the route that leads Jeremy into adventure in the book. You'll find a yellow jeep in the novel, too. Athough this exact moment does not appear in the story, I could not resist placing him into a picture taken during the month of October with a yellow jeep on the route, now could I?

Photos of the Imaginary

I have photographs of fictional people.

I’ll explain.
Let me start by saying that I find it helpful to draw my protagonists. Occasionally I will depict other characters as well. They are in the same style as my self caricature. Later I discovered how valuable PhotoShop could be to enhance the cartoon personalities. Not only for coloring but for such augmentation as the denim texture and shading. As my graphic manipulation skills improved, I realized even more could be done.

I now piece together realistic “photo” versions of my characters. I use various bits from different pictures (one person’s eyes, another’s nose, etc.) and tweak them further on the virtual art board into the characters in my mind’s eye. One boy in particular is created from seven others. It’s easy to dress them, too, since I can simply change the color of the perfect flannel pattern, for example.

Just another way to bring my characters to life – a modern day Frankenstein in two dimensions.