Dream Strings

This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while, and so I thought I’d just write about it since it’s kinda neat to reflect on.

Most of us develop our character concepts over the span of years. I know for me, Banrai was made in the late 1990′s, along with the larger part of my other brainchildren. When I first began drawing up my characters, the way their personalities developed was really based around my life, my thoughts and ideas, my fears hopes and dreams. As I grew up my characters slowly changed to reflect my growing ideas of who I am, and they matured with me through the years into what they are today.

The best character I can think of to illustrate this is Macase, my black avian character. At the time of her creation, her name was Makaze Darktalon. At the time, I was on a weeabo streak and had to name EVERYTHING after something Japanese. I made her to be my avatar in the Gryphon Guild, and wanted to be unique and memorable. Her history was that she had killed her parents or some-such, and her feathers were all tinged red from the perpetual stains of the blood. Clearly, I was emo as heck. At that time, this is what she looked like.

Having established a real ‘persona’ for her, I of course thought often about her and how she relates to my other characters. Through explorative sketches and writing, she developed into less of a gryphon and more into a black hybrid animal with no real recognizable species. After a while, I took to drawing her more as an anthro and as less of a quadruped beast. From that, she really began to develop her own ‘style’ – I tended to draw her in clothes remenescent of the victorean era. This developed along with my concepts for Astian (which is my sort-of world mythos project) and I slowly began to weave her into the story. The themes that I highlight in that universe fit well with the direction she was going, and so the two became intertwined in ways that I didn’t even thing were possible.

Now, with a new perspective, she’s grown to be one of my favorite characters. Through the years, she lost her name in favor of something a little more elegant – we now know her as Tias Macase. She was once a beautiful, sexy lady – the envy of men and women alike. Not quite what we know as a supermodel, but more like someone with a classic and timeless beauty, like paintings of women from the renaissance. However, the country that she resides in is in great turmoil. There is a huge movement against the oppressive government, and in turn the political figures retaliate with brutal force. Civilians that are caught speaking out against the government are detained and subjected to horrific and often disfiguring tortures. Macase was one of those individuals – detained for being seen at a street parade handing out pamphlets speaking out against the same torture that she was subjected to. She had sulfiric acid thrown in her face repeatedly. The results of this was quite tragic, and she is very deeply ashamed of how she now looks. So, in an effort to hide herself she wears masks where the only part of her face that is visible is her eyes.

So, the point I’m getting to is that I really feel like all of us tend to ‘mature’ our characters as we ourselves grow and mature. I know this is awful rambly, but I think it’s a very valid thing to think about as a creator, artist, or writer. And who knows – maybe it’ll make you think too!