Pixie Fox

Expressing emotions.

2011-02-14T17:52:00.000+13:00

Here is a tutoralin image form. :3 from My deviant art account.. when i find the word file with it on I will copy and paste that here instead.. in the mean time.

In a Fight against Mary Sues.

2010-01-24T15:49:00.004+13:00

EDIT: this post has become redundant since DA deleted these wonderful articles because of new laws they put in place about using extracts from other works and since the articles use extracts from bad fan fiction to show their point.. they were destroyed. It was very sad.

I came across this Great series of Deviant Art articles on the subject of avoiding your character becoming a mary sue.

they are brilliant. read them. now.

http://news.deviantart.com/article/81533/
http://news.deviantart.com/article/84650/
http://news.deviantart.com/article/104556/

I think if one reads this, with the ideas of good character development in mind. it can be really helpful.

Taking it in.

2009-12-20T15:22:00.001+13:00

I feel rather sheepish that I have not really written since my last explosion of posts. The reason being, I do have a multitude of tutorials saved from Mangarevolution.com which i wrote and would like to re-post but they are buried at the moment, in my external hard drive which is packed away. So instead I would like to briefly talk about something which is generally common sense, but important, and because of its importance, I believe it should be stated no mater how obvious it is.

Today I want to take about the importance of really taking notice of the world around you. As an artist or a writer you are really reconstructing what you know and experience into something new to be experienced by others. It may be a situation, a feeling, a sunset, anything really. Even when we create from imagination, our imagination is using our past experiences to help construct the new imagined thing.

Once we acknowledge and understand that nothing we create in our mind is made in avoid. the importance of exposing ourselves to life and experience becomes obvious. for artists this may be as simple as going to the library and familiarizing yourself with plant life, or picking flowers and taking extra notice of their characteristics. but it can also include savouring of moments and places so that the experience you recall can be a richer source of inspiration.

by savouring i mean paying attention to all the little details, the way the wood on a floor is marked by scuffs, or the way the light falls between leaves. not only do you enjoy moments more by experiencing every detail. but when it comes to drawing.. or writing about a moment, I often find remembering these little details helps me create a fuller and richer imaginary world in my minds eye. Far more so than just trying to imagine something based on popular culture or just knowledge, experienced based observations are often far more personal.

not only does taking notice help you creatively but it helps you enjoy life, experiencing it to the fullest.

really what I'm trying to say is that you should keep your eyes wide open. no matter where you are take in your surroundings because there is no better teacher than life.

Dog Sketches

2009-12-07T16:14:00.000+13:00

While I am at my parents i am taking the opportunity to practice my dog drawing skills as I have two adorable live models.

one of which is incredibly camera shy (she runs when she sees a camera because she doesn't like flashes) so these sketches are all speed sketches, drawing them as they walk around, sit and play.

I find these types of sketches very helpful for learning and practising to draw. you get a feel for things and it is easier to draw them from your mind's eye later on.

Character Development: Character Roles, Relationships and Personality

2009-12-07T15:31:00.000+13:00

Character creation and development happens to be my one favourite creative activity. It is something that overlaps the writing and art world, and I can spend hours on it. Which is why, not surprisingly I have many original characters. But I still love creating more, and the wonderful thing about characters is that with enough imagination there are endless possibilities of what you can create.

This Blog entry focuses on the questions you should ask yourself when deciding the role, personality and relationships of a character and how that relates to plot.

The main problem people seem to have is that they get stuck with the idea of Types and stereo types. There is this feeling that in order to write a story you need to have a Hero, a Side Kick, and a Villain, and that these characters have certain fundamental aspects to them that make them such. But it is the writers who do not feel constrained to these ideas that write the most memorable stories. Where the "hero" is not brave, and the moral line between hero and villain is blurred.

I actually find the relationship between the hero and the friend seems to be more of a rigid stereotype than the one between the hero and the villain. but more on that later.. possibly.

The main point of this, as that when creating a character, while it is a good idea to know what role you want them to have, I find it is better, rather than letting them be defined by their role, let their characteristics influence and define the role they play and the relationships they form.

When it comes to character I am a strong believer that the setting, plot and characters are not separate, but interlinked and have a strong effect on each other. when I write I let the characters guide me through the story, with their actions, keeping in mind past events and environments which may have affected them.

When Creating a Character I find it useful to ask myself these simple questions, all of which are rather obvious and therefore sometimes easy to forget.
What is the Character's background?
This includes where did the character grow up and what was it like? how was the characters childhood. Do they have any difficulties? Are there any people who have been strong influences and why?
What is the Characters Personality and Nature?
do they have any fundamental characteristics like shyness, or impulsiveness?
How has their environment influenced their personality? e.g.. has a family situation made them an anxious person?
And how has their personality influenced their environment? e.g.. do people treat them a certain way because of a personality trait, like bossiness or confidence.
Think about the cycle of the personality and environment relationship.
What is their Inner Dialogue? What do they think of themselves and how do they view others?
What is Important to them (what is their drive/motivation)
people tend to do or not do things for reasons. depending on what their motivations are. sometimes its seeking something like love or change and sometimes it can be as simple as wanting to keep things the same out of comfort or even fear. think about your characters wants and values and what is driving these wants/values.
Do Events in the plot cause a change in personality?
It is important to realise that personality and how a person acts changes over time. How they view themselves and others changes and they and their enviroment changes. another character or an event can influence their inner dialogue ask yourself: Does the event or other character cause character growth or an emotional change? What is this change and why?
Does it cause a shift in their motivation and values?

What is the Relationship Dynamic between this character and other characters?
All characters that interact have some sort of relationship, it can be friendship, love, hate, rivalry, or even an apathetic business relationship. But how characters treat each other depends on this relationship.
Think about how they met, in what context is the relationship formed?
How are they connected? are they related? business partners? or are they thrown together by chance?
based on their values and personalities how would they view each other?
and depending on what kind of relationship they have, why do they have that relationship? if it is a friendship why are they friends? is it out of shared interests or did events just lead them to be. do their personalities compliment each other in such a way that they fulfil each others needs? maybe they don't and it causes a bit of friction.
If they are enemies, why are they enemies? difference in points of view? Are they competing over something? is it a clash of personality, or maybe are they just so similar they can't get a long.
Thinking of the relationship dynamics can give the story a much richer base on which to draw on and will help making decide how they characters will act easier. it can influence their motivation and bring up some new interesting aspects of the story.
Like personality Relationships tend to change, and a lot of the most enjoyable stories are centred around the changing dynamics of relationships.

Relationships are also very closely related to a characters role. what do they mean to different people and how does this make them act? Like personality it is a great drive for a character in a story.

I know I have glossed over a lot. but hopefully as I continue to write things will fill out more.

Introductions

2009-12-06T21:15:00.000+13:00

I have decided it is about time I had a proper art blog which was not bogged down with personal dramas. somewhere where I could post what I was doing, project wise. without the temptation or history of whining about past flatmates. something which my old live journal account is full of since I started it in my teens.

This is not a blog about my life. but a blog for me to post about my interests, and projects. I have no delusions about how many people will read it. It will probably only be me. but it is still an outlet I want to have.

The name is from my old "description" on mangarevolution.com an art site which has since closed down. I feel it elegantly represents my persona. my love of fae folk lore and animals, as well as alluding to my novel projects.