Sketching-Out My Characters

“Through the bars peered a face like a fiendishly mocking carven gargoyle — Shukeli the eunuch, who had followed his stolen keys.  Surely he did not, in his gloating, see the sword in the prisoner’s hand.  With a terrible curse Conan struck as a cobra strikes; the great blade hissed between the bars and Shukeli’s laughter broke in a death-scream.  The fat eunuch bent at the middle, as if bowing to his killer, and crumpled like tallow, his pudgy hands clutching vainly at his spilling entrails.”
— (excerpt from The Scarlet Citadel, by Robert E. Howard)


Sketching-Out My Characters
I'm a little late for my ROW80 check-in, but I have been working on story-related work, so I'll give myself a pass.  It’s been an interesting week of story-crafting.  I have been trying to strengthen the plots of my three stories by working on the goals and motives of my characters.  Using graph-paper, I created a grid with three rows (Goals, Motivation, Conflict) and two columns (External, Internal).  This method has helped me brainstorm the the "who, what, why, and why not" questions of my story and has helped me see the story-arcs of each character.  Working on graph paper, away from the keyboard, has been liberating and has helped replenish my creative-wells, which have been running dry lately.

As an artist, I love to think and plan with pencil and paper.  It’s how I naturally work things out.  So, returning to the physical sheet of paper has revitalized my writing and story-writing process.  Naturally, this has led to me sketching-out drawings of my potential characters, working on their body-forms, their attire (including armor), and their general features.  Nothing too detailed right now, just loose sketches and scribblings of the basic shapes to get the imagination ignited.  My Muse loves it when I draw.  If I’m stuck on my writing, I can usually invoke her by picking up a pencil and a piece of paper, brainstorming and sketching-out my ideas visually so that we can build upon them and solve story-problems together.  Drawing is also how I create monsters; by grossly exaggerating the human form or by embellishing the prominent features of an animal.  I like to keep my creatures grounded in (relative) reality, as if they could actually exist in my universe.  How fantastical do I want to make my fantasy-world?   I'm trying to strike a balance of eighty-percent realism and twenty-percent wonder.

The reason I have been late to this blog post is because I have been caught up in my drawings.  My drawings are all story-based characters and creatures, so I figure it counts towards the world-building of my sword & sorcery universe (when I have sometime presentable, I’ll share it later).  I tend to fixate on one aspect of my creativity (like drawing or writing), neglecting everything else in my life.

I had to get out of the house today, just to get some fresh air and to change my scenery.  I sat under a large oak tree at the park and scribbled in a small notebook.  Nothing special; it was just a form of focus and self-meditation.  It was reinvigorating and refreshing.

That’s all for now.
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