Comic Tutorial #3: Creating impactful characters
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Comic Tutorial #3: Creating impactful characters
From scripting to panel direction, dialogue to design - here's my approach to writing characters
Hello and happy Friday!
Welcome to my third comic scriptwriting tutorial, which is about how I write and flesh out my characters. If you missed my first two tutorials, you can check them out here:
In this tutorial, I’m going to cover:
How to create a new character from scratch
How to inject personality into your character in the script
How to inject personality into your character through art
How to approach your character’s dialogue
How to make characters grow over a story arc
Ready? Let’s jam!
1. How to create a new character from scratch
This can change from comic to comic (and character to character) but the most common route for me is that I have an elevator pitch in my head for a comic first, then things click into place from that point onward.
Here are a few things you can think about when developing a character:
Basic details: age, name, look (these are the least plot critical elements, unless the age is important to the story, for example)
Status, attitude and specialisms: poor, rich, talented, impulsive, irrational, calm, humorous, serious, technically-minded, wise (in my experience these are often plot critical, and can change a character’s ‘voice,’ demeanour, back-story and skill-set)
Motivations and values: fighting for a better future, protective of someone, anti-establishment, rebellious, ethical, unethical, honourable (in my experience these are also plot-critical, as they can be key drivers for the story and the character’s growth throughout the plot arc)
Aesthetics and tools: their outfit, character tics, their face, any weaponry or gadgets, superpowers, abilities, specialisms (the visual elements can be briefed to an artist for them to follow, but I’d always work with them to evolve your initial idea for a character’s design, as they’ll be drawing them for the whole arc, and they’ll have the expertise to improve their look and feel - trust and respect your artists!)
Killtopia #4 art by Clark Bint, colours by Lou Ashworth and letters by Micah Myers.
So for my cyberpunk series, Killtopia, I co-developed the story’s base concept and the character of protagonist, Shinji in tandem - and you’ll typically find that the initial story idea and protagonist emerge together, rather than separately.
The way I initially created Shinji is the same way I approach most characters - by asking myself a few key questions in tandem with my world building:
“What sort of character would be interesting in the world setting that I’m considering?”
“What’s the point of the story?”
“What are the core messages or themes I want to get across?”
“What’s the big threat or challenge in this world?”
and so on…
I alway feel that there’s value in thinking about these questions as you develop your world and cast. Really question your ideas and your characters, and their final forms will start to emerge in a much stronger way - trust the process!
This is a very basic start, but how did Shinji - the fully-formed character grow from here?
I’ll show you using the actual thought process I went through to create him…
2. Giving more life to your characters and their world
Killtopia #1 art by Craig Paton
Looking at the two panels above, the first time we meet our hero, Shinji, you get a sense that he’s a technically-minded, smart guy, just from the way he tracks Mecha across the Neo Tokyo ruins. He knows the mech coolant was recently discharged just through taste alone, telling us he’s done this before and he knows the rules of this bloodsport - all without laying it out plainly through exposition.
Using Shinji as an example, I’ll break down how the base concept of Killtopia and the bones of Shinji’s character started to emerge simultaneously.
It’s a long example, but please stick with it and you’ll start to see a pattern of logic take shape. I’ll then break it down some more in the next section:
“I want to do a cyberpunk story for my next comic.”
“Hmm, I’m seeing a lot of stuff in the news about how the UK government might sell off our free healthcare service, so then it wouldn’t be free any more…”
“I wonder what lengths people might go to get the expensive healthcare they need to life in a weird-ass cyberpunk future?”
“Maybe the story could star someone who’s fallen on hard times? Maybe they’re sick and can’t afford the healthcare they need.”
“Hmm, I like Breaking Bad… Walter White was sick and did terrible things to make money so his family could get by after he died.”
“What if my character was genuinely good and well meaning, not a villain like Walter White? Hmm, but if he’s really sick, he probably couldn’t go on big, action-packed adventures…”
“Oh actually, instead of the hero being sick, maybe he’s caring for a sick family member, but he’s doing something mega risk or illegal to pay for their medical care?”
“Maybe they’re lying to the family member about where they’re getting the money from, even though it’s so they can get the treatment they need.”
“I like the movie Battle Royale, and the video game No More Heroes… Oh wait, maybe the character is taking part in some kind of bloodsport, risking their life so that their family member can live?”
“But they’re poor, so they have low-tech, janky weapons, no sponsors and are like a total underdog - under-equipped, but fighting with heart to save the family member they love most. That’s a character readers could really get behind and root for.”
“Bingo!” (then, if you’re me, collapse in a heap of exhaustion!)
Phew, hopefully you didn’t zone out halfway through - but this approach of questioning my own logic happens with every comic I work on, and I keep doing it until I’m 100% happy with my idea and my characters - and when all ‘logic gaps’ re removed.
Killtopia #1 art by Craig Paton
A quick explainer: What the hells’ a ‘logic gap?’
‘Logic gaps’ are what I call blatant inconsistencies in a character or the world around them. It’s not the same as a plot hole, but just a flaw in a character’s motivation or decision making, or in the way the comic’s world works.
To flesh out my character and iron out ‘logic gaps,’ I always imagine the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons asking me the question in that sarcastic, asshole way:
“Excuse me, but why does Shinji have to hunt mecha in the Killtopia hunting grounds illegally? Can’t he just do it legally? WORST. COMIC. EVER!”
Answer: “No, because there’s a very expensive fee to get a Wrecker license to take part. Most people can afford it due to corporate sponsorships, but because Shinji’s a poor person from the Neo Tokyo slums with no formal training or decent tech/weapons, no sponsor in their right mind would support him. So he sneaks in to the Killtopia hunting grounds illegally instead - because he’s that desperate and would do anything to afford his sick sister’s medical care.”
So, we have our base character, we’re starting to think about their persona, motivations, and their place in the story - as well as logic gaps.
How do you flesh your basic concept of a character out into a believable, engaging ‘person?’
3. From concept to ‘person’
Killtopia #3 art by Clark Bint, colours by Lou Ashworth and letters by Micah Myers.
In the above example, you can see flickers of Shinji starting to evolve from a downtrodden, hopeless and nervous rookie Wrecker, to believing in a cause and blossoming into a strong and confident leader.
On the flip-side, you can see Stiletto - who started the series as a brash, arrogant, egotistical and thoughtless celebrity - who didn’t care about the strife of normal people - finally owning up to her faults for the first time, and developing empathy for what Shinji and his friends are trying to achieve.
This page is a big turning point in the story arc and in the characters’ growth, and it extends beyond the script and dialogue. You can see a change in their demeanour. Shinji standing up straight and pointing, with anger and passion in his face, while Stiletto looks meek and delated, like a scolded child. The second panel flips things a bit, to show that while they’re both still learning and growing as people, they’re both not quite there yet - as they’ve defaulted back to their previous states a little.
Much of this visual story-telling and character is conveyed through the art, which is briefed through writing solid panel descriptions.
I’ll touch more on longer-term character growth in a future tutorial about sustaining and developing your full story arc, but let’s take a look at the key constant script ingredients you’ll need to give your characters a unique and identifiable persona.
Ingredient 1: Demeanour, body language, and natural exposition
Killtopia #3 art by Clark Bint, colours by Lou Ashworth and letters by Micah Myers.
I’ve used this sequence in a previous tutorial, but it includes so many of what I feel are important character development factors you can use across your comic’s story arc.
Let’s break it down:
In this sequence, Shinji has been taken into the Deep Web - the darkest depths of Neo Tokyo’s virtual reality internet. This isn’t his world, he’s never been here before, so I wrote into the script that he should be looking around a lot, curious and wary about everything he’s seeing.
In the third panel, Shinji looks nervous as he starts to walk down a dark alley, which shows his relative inexperience when compared to his friend Blaze, who walks confidently with a straight back, hands in her pockets, mega chilled about everything. She’s done this before. She’s a skilled hacker, so this is her world and area of expertise, not Shinji’s.
Some explaining was needed to set up the next scene, which is where Shinji and Blaze meet a mysterious and legendary Deep Web hacker who is classed as a ‘Weaver.’ You can get away with someone explaining things in this manner, as long as a character has a good reason to explain it. This is why introducing a rookie character to your plot is a clever way of naturally allowing things to be explained to them (and explained top the reader!)
For example, Shinji has never heard of Weavers before, so it’s natural for Blaze to give him a heads-up about who they are can what they can do. In this instance, the skills Blaze is describing are the solution to the pressing problem they’re trying to solve in the plot. All of this is relative to the overall plot and services to move it forward. Nothing here is wasted, irrelevant or padding.
Also note how Blaze calls the Weaver, “a few bits short of a byte” - using computer programming terminology as slang underlines her technical mind without straying into exposition.
I also address a potential ‘logic gap’ in the third panel: “If Weavers are so powerful and potentially dangerous/disruptive in this oppressive society, then how come they’re allowed to run free and cause mayhem?” - Blaze explains that most of them aren’t free, and many of them are forced to work FOR the government - which again adds to the personality of the overall world, where the Government has way too much control.
Ingredient 2: Tone of voice, slang and delivery
I’m going to write a whole guide on my approach to dialogue for a future tutorial, but in short, you ideally want each character to ‘sound’ different when you read their dialogue on the page.
There are many ways you can do this, but first you have to think about some things we’ve already covered and some new things:
Their personality
Their demeanour
Their nationality
Their interests
Their specialisms
Their mood
The situation they’re in
I won’t go into massive detail on all of this just yet, but in the case of Yakuza patriarch, Nezumi (seen above) - she’s stoic, more formal, highly experienced and has a calm, threatening demeanour.
Nezumi tends not to talk with contractions (so she’d say “they are” instead of contracting it to “they’re”) but I’ll slip them in from time to time to keep her dialogue from feeling too clunky and wooden.
In terms of nationality, we have a few American characters in the mix who will say “mom” instead of the UK equivalent “mum,” and if they were more formal in their demeanour, they might say “mother” instead.
Demeanour is important, as a laid, back, punky, rebellious character would probably say things a bit more loosely and chilled than someone who plays by the rules and respects authority. They’re also more likely to drop in slang words from time to time/
The situation a character is in can have an impact on how they speak as well. Someone who is normally well composed and properly-spoken might break down when faced with a life-of-death situation and start using more contractions, or speak with a heightened sense of urgency or even panic.
Again, I’ll go into dialogue in way more detail in a future tutorial, but my golden rules are:
Don’t worry too much about the personality of dialogue in the first draft, get down the basics of what you want a character to say in a scene and move on
Then, once you’re locked in on your first draft, you can double back from the start and really inject the dialogue with each character’s unique personality
(This is just my preference) Say it out loud and ask yourself if the dialogue has personality, does it flow well, is the cadence right, is it verging on exposition, does what they’re saying actually add to the progression of the story or their character’s growth?
If none of the previous bullet apply - kill the dialogue and don’t sweat too much over it.
Closing thoughts
Killtopia #3 art by Clark Bint, colours by Lou Ashworth and letters by Micah Myers.
Character evolves over time. Ideally, you want your cast to go on some kind of journey through the plot - overcoming a challenge, growing as a person, seeking redemption etc.
You should have some idea of the journey your characters and your comic’s plot arc will take before you make a start on your script (tip: having a clear ending in mind from the very start is incredibly useful!).
One final tip is to consider making character bios - little summary sheets of who they are, their likes, dislike, what they’re good at, what they’re bad at, and so on. I’ve never used this approach but I think it can really help you solidify your characters’ personas.
There’s much more to cover here, but we’ll explore it some more in a future tutorial.
Thanks for reading!
-Dave