literature

Ultimate Character Profile

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Literature Text

General Profile Info:
• Name:
• Nickname(s) (if any):
• Age:
• Gender:
• Star Sign:

Cultural Info:
• Birth Date:
• Birthplace:
• Habitat/Home/Address/Hometown:
• Occupation (how do they feel about their job?):
• Education:
• Economic Status (now and in the past):
• Environment (how has it affected them now and in the past):
• Religious Beliefs (how important is it to them?):
• Political Attitude:

Appearance:
• General Appearance:
• Body Type (endomorphic, ectomorphic or mezomorphic):
• Height:
• Weight:
• Hair (colour and style):
• Eye Colour:
• Skin Colour:
• Clothing Preference:
• Accessories/Weapons (if any):
• Powers (if any):

Magic and Powers:
• Does this character know magic (spells, etc)?:
• Does this character possess any kind of superpower?:
• What are the limitations of this magic or power?:
• What are the weaknesses of this magic or power?:
• Does the magic or power reflect the character's personality in any way?:
• Does this character use the magic or power responsibly?:
• Are there any problems the character has that are caused by having the magic or power?:

Physical Character:
• Heredity (any inherited characteristics?):
• Movement (how do they move compared to other characters?):
• Posture:
• Mannerisms:
• Voice (what does their voice sound like? What is most striking about their voice?):
• Verbal Expressions (favourite slang, expressions, idioms, swear words that are used by the character):
• Habits:
• Physical Disabilities (if any):
• Allergies:
• Sexuality (how does the character express and feel about their sexuality?):

Psychological Character:
• General IQ/Intelligence (average, above average or below average):
• Abilities (covers language, skills and talents):
• Psychological Disabilities (if any):
• Obsessions/Compulsions (do they smoke? Are they addicted to something?):
• Ambivert, introvert or extrovert?:
• Disposition/Temperament (easygoing, optimistic, pessimistic or rebellious):
• Virtues (good personality traits):
• Vices (undesirable personality traits):
• Any other qualities (awareness, imagination, judgement, poise, sensitivity, sophistication, taste):
• Values (morals, ethics, habitual response to life):
• Dominant Character Traits:

History:
• History (biography):
• Major events in the character's past/life (things they have not forgotten):
• Are any events in this character's past "haunting" this character?:
• Does this character have any personal secrets about their past?:
• Are there things this character doesn't know about their past?:

Goals and Ambitions:
• Ambition (what does this character ultimately want to achieve by the end of the story?):
• Motive (why do they want this and how to they plan to get it?):
• How long have they wanted this?:
• Other desires (lifelong dreams, greed, addiction, etc):
• How do they react to success and failure?:
• Does the character feel as if they're "chosen" or "destined" to do something?:

Character vs Themselves:
• What does the character like most about themselves?:
• What do they like least/hate about themselves?:
• How does the character feel about themselves?:
• What aspects of their personality do they not accept?:
• Does the character hide or block any of their emotions in conversation?:
• What are the character's most common emotions?:
• Is the character a winner or loser in life?:
• Does this character have any personal secrets about themselves?:

Likes and Dislikes:
• Liked Things:
• Liked People/Characters:
• Disliked Things:
• Disliked People/Characters:
• Favourite Things:
• Fandom (any imaginary franchise/series they're into?):
• Fears/Phobias:
• Interests/Hobbies/Pastimes:

Relations:
• Family/Relatives:
• Relationships with relatives (how do they feel about specific relatives?):
• Family Background/History:
• Friends:
• Lovers:
• Enemies:
• Co-workers, Employers, Employees (what are their attitudes and relations towards them?):
• Pets/Animals:
• Is this character married?:
• If not married, do they have any intention of getting married?:
• Does this character have children?:
• Did this character get divorced?:
• If married without children, does this character intend to have children?:

Character vs Other Characters:
• How do the other characters (who know this character) feel about this character?:
• What do other characters like about this character?:
• What do they dislike about this character?:
• Does this character most commonly become friends or enemies with the other characters?:
• History with other characters:
• Reactions to other characters:
• Feelings about other characters:
• What is this character's status/power with other characters, how do they negotiate status with the other characters?:

Story Related:
• What primary function does this character serve in the story? (protagonist, antagonist, partner, confidante, mentor, comic relief):
• How does this character arc (change or grow) throughout the story?:
• Does this character have their own subplot in the story (if they aren't main character)?:
• What does this character learn through experiencing the events in the story?:
• How important is this character to the main storyline? How often does the audience see this character?:

Character design checklist:
If you're going to try drawing your character, you need to come up with a design that is both recognizable and a pleasure to look at. Some movies have simply fallen flat due to poor character design. A well-designed character is:

• Immediately recognizable and relatable
• Has a recognizable shape or silhouette (you should be able to recognize the character even as a silhouette and even if they were bald and naked)
• Has a design that reflects their personality (you should get a general idea of their personality the moment you look at them) (research the psychological symbolism of shapes)
• Has physical attributes that compliment the content of the story
• Able to complete the actions required by the story
• Interesting to watch
• Has a harmonious colour scheme that doesn't clash and isn't distracting (try using analogous or complimentary colours)
• Has colours that further reflect their personality through colour symbolism

TIP: You want your character to also appear unique. Try taking an aspect of their personality and exaggerating it in the design. Eg. an optimistic character might have large eyes. Incorporate as much of the information you've typed out about this character into the visual design as you can.

More Character Designs Checklist:
Now go out and draw your character again, but this time:

• Draw them at different ages (baby, child, teenager, adult, etc). Try to age your character right from baby to old person
• Draw them in different clothing combinations (eg. formal dress, pyjamas/sleepwear, sportswear, swimwear)
EDIT: Okay this is the only reasonable category that will accept HTML text.

I worked all day on this, and I wanted to put it in a PSD or Illustrator document, complete with drawing areas, but then I realized that anybody who uses this....list, is probably going to wind up typing paragraph after paragraph about their characters, and running out of room for information. I plan to use this in future so I can introduce people to my own characters in lengthy list, profile format.

The info I got for this came from a number of sources. Firstly my own character generator from a little while back, other character profile templates on Deviantart, and finally a scriptwriting booklet I had left over from college. There was a section in it with a LOT of helpful questions that really got me thinking and helped add that extra dimension to story characters. And some parts are new that I made up.

Planning to make one for species and worlds when I get around to it. Compared to this one, those should be easy. To use it, download or copy into notepad, word or whatever you use. I suggest typing your answers in another font or making the text a larger size, then typing in the rest in a normal size. Keep your completed profile as a text or word file in a folder with your character sketches and refer back to it when you get stuck with your story.
© 2010 - 2024 Mintoons
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