Some thoughts on character writing and design (Patreon)

I was reading a 1980s interview with the legendary cartoonist Rumiko Takahashi, and she mentioned something that really resonated with me. To paraphrase, she talked about how limiting it is for her to just "write" a character and then draw them, that she wouldn't really know who a character was until they were on the paper. Similarly she also talked about her preference to not plan too strictly with stories, because the actions of the characters have to feel authentic in the moment.

I wrote the outline for Dark Science in 2010, and I have had that basic plot structure in place since. But that hardly means that I've been following a script beyond a loose narrative, because I long ago found that it drained the life and spontaneity out of the characters. Some characters became more prominent or made different decisions than I previously intended because I got to know them better as I drew the comic. There have even been plot points that I changed or removed entirely because, once I reached that point in the series, what was originally laid out either felt out of place for the characters or irrelevant to anyone's development. Essentially, it's only once I get my hands dirty that the story truly exists. Anything that precedes that is just notes.

With that in mind, the same applies to character creation. When introducing new characters to Dark Science, I have an outline of who they are and what they're all about, but that's really just a lump of clay that doesn't have much too it until I get the character's design down. Just changing the shape of someone's face can have big implications on how I and the reader will view the character. I can't speak for other artists, but it tends to be a lengthy process, and I'll go through dozens or hundreds of iterations some time before I really get a feel of who a character is.

For example, Balthazar Bogan was always intended to be a turncoat, but before I drew him I imagined that he would have a handsome, guarded presentation to hide his selfish motivations. When I got into drawing him, though, I gave him a perpetually worried and haggard look, revealing someone who viewed himself as the victim in every way and couldn't hide it. This ultimately altered how his arc played out, with him becoming more of a pathetic, cowardly, and deluded character than someone who was particularly sinister or conniving.

Similarly, I originally planned for Asmodea to have a sort of on/off personality (similar to Vonnie's mood swings) where a glamorous facade would occasionally crack and a more boisterous, violent temperament would reveal itself. As I drew her, though, and the edges of her face and figure were softened, I realized her character was more complex than that. Part of her high standing in society was that she was in such good control of her persona, and her dissociation regarding the contradictions between "Asmodea" and "Lilith" would only erupt in an extreme fashion after her experiences with Kim and finding out Kusanagi never existed. Asmodea's arc in Act 3 is a big fan favorite, and I credit most of that to not committing to her personality and development until I drew her a whole lot.

Anyway, I just felt like sharing this, as I'm a big proponent of not harshly dividing 'writing' and 'art' when it comes to comics. They're really one thing.