- Pronouns
- He/Him
Slimy_Froggy
Patron
Another way of celebrating my 100th portrait, was to write a format that can be copied into the normal format. It is an addition on the looks and feel of a character, which helps you to bring your character more to live in the minds of the ones reading your profile. These minds include the minds of artists who might want to draw your char.
Disclaimer: This is an addition, not an entirely new format. I have used parts of existing formats and added onto it.
After drawing 100 portraits, I’ve seen 100 character profiles. I want to help you to construct a well-made character profile, that will help people imagine what your character looks like and will help artists to draw your character. After drawing all these portraits, I know exactly what information I need to visualize the character. So this profile-elaboration or addition is for those who want to put more emphasis on the looks and feels of your character. I have only specified the things I read before drawing a portrait. So some you might already find in the normal format, but now you know to put more emphasis on these and you’ll know how to do it. First I will explain the categories, then I’ll show the format that you can fill in.
P00f’s char profile-addition format explanation:
Name:
Gender:
Race:
Age:
I need these to form an image of the person. If I know the race, I know some traits that every character of that race has. Like elves with pointy ears. As a consequence, unless otherwise specified, I’ll draw pointy ears if you fill in ‘Elf’. Same goes for gender and age.
Appearance:
First the looks
Lips: mention color, shape, size, and feel. (e.g. large, small, grim, merry, depressed, joyful, sad, scared, etc.)
Nose: mention size, shape and parts. (e.g. pointy, hooked, small, large, big or small nostrils, large nose bone between eyes, etc.)
Chin: mention size and shape. (e.g. curved, round, separate from jawline, pointy, elegant, large)
Jawline: mention shape and size. (e.g. rounded, elegant, sharp, large, muscular, strong, thin, barely noticeable bones, etc.)
Ears: mention size, shape and parts. (e.g. large, big or small earlobe, earlobe attached or separated fromjaw, pointy, small, tiny, etc.)
Eyes: mention color, shape, size, and feel. (e.g. small, angry, happy, sad, rounded, thin, noble, criticizing, etc.)
Eyebrows: mention color, size, shape and feel ( e.g. brushy, large, long or short hairs, wide, elegant, thin, seductive, mostly frowned, etc.)
Hair: mention color, shape, length, way of wearing and thickness (e.g. Don’t say long, say: till shoulders, till halfway back, trimmed to 1 cm, around 10 cm, wears it backwards, wears a ponytail, one wisp of hair always in front of her eye, thick hair, waved, curly, straight.
Identifying marks: Here is the place to put your freckles, scars, tattoos, piercings and such! But be elaborate! Just saying he’s got a scar is not enough. Mention size, reason, shape, and location. (E.g. A scar of about 10 cm long runs down the upper half of his arm. He got it from a sword duel with his arch enemy. This way I know what kind of scar, because a sword slice is very different from a burn mark. Also describe for tattoos what they say or what the image is: e.g. a black tattoo of a wolf, sitting down and howling on the entire left cheek)
Then personality, I divide it into several subs:
Overall attitude: here you fill in things that other people will think of him/her when they don’t know him/her. (Like, Mostly angry to the outside world / very open, people would surely go talk to him if he was in a bar / scared, looks as if she fears everything she sees / noble, looks down on the others / adventurous, has a certain look and atmosphere around him that hungers for travel and stories / sad, is mostly seen sobbing over his beer in the local inn. Etc.)
Overall mood: here you fill in what your character feels like most of the time. (for instance, if he’s very peaceful and jolly all the time, I would never draw him with a weapon in his hands. E.g. depressed, happy, angry, full of need for revenge, deathly, trickery, cheeky, funny, tired, sad, poor, weak, strong, noble, etc.)
Preference of friends: Here you fill in with what kind of people your char likes to hang out. Describing his/her friends gives me an image of the character itself. (e.g. The dangerous and cowardous kind. They always hang around in inns with a dagger, waiting for people to get drunk and stumble out, then rob them from what’s left of their money. You might see them in dark alleys doing business with other dark people. OR: The merry and adventurous kind. You mostly encounter them by chance, along the road, playing an instrument or writing in a journal. They will never stop talking about what they’ve seen if you ask them about it and are the best company around a campfire. OR: The noble and political kind. Only seen with guards around them, they tend to stay inside and philosophize about politics with their ‘friends’.)
Hygiene: This tells me something about what kind of character it is. (e.g. Does it feel noble and cleans often? Or does he really not care? Does she never clean and smell as bad as she looks? Etc.)
Then the accessories
Most prized possession(s): could be anything, it is a detail I could add to the portrait, like a weapon or jewelry.
Clothing: mention the way it fits, the color, other details and all the parts (e.g. brown cloak made of cotton, it is attached at the neck with a small broche that resembles a Warhammer. It is quite hard so it doesn’t show the exact lines of the body, though his shoulders look wider in it. When it rains, it protects him from most of the water and becomes very heavy.) Do this for every piece of clothing. You may also mention it is ‘an elven cloak’ or ‘a rangers cloak’ to give an idea of what feel it has to it.
Last but not least: The preferences and dislikes
Favorite:
Place:
Activity:
Animal:
Drink:
Person:
From this information I derive whether it’s a good guy or a bad guy. Please also state an explanation. (e.g. If he likes to hang out in spooky places, kills for fun, loves bats, drinks plenty of hard liquor and likes queen grief, I will have a good image in my head. OR If he likes libraries, reading books, horses and never drinks alcohol, that gives me an idea too!)
Least favorite:
Place:
Activity:
Animal
Drink:
Person:
This information tells me all about what your character wants to stay away from. Please also state an explanation. (e.g. he might dislike harbors cause he hates the sea, dislike talking because he’s not into the social thing, dislike bunnies because they’re cute, etc.)
Disclaimer: This is an addition, not an entirely new format. I have used parts of existing formats and added onto it.
After drawing 100 portraits, I’ve seen 100 character profiles. I want to help you to construct a well-made character profile, that will help people imagine what your character looks like and will help artists to draw your character. After drawing all these portraits, I know exactly what information I need to visualize the character. So this profile-elaboration or addition is for those who want to put more emphasis on the looks and feels of your character. I have only specified the things I read before drawing a portrait. So some you might already find in the normal format, but now you know to put more emphasis on these and you’ll know how to do it. First I will explain the categories, then I’ll show the format that you can fill in.
P00f’s char profile-addition format explanation:
Name:
Gender:
Race:
Age:
I need these to form an image of the person. If I know the race, I know some traits that every character of that race has. Like elves with pointy ears. As a consequence, unless otherwise specified, I’ll draw pointy ears if you fill in ‘Elf’. Same goes for gender and age.
Appearance:
First the looks
Lips: mention color, shape, size, and feel. (e.g. large, small, grim, merry, depressed, joyful, sad, scared, etc.)
Nose: mention size, shape and parts. (e.g. pointy, hooked, small, large, big or small nostrils, large nose bone between eyes, etc.)
Chin: mention size and shape. (e.g. curved, round, separate from jawline, pointy, elegant, large)
Jawline: mention shape and size. (e.g. rounded, elegant, sharp, large, muscular, strong, thin, barely noticeable bones, etc.)
Ears: mention size, shape and parts. (e.g. large, big or small earlobe, earlobe attached or separated fromjaw, pointy, small, tiny, etc.)
Eyes: mention color, shape, size, and feel. (e.g. small, angry, happy, sad, rounded, thin, noble, criticizing, etc.)
Eyebrows: mention color, size, shape and feel ( e.g. brushy, large, long or short hairs, wide, elegant, thin, seductive, mostly frowned, etc.)
Hair: mention color, shape, length, way of wearing and thickness (e.g. Don’t say long, say: till shoulders, till halfway back, trimmed to 1 cm, around 10 cm, wears it backwards, wears a ponytail, one wisp of hair always in front of her eye, thick hair, waved, curly, straight.
Identifying marks: Here is the place to put your freckles, scars, tattoos, piercings and such! But be elaborate! Just saying he’s got a scar is not enough. Mention size, reason, shape, and location. (E.g. A scar of about 10 cm long runs down the upper half of his arm. He got it from a sword duel with his arch enemy. This way I know what kind of scar, because a sword slice is very different from a burn mark. Also describe for tattoos what they say or what the image is: e.g. a black tattoo of a wolf, sitting down and howling on the entire left cheek)
Then personality, I divide it into several subs:
Overall attitude: here you fill in things that other people will think of him/her when they don’t know him/her. (Like, Mostly angry to the outside world / very open, people would surely go talk to him if he was in a bar / scared, looks as if she fears everything she sees / noble, looks down on the others / adventurous, has a certain look and atmosphere around him that hungers for travel and stories / sad, is mostly seen sobbing over his beer in the local inn. Etc.)
Overall mood: here you fill in what your character feels like most of the time. (for instance, if he’s very peaceful and jolly all the time, I would never draw him with a weapon in his hands. E.g. depressed, happy, angry, full of need for revenge, deathly, trickery, cheeky, funny, tired, sad, poor, weak, strong, noble, etc.)
Preference of friends: Here you fill in with what kind of people your char likes to hang out. Describing his/her friends gives me an image of the character itself. (e.g. The dangerous and cowardous kind. They always hang around in inns with a dagger, waiting for people to get drunk and stumble out, then rob them from what’s left of their money. You might see them in dark alleys doing business with other dark people. OR: The merry and adventurous kind. You mostly encounter them by chance, along the road, playing an instrument or writing in a journal. They will never stop talking about what they’ve seen if you ask them about it and are the best company around a campfire. OR: The noble and political kind. Only seen with guards around them, they tend to stay inside and philosophize about politics with their ‘friends’.)
Hygiene: This tells me something about what kind of character it is. (e.g. Does it feel noble and cleans often? Or does he really not care? Does she never clean and smell as bad as she looks? Etc.)
Then the accessories
Most prized possession(s): could be anything, it is a detail I could add to the portrait, like a weapon or jewelry.
Clothing: mention the way it fits, the color, other details and all the parts (e.g. brown cloak made of cotton, it is attached at the neck with a small broche that resembles a Warhammer. It is quite hard so it doesn’t show the exact lines of the body, though his shoulders look wider in it. When it rains, it protects him from most of the water and becomes very heavy.) Do this for every piece of clothing. You may also mention it is ‘an elven cloak’ or ‘a rangers cloak’ to give an idea of what feel it has to it.
Last but not least: The preferences and dislikes
Favorite:
Place:
Activity:
Animal:
Drink:
Person:
From this information I derive whether it’s a good guy or a bad guy. Please also state an explanation. (e.g. If he likes to hang out in spooky places, kills for fun, loves bats, drinks plenty of hard liquor and likes queen grief, I will have a good image in my head. OR If he likes libraries, reading books, horses and never drinks alcohol, that gives me an idea too!)
Least favorite:
Place:
Activity:
Animal
Drink:
Person:
This information tells me all about what your character wants to stay away from. Please also state an explanation. (e.g. he might dislike harbors cause he hates the sea, dislike talking because he’s not into the social thing, dislike bunnies because they’re cute, etc.)