Using Picrews for Character Design Inspiration

Sometimes you're writing a character and you've got their vibe down, but you can't quite get a visual sense of them, or you're looking to commission an artist and you want something more solid at communicating your vision than a paragraph of text. What's a writer whose visual design skills aren't living up to their imagination to do?

Turn to picrew, of course! Most people head to the character mix-and-match website with a design already in mind and look for something that will allow them to create what they're already thinking about, and that's great. It's not what I end up doing most of the time, though. Instead, I load up one of my favorites- ones that I know have a ton of options that seem appealing to me- and I start randomly picking features until something clicks.

Usually it's hair, but sometimes it's a clothing or accessories or another feature like a scar. From there, I go back to the beginning, picking through noses and eye shapes and skin tones until the pieces fall into place across the board, and before long, I have a much fuller character character in mind.

To start with, here is a recent example. This is Sister Kim, who serves the Mother of Life and Death in a temple at the border between civilization and wilderness. The Temple is a bit complex as an idea and I'll go into this more later, but I had a sense of what she looked like and used the Black Centered Picrew to nail her down a bit more.

I'm very satisfied with that image of Sister Kim, but I haven't yet created an image for Sophia, another woman who is often found in the Temple. Let's me walk you through how this process can work! First I start with a mostly blank slate. In the Black Centered Picrew, the "default" looks like this:

Next up, what do I know about Sophia? She has curly, light-colored hair, she speaks for the Goddess, she's bolder than Sister Kim. The larger body shape feels right for her, since Sophia larger. I give her white and pale yellow hair for right now, since I know it should feel light, and I pick a really voluminous style since that feels right for her too. She's developing kind of an 80s jazzercize mom vibe.

While I'm skimming through the settings I notice the vitiligo setting. The Mother of Life and Death is noted as having emerged from the earth with skin that is made of dirt and stone in different shades. Sophia has a vibe of maybe being an avatar of the goddess or maybe the goddess herself? I haven't figured that out yet but giving her skin that evokes the goddess's appearance feels right.

It's also probably time to get some facial features on there, so I give her eyes that are a big on the large side, settling on a green color for now, a smiling mouth with large, friendly lips, and I dither over her nose for several minutes, even though it doesn't have to be perfect now.

Immediately after I saved that, I realized I hadn't given her eyebrows yet, so I do, and then I decide her face is too crowded. She's very open and welcoming, and all this hair in her face isn't suiting her, so I go back and change it for a slightly different set of curly bangs and hair in a color that stands out more.

Ugh, no, that's all wrong.

There, that's better. Now it's time for clothes and accessories!

I start her off in the same robe-dress-toga Sister Kim is wearing and the purple hairband, which I was very clear on without really being sure why.

After studying her for a minute, though, I note that Sophia is definitely not referred to as a Sister and I don't think she would wear the official garb. Let's see what we have that could fit the 80s feel I noted earlier...

Looks good! She's got a relaxed, comfortable vibe that says she's quite possibly going to hug you and when she does you're going to enjoy it.