Studio Card #1 | Let’s Create a Character(s)!
| Brief | Welcome to the Made Collaborative Studio! This Studio Card #2 represents your first step on a creative journey with us. We begin this collaborative virtual studio just as it began in a classroom in the West Side of Chicago years ago - by providing you with an opportunity to create your own original comic character(s). |
|---|---|
| Scope | As you might expect, creative collaboration is at the heart of the Made Collaborative Studio. We believe in sharing stories, intertwining ideas and giving a voice to participating urban youth and collaborators like you. ALL OF YOUR STORIES MATTER. And that's why we begin this virtual journey with the creation of your own original character, some of which may be including in our Back of the Yards comic series! |
| This & That | The most intriguing submissions to this and all of our Studio Card may highlighted on our website. We'll showcase them on our "This & That" blog. And a few of you may also be invited to take part in one of our regular Zoom workshop sessions to further develop selected characters. |
Every Great Story
Begins With a Great Character
Welcome to the Made Collaborative Studio! And we begin in the same manner this project began years ago in a classroom in the West Side of Chicago – creating original characters.
Got a great idea for a comic book character? We invite all of you to submit here it to the Made Collaborative Studio and the most eye-catching ideas may be chosen for further development with our team of creative professionals. Some of your crazy characters may even appear in future issues of the Back of the Yards comic!
We will walk you through this process below, but first, for a little creative inspiration to help set the collaborative stage, we present to you five memorable character introductions from the big screen! …
The Back of the Yards Comic!
We begin this modest virtual collaboration platform in the same manner this project began years ago in a classroom in the West Side of Chicago - creating original characters. The Made Collaborative project started as a small but ambitious after-school arts program headed by our founder, Jimmy Briseno, with a group of high school students on the West Side of Chicago. Jimmy frequently recalls the pivotal moment when one young person boldly proclaimed: "I have an idea, and it’s going to be great!"
From there, the intrepid student began to develop the character of Andre Davis. His classmates joined in, creating characters of their own, like Tamia Parker and Russell Patterson. These ever-so-humble beginnings are what helped launch the Made Collaborative Studio and our inaugural comic book series--Back of the Yards.
Pen To Paper!
As with all collaborations, we start by urging you to first get an old-fashioned pen (or pencil) and paper in hand. It is with this type of brainstorming that often you will encounter your creative breakthroughs and even more practically, taking notes will help you to organize and summarize your thoughts.
We have also created this PDF Worksheet [INSERT PDF LINK] for your convenience if helpful.
STEP ONE
Creating Your Character's Basic
Background & Physical Traits
We begin this modest virtual collaboration platform in the same manner this project began years ago in a classroom in the West Side of Chicago – creating original characters. The Made Collaborative project started as a small but ambitious after-school arts program headed by our founder, Jimmy Briseno, with a group of high school students on the West Side of Chicago. Jimmy frequently recalls the pivotal moment when one young person boldly proclaimed: “I have an idea, and it’s going to be great!”
From there, the intrepid student began to develop the character of Andre Davis. His classmates joined in, creating characters of their own, like Tamia Parker and Russell Patterson. These ever-so-humble beginnings are what helped launch the Made Collaborative Studio and our inaugural comic book series–Back of the Yards.
With this Studio Card collaboration, we will help you with the creative development of your own character(s). And we will be using our comic’s first character, Andre Davis, as a frame of reference with each step below. We begin this character development exercise with the basics, or more specifically, your character’s basic characteristics. Within Slide 3, you see that we cover some of those basics for Andre’s character, which may help you as you brainstorm the physical traits of your own new character.
PHYSICAL TRAITS TO CONSIDER
Here are some character physical traits that can enhance storytelling. For example, hair color and style can help distinguish your character. Eye shape and eye color is another example (as the old saying goes, eyes can be a window to the soul). Facial features like high cheekbones, firm jawlines, nose shape or size, skin town, etc. And, of course, body type can capture your character’s build and indicate physical strengths or weaknesses. These are just a few physical traits for you to consider as you develop your character. And for your convenience, we’ve included a few more in the table below as well a helpful link here for other physical traits you may consider when developing your character at this stage!
BASIC BACKGROUND ELEMENTS TO CONSIDER
And to further help with your character’s basic background description, here’s a quick list of elements to consider age, birthdate, gender, birthplace, race/nationality, marital status, education, current residence and occupation and languages among other basic background elements to consider before we start taking a deeper character dive below.
It may help you to think of this first step (combining personality traits and basic background elements) as if you were making an introduction to your character in a movie screenplay. Within screenplays, a basic character description is the literal introduction of a character, which then translates into the visual introduction in a movie. As such, a good concise description of some of the very basic characteristics within the screenplay is essential.
As an example, look at the following character introduction from the script of the movie Training Day, starring Denzel Washington.
“DETECTIVE SERGEANT ALONZO HARRIS, IN BLACK SHIRT, BLACK LEATHER JACKET. AND JUST ENOUGH PLATINUM AND DIAMONDS TO LOOK LIKE SOMEBODY. HE READS THE PAPER IN A BOOTH. THE GUN-LEATHER-TOUGH L.A.P.D. VET IS A HANDS-ON, BLUE-COLLAR COP WHO CAN KICK YOUR ASS WITH A LOOK."
Within this character introduction, you can get a feel for the physical appearance of Alonzo Harris, as well as some basic insights into his background and current occupation (gun-leather-tough LAPD vet, blue-collar cop).
Now, see how that short basic description translates to the big screen by clicking below!
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Pen To Paper!
Prompt #1
What are some of the physical characteristics of your new character? Feel free to use some of the examples from the table or link provided above. And you can also refer to Slide 3 of Andre’s Character Dossier if helpful.
Prompt #2
What are some of your character’s basic background elements? Occupation? Age? Birthplace? Family members? Any other basic information that you can think of that may be helpful to describe your character in one or two sentences? And feel free to also us Slide 3 of Andre’s Character Dossier if helpful.
Prompt #3
Now let’s bring it all together and using the Training Day example above along some of the physical characteristics and basic background elements you listed above, try to describe your character in two to three sentences as if you were first introducing that character in a screenplay.
STEP TWO
Developing Your Character's Personality Traits
Now that you have a basic idea of what your character may look like and its basic characteristics as described above, you may now be in a better position to develop your new character’s personality characteristics. And perhaps no other character in cinema today has as complicated of a personality than the comic villain that goes by the name of The Joker …
How would you describe the Joker’s personality? What words come to mind? Impulsive? Disagreeable? Humorous? Creative? Daring? Unpredictable? Would any of the traits listed below apply to the Joker’s personality?
You can find an even more extensive set of personality traits by clicking here to visit a site presented by ProWritingAid, an independent company devoted to providing writers with creative resources and assistance to help develop writing skills.
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In stark contrast to The Joker's fictional comic personality, we have chosen to feature the real-life legacy of one of the most iconic artists of our time, Frida Kahlo.
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter known for her deeply personal and symbolic self-portraits that explored identity, pain, and the female experience. Her work blended elements of Mexican folk art with surrealist influences, often reflecting her physical suffering and tumultuous relationship with fellow artist Diego Rivera. Despite lifelong health challenges, she became an icon of resilience, feminism, and Mexican cultural pride.
If you watched the short video above, how would you describe Frida’s personality from the traits listed above? Creative? Daring? Inventive? Thoughtful?
These are just some personality traits that may come to mind when describing Frida, and as you can see, apart from perhaps a shared creativity and daringness in their approach to life, Frida is otherwise quite the contrast in personality to Joker’s fictional character.
And this contrast in personality traits between the fictional character of the Joker and the real-life legacy of Frida Kahlo could also be captured by something even more fundamental to each of their characters – something referred to as their respective “Character Archetypes,” which will turn our attention to in Step Three below. But first! …
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Pen To Paper!
Prompt #4
What five personality traits do you think best describes the Joker’s personality if you were describing his character to a friend or family member who knew nothing about the Joker? You can use Slide #4 of Andre’s Character Dossier if helpful.
Prompt #5
What five personality traits do you think best describes Frida’s personality if you were describing her to a friend or family member who knew nothing about her or her legacy? Again, you can use Slide #4 of Andre’s Character Dossier if helpful.
Prompt #6
Now using Slide 4 of Andre’s character dossier as example, let’s bring it together and write down five or more personality traits that you would use to describe your new character to a friend or family member.
STEP THREE
Character Archetypes and Core Personality Traits
Building upon some of your character’s basic background and physical characteristics developed in Step One, along with their personality traits as described in Part Two, we are now ready to start taking a deeper dive into your character’s core set of values. And that deeper dive begins with your character’s primary Archetype.
Returning briefly to the Joker and Frida Kahlo personalities from Step Two above, in addition to highlighting these two very different personalities, we also can see a contrast of two very different life paths. The fictional character of Joker dedicated to mayhem and chaos in response to his early life adversity. Frida Kahlo, on the other hand, who experienced very serious near-fatal medical injuries as a youth, somehow heroically channelling that adversity towards creative expression, art and a unique celebration of life.
To help better understand these two divergent life paths, we present you with an overview of Character Archetypes.
Our quick overview of character archetypes begins with an individual named Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist who is recognized as one of the most influential figures in modern psychology.
Among his many intellectual pursuits, Jung explored the hidden and mysterious aspects of the mind and as part of that exploration, he theorized that some dreams may actually hold intriguing insights into life and the world because they come from the “collective unconscious.”
Jung believed the collective unconscious is bigger and more fundamental than the mind of any single individual; it is the profound and timeless wisdom that all humans share. And it is from this collective unconscious that certain distinct and common character archetypes also emerge.
Just click below to learn more about these Character Archetypes, including which Archetypes might describe The Joker, Frida Kahlo and other well known characters and other historical figures!
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As you consider Character Archetypes, a closely related set of traits are your character’s “core values.” Core values are fundamental beliefs and principles that guide a person’s actions and decisions. In short, core values can be described as a character’s personal compass as they navigate through life.
We have provided a sample list of such core value traits below. It is your Character’s Archetype combined with their core values that will ultimately drive your character’s actions in any given story.
And if helpful, you can access a more comprehensive list of core values by linking here.
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Pen To Paper!
Prompt #7
Which of the selected character archetypes below do you feel that you most personally identify with? Feel free to select more than one if you’re so inclined. Both people and fictional characters go through various phases of personal development that can include elements of 2, 3 or more archetypes throughout the course of their lives.
Prompt #8
Andre Davis is “The Hero” of the first several 3 issues of Back of the Yards, but that doesn’t mean he’ll stay that way!
But heroes can change. They may grow to become the mentor in another hero’s story. They may be tempted by the dark side of some of their other character traits and become an outlaw rebel, or a tyrannical ruler.
Based on what you know from Andre’s character, either from the dossier summary above, or from the comic itself, which way do you think Andre’s character might develop in future issues of Back of the Yards? Be creative on this one. There’s no wrong answer!
Prompt #9
In the spirit of the Creator archetype, here’s an opportunity to jot down some ideas for your new character based on any of the 12 archetypes above, along with any corresponding core values. Just give it a try. You don’t have to go into too much detail on this one and you can use Slide 5 from the Andre Character Dossier summary as an example if helpful. Just see where the spark of inspiration takes you.
STEP FOUR
A Lightening Round - Your Character's
Biography and Other Interesting Facts!
So now that you have all the basic building blocks of your character in place, including their basic characteristics, core personality traits and archetype core values, we are ready for a lightening round of sorts! It is here that we will begin to sprinkle in some of the details of your character’s back story and other interesting facts that make your new character unique! And to help you do this, we will present to you 100 quick and easy questions for you to consider within the Google Slide presentation below.
And for a little creative inspiration, we bring you a few words from Stan Lee, creator of Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Black Panther and many more from the Marvel universe.
(Original art to the right by participating artist, Eric Nyamor.)
Of course, you don’t have to answer all these questions for your character – in fact, you don’t have to answer ANY! But we do encourage you to just have fun with it and try to answer at least 10 or so. Even if you don’t have a clear idea of your character’s back story just yet, some of your answers to these questions may nonetheless help you with the next stage of your character’s development if you so choose – developing their Hero’s Journey storyline with Studio Card #2!
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Pen To Paper!
Prompt #10 - BONUS ROUND!
In many ways, this final round is optional and intended to just be creative icing on your character development cake. If you have completed each of the prompts above already, then you have the foundation for a new character that you can use to build upon further with the next Hero’s Journey Studio Card. However, with this final bonus round, we have provided you with a long list of questions which you can choose from to help build your character’s back story (i.e., it’s biography) even more.
So, with that, using as many questions as you’d like to answer (and that totally up to you!) list out a few other interesting background facts of your new character, and you can use Slide 6 of Andre’s character dossier as an example if helpful.
Let's Collaborate!
With this collaboration, you will have an opportunity to develop your own original comic character.
Especially creative submissions could be chosen for further development with the Made Collaborative team. We'll feature your character on our website. They might appear in the Back of the Yards comics!
We'll also invite some collaborators to take part in our livestream sessions over Zoom.
Submit Your Artwork
Although by no means, required, but to the extent you have developed any concept sketches or illustrations of your new character, we encourage you to submit those illustrations to us. Just do us a favor and let us know which character you are submitting illustrations for, and we will absolutely make sure our artists receive them when they are reviewing your character submissions!
And we may feature your artwork in the future either on the project website or directly in our comic issues, all subject to your approval!
Table of Contents
More Studio Card Collaborations!
Who is Manny Dominguez?
Studio Card #6: Our Young Dreamer
Who is John Golden?
Who is Dan Dougherty?
Who is Len Kody?
Studio Card #10: The Street Corner Mentor
Studio Card #12: We All Have That One Trickster In Our Life
Studio Card #5: The Back of the Yards Heroine!
Studio Card#17: Who is Draymond Carter?
Who is Jimmy Briseno?
OLD Studio Card #1 | Let’s Create a Character(s)!
| Brief | Welcome to the Made Collaborative Studio! This Studio Card #2 represents your first step on a creative journey with us. We begin this collaborative virtual studio just as it began in a classroom in the West Side of Chicago years ago - by providing you with an opportunity to create your own original comic character(s). |
|---|---|
| Scope | As you might expect, creative collaboration is at the heart of the Made Collaborative Studio. We believe in sharing stories, intertwining ideas and giving a voice to participating urban youth and collaborators like you. ALL OF YOUR STORIES MATTER. And that's why we begin this virtual journey with the creation of your own original character, some of which may be including in our Back of the Yards comic series! |
| This & That | The most intriguing submissions to this and all of our Studio Card may highlighted on our website. We'll showcase them on our "This & That" blog. And a few of you may also be invited to take part in one of our regular Zoom workshop sessions to further develop selected characters. |
Every Great Story
Begins With a Great Character
Welcome to the Made Collaborative Studio! And we begin in the same manner this project began years ago in a classroom in the West Side of Chicago – creating original characters.
Got a great idea for a comic book character? You can submit here it to the Made Collaborative Studio and the most eye-catching ideas may be chosen for further development with our team of creative professionals. Some crazy characters may even appear in future issues of the Back of the Yards comic!
We will walk you through this process below, but first, for a little creative inspiration to help set the collaborative stage, we present to you a few great character introductions from the big screen! …
Creating Characters - An Overview
We begin this modest virtual collaboration platform in the same manner this project began years ago in a classroom in the West Side of Chicago – creating original characters. The Made Collaborative project started as a small but ambitious after-school arts program headed by our founder, Jimmy Briseno, with a group of high school students on the West Side of Chicago. Jimmy frequently recalls the pivotal moment when one young person boldly proclaimed:
“I have an idea, and it’s going to be great!”
From there, the intrepid student began to develop the character of Andre Davis. His classmates joined in, creating characters of their own, like Tamia Parker and Russell Patterson. These ever-so-humble beginnings are what helped launch the Made Collaborative Studio and our inaugural comic book series–Back of the Yards.
Now, we invite artists and writers of all levels to join us on this shared journey by creating an original comic character of your own! There are many methods to create a memorable character, and there are some tried and true techniques. Some authors and artists choose to base their characters on people they already know, like a family member, one of their friends, or even themselves! You can aslo draw ideas from dreams, video games, books or movies as long as your approach is original and uniquely your own.
With this Studio Card collaboration, we will help you with the creative development of your own character(s). And we will be using our comic’s first character, Andre Davis, as a frame of reference with each step below.
First, We Recommend First Grabbing Pen and Paper
As with all collaborations, as your first step we urge you to first get an old-fashioned pen (or pencil) and paper in hand. In fact, it might be good to have a journal notebook to help with all your collaborations to take notes, jot down ideas, and if you are so inclined, even start illustrations. It is with this type of brainstorming that often you will encounter your creative breakthroughs.
We have also created this PDF Worksheet [INSERT PDF LINK] for your convenience if helpful.
Once you have your pen and paper in hand or printed out your PDF worksheet, we can begin this collaboration.
STEP ONE!
Your Character's Basic Background & Physical Characteristics
With pen and paper in hand, we begin this character development exercise by considering some of your character’s basic background and physical characteristics. You may likely already have some idea of who this character is because it may be based on you, someone you know, or even a combination of people you know. Regardless, start to consider what this character looks like and how you might describe this character to someone else in 5 or 6 brief sentences.
To help you with your basic character development, here’s a snapshot from Andre’s dossier summary:
PHYSICAL TRAITS TO CONSIDER
Here are some character physical traits that can enhance storytelling:
Hair Color and Style: Describe the color of your character’s hair, the style (long or short), and other interesting characteristics about their hair or hair style.
Eyes and Eye Color: As the old saying goes, eyes are the window to the soul. So, take some time to consider what your character’s eyes look like. Are they big eyes? Green eyes? Piercing blue? Shark eyes?! Have fun with it.
Facial Features: Details like high cheekbones, firm (or not so firm) jawlines, nose shapes, etc.
Body Build: This is where we can capture your character’s basic build, height, muscularity, athleticism or lack thereof, etc.
Skin Tone: This is always helpful for our artists as they consider how to best illustrate your characters.
Anyway, those are just a few physical traits for you to consider as you develop your character. And for your convenience, we’ve included a few more in the table below as well a helpful link here for other physical traits you may consider when developing your character at this stage!
BASIC BACKGROUND ELEMENTS TO CONSIDER
And to further help with your character’s basic background description, here’s a quick list of elements to consider: age, birthdate, gender, birthplace, race/nationality, marital status, education, current residence and languages among other basic background elements to consider before we start taking a deeper character dive below.
Before going to the next collaborative step, it is here that we encourage you to take some time to collect your thoughts and notes on paper on the basic characteristics of your new character (or within the worksheet provided within the hyperlink above)!
You can also refer to Andre’s summary above if helpful as an example and once you have jotted down your notes, scroll down for Step Two!
STEP TWO!
Your Character's Basic Personality Traits
Now that you have a basic idea of what your character looks like, perhaps drawing upon yourself or people you know, you may be in a better position to develop your new character’s personality characteristics. So, with your pen and paper, consider personality traits such as:
– Are they introverted or extroverted (to learn more about these different personality types, you can visit here)
– Are they talkative? Curious? Funny? Stubborn Temperamental? Impulsive?
The list goes on, but you get the idea. Just allow yourself to brainstorm what your character’s personality, even drawing upon your own personality traits, or the personality traits of certain family members or friends, or even other fictional/movie characters. And to further help you with this exercise, we’ve included this table of personality traits to consider.
STEP THREE!
Character Archetypes and Core Personality Traits!
Okay, building upon some of your notes on your character’s basic characteristics and personality traits, we are now ready to start taking a deeper dive into your character core. And that deeper dive begins with your character’s primary archetype. To help set the stage for this part of the collaboration, we present you an overview of Character Archetypes below.
Take notes as needed and as you read through each of these archetypes, begin considering which character archetype may best summarize your new character.
Our quick overview of character archetypes begins with a man named Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist, who is recognized as one of the most influential figures in modern depth psychology.
Among his many intellectual pursuits, Jung explored the hidden and mysterious aspects of the mind and theorized that some dreams are energized by timeless motifs that have echoes in art, poetry and music throughout all human existence. As such, these dreams may hold intriguing new insights into life and the world, Jung believed, because they come from the “collective unconscious.”
Jung believed the collective unconscious is bigger and more fundamental than the mind of any single individual; it is the profound and timeless wisdom that all humans share. It is from this collective unconscious that certain distinct and common character archetypes also emerge. And being able to recognize these common archetypes may help you as you further develop and define your own fictional characters.
Want to learn more? Just click below! (And be sure to also click the videos within the summary!)
After learning more about the archetypes, we invite to further consider your own character in the making and select one or more archetypes that may help definite your new character. And once you feel like you have a grasp of your character’s archetype, trying summarizing that archetype and core values in 2 to 3 short paragraphs (perhaps using the example we included for Andre above). And to help you with this part of the exercise, we have included the following value traits to consider.
STEP FOUR!
Your Character's Biography and Other Interesting Facts!
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Everyone has a history and it’s that history that ultimately helps to shape and develop a person’s character of time. With the Step #5, we are asking you to develop and list key points from your character’s history, i.e., biographical notes. And when we talk about biographical information, we are not talking about who this person is, per se, but more about what has this person done or experienced.
- For example, what jobs has this character had over his or her life?
- Did this character go to school, and if so, where and when?
- Does this person have a criminal record?
- What are other key accomplishments or milestones this person / character has experienced?
It is facts like these that help to really bring your character to life, and that brings us to the final "lightening round" of this collaborative exercise.
Just click the slides below to learn more!
And A Final Word on Character Development
from Stan Lee
As we bring this collaboration to a close, for some additional creative inspiration, we present you words from the creator of Spiderman, the Hulk, Black Panther and countless others within the Marvel comic universe – Mr. Stan Lee …
Let's Collaborate!
With this collaboration, you will have an opportunity to develop your own original comic character.
Especially creative submissions could be chosen for further development with the Made Collaborative team. We'll feature your character on our website. They might appear in the Back of the Yards comics!
We'll also invite some collaborators to take part in our livestream sessions over Zoom.
Submit Your Artwork
Although by no means, required, but to the extent you have developed any concept sketches or illustrations of your new character, we encourage you to submit those illustrations to us. Just do us a favor and let us know which character you are submitting illustrations for, and we will absolutely make sure our artists receive them when they are reviewing your character submissions!
And we may feature your artwork in the future either on the project website or directly in our comic issues, all subject to your approval!
Table of Contents
More Studio Card Collaborations!
Studio Card #6: Our Young Dreamer
Who is Eric Nyamor?
Who is Dan Dougherty?
Studio Card #4: Our New Comic Hero
Who is Manny Dominguez?
Who is John Golden?
Studio Card #7: The Mysterious Mentor
Studio Card #10: The Street Corner Mentor
Studio Card #12: We All Have That One Trickster In Our Life
Who is Len Kody?
Older Studio Card #1 | Let’s Create a Character(s)!
| Brief | Welcome to the Made Collaborative Studio! This Studio Card #2 represents your first step on a creative journey with us. We begin this collaborative virtual studio just as it began in a classroom in the West Side of Chicago years ago - by providing you with an opportunity to create your own original comic character(s). |
|---|---|
| Scope | As you might expect, creative collaboration is at the heart of the Made Collaborative Studio. We believe in sharing stories, intertwining ideas and giving a voice to participating urban youth and collaborators like you. ALL OF YOUR STORIES MATTER. And that's why we begin this virtual journey with the creation of your own original character, some of which may be including in our Back of the Yards comic series! |
| This & That | The most intriguing submissions to this and all of our Studio Card may highlighted on our website. We'll showcase them on our "This & That" blog. And a few of you may also be invited to take part in one of our regular Zoom workshop sessions to further develop selected characters. |
Every Great Story
Begins With a Great Character
Welcome to the Made Collaborative Studio! And we begin in the same manner this project began years ago in a classroom in the West Side of Chicago – creating original characters.
Got a great idea for a comic book character? We invite all of you to submit here it to the Made Collaborative Studio and the most eye-catching ideas may be chosen for further development with our team of creative professionals. Some of your crazy characters may even appear in future issues of the Back of the Yards comic!
We will walk you through this process below, but first, for a little creative inspiration to help set the collaborative stage, we present to you five memorable character introductions from the big screen! …
First, Grab a Pen & Paper
As with all collaborations, we start by urging you to first get an old-fashioned pen (or pencil) and paper in hand. It is with this type of brainstorming that often you will encounter your creative breakthroughs and even more practically, taking notes will help you to organize and summarize your thoughts.
We have also created this PDF Worksheet [INSERT PDF LINK] for your convenience if helpful.
STEP ONE
Creating Your Character's Basic
Background & Physical Traits
We begin this modest virtual collaboration platform in the same manner this project began years ago in a classroom in the West Side of Chicago – creating original characters. The Made Collaborative project started as a small but ambitious after-school arts program headed by our founder, Jimmy Briseno, with a group of high school students on the West Side of Chicago. Jimmy frequently recalls the pivotal moment when one young person boldly proclaimed: “I have an idea, and it’s going to be great!”
From there, the intrepid student began to develop the character of Andre Davis. His classmates joined in, creating characters of their own, like Tamia Parker and Russell Patterson. These ever-so-humble beginnings are what helped launch the Made Collaborative Studio and our inaugural comic book series–Back of the Yards.
With this Studio Card collaboration, we will help you with the creative development of your own character(s). And we will be using our comic’s first character, Andre Davis, as a frame of reference with each step below. We begin this character development exercise with the basics, or more specifically, your character’s basic characteristics. Within Slide 3, you see that we cover some of those basics for Andre’s character, which may help you as you brainstorm the physical traits of your own new character.
PHYSICAL TRAITS TO CONSIDER
Here are some character physical traits that can enhance storytelling. For example, hair color and style can help distinguish your character. Eye shape and eye color is another example (as the old saying goes, eyes can be a window to the soul). Facial features like high cheekbones, firm jawlines, nose shape or size, skin town, etc. And, of course, body type can capture your character’s build and indicate physical strengths or weaknesses.
These are just a few physical traits for you to consider as you develop your character. And for your convenience, we’ve included a few more in the table below as well a helpful link here for other physical traits you may consider when developing your character at this stage!
BASIC BACKGROUND ELEMENTS TO CONSIDER
And to further help with your character’s basic background description, here’s a quick list of elements to consider age, birthdate, gender, birthplace, race/nationality, marital status, education, current residence and occupation and languages among other basic background elements to consider before we start taking a deeper character dive below.
It may help you to think of this first step (combining personality traits and basic background elements) as if you were making an introduction to your character in a movie screenplay. Within screenplays, a basic character description is the literal introduction of a character, which then translates into the visual introduction in a movie. As such, a good concise description of some of the very basic characteristics within the screenplay is essential.
As an example, look at the following character introduction from the script of the movie Training Day, starring Denzel Washington.
“DETECTIVE SERGEANT ALONZO HARRIS, IN BLACK SHIRT, BLACK LEATHER JACKET. AND JUST ENOUGH PLATINUM AND DIAMONDS TO LOOK LIKE SOMEBODY. HE READS THE PAPER IN A BOOTH. THE GUN-LEATHER-TOUGH L.A.P.D. VET IS A HANDS-ON, BLUE-COLLAR COP WHO CAN KICK YOUR ASS WITH A LOOK."
Within this character introduction, you can get a feel for the physical appearance of Alonzo Harris, as well as some basic insights into his background and current occupation (gun-leather-tough LAPD vet, blue-collar cop).
Now, see how that short basic description translates to the big screen by clicking below!
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Pen To Paper!
Prompt #1
What are some of the physical characteristics of your new character? Feel free to use some of the examples from the table or link provided above. And you can also refer to Slide 3 of Andre’s Character Dossier if helpful.
Prompt #2
What are some of your character’s basic background elements? Occupation? Age? Birthplace? Family members? Any other basic information that you can think of that may be helpful to describe your character in one or two sentences? And feel free to also us Slide 3 of Andre’s Character Dossier if helpful.
Prompt #3
Now let’s bring it all together and using the Training Day example above along some of the physical characteristics and basic background elements you listed above, try to describe your character in two to three sentences as if you were first introducing that character in a screenplay.
STEP TWO
Developing Your Character's Personality Traits
Now that you have a basic idea of what your character may look like and its basic characteristics as described above, you may now be in a better position to develop your new character’s personality characteristics. And perhaps no other character in cinema today has as complicated of a personality than the comic villain that goes by the name of The Joker …
How would you describe the Joker’s personality? What words come to mind? Impulsive? Disagreeable? Humorous? Creative? Daring? Unpredictable? Would any of the traits listed below apply to the Joker’s personality?
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In stark contrast to The Joker's fictional comic personality, we have chosen to feature the real-life legacy of one of the most iconic artists of our time, Frida Kahlo.
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter known for her deeply personal and symbolic self-portraits that explored identity, pain, and the female experience. Her work blended elements of Mexican folk art with surrealist influences, often reflecting her physical suffering and tumultuous relationship with fellow artist Diego Rivera. Despite lifelong health challenges, she became an icon of resilience, feminism, and Mexican cultural pride.
If you watched the short video above, how would you describe Frida’s personality from the traits listed above? Creative? Daring? Inventive? Thoughtful?
These are just some personality traits that may come to mind when describing Frida, and as you can see, apart from perhaps a shared creativity and daringness in their approach to life, Frida is otherwise quite the contrast in personality to Joker’s fictional character.
And this contrast in personality traits between the fictional character of the Joker and the real-life legacy of Frida Kahlo could also be captured by something even more fundamental to each of their characters – something referred to as their respective “Character Archetypes,” which will turn our attention to in Step Three below. But first! …
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Pen To Paper!
Prompt #4
What five personality traits do you think best describes the Joker’s personality if you were describing his character to a friend or family member who knew nothing about the Joker? You can use Slide #4 of Andre’s Character Dossier if helpful.
Prompt #5
What five personality traits do you think best describes Frida’s personality if you were describing her to a friend or family member who knew nothing about her or her legacy? Again, you can use Slide #4 of Andre’s Character Dossier if helpful.
Prompt #6
Now using Slide 4 of Andre’s character dossier as example, let’s bring it together and write down five or more personality traits that you would use to describe your new character to a friend or family member.
STEP THREE
Character Archetypes and Core Personality Traits
Building upon some of your character’s basic background and physical characteristics developed in Step One, along with their personality traits as described in Part Two, we are now ready to start taking a deeper dive into your character’s core set of values. And that deeper dive begins with your character’s primary Archetype.
Returning briefly to the Joker and Frida Kahlo personalities from Step Two above, in addition to highlighting these two very different personalities, we also can see a contrast of two very different life paths. The fictional character of Joker dedicated to mayhem and chaos in response to his early life adversity. Frida Kahlo, on the other hand, who experienced very serious near-fatal medical injuries as a youth, somehow heroically channelling that adversity towards creative expression, art and a unique celebration of life.
To help better understand these two divergent life paths, we present you with an overview of Character Archetypes.
Our quick overview of character archetypes begins with an individual named Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist who is recognized as one of the most influential figures in modern psychology.
Among his many intellectual pursuits, Jung explored the hidden and mysterious aspects of the mind and as part of that exploration, he theorized that some dreams may actually hold intriguing insights into life and the world because they come from the “collective unconscious.”
Jung believed the collective unconscious is bigger and more fundamental than the mind of any single individual; it is the profound and timeless wisdom that all humans share. And it is from this collective unconscious that certain distinct and common character archetypes also emerge.
Just click below to learn more about these Character Archetypes, including which Archetypes might describe The Joker, Frida Kahlo and other well known characters and other historical figures!
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As you consider Character Archetypes, a closely related set of traits are your character’s “core values.” Core values are fundamental beliefs and principles that guide a person’s actions and decisions. In short, core values can be described as a character’s personal compass as they navigate through life.
We have provided a sample list of such core value traits below. It is your Character’s Archetype combined with their core values that will ultimately drive your character’s actions in any given story.
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Pen To Paper!
Prompt #7
Which of the selected character archetypes below do you feel that you most personally identify with? Feel free to select more than one if you’re so inclined. Both people and fictional characters go through various phases of personal development that can include elements of 2, 3 or more archetypes throughout the course of their lives.
Prompt #8
Andre Davis is “The Hero” of the first several 3 issues of Back of the Yards, but that doesn’t mean he’ll stay that way!
But heroes can change. They may grow to become the mentor in another hero’s story. They may be tempted by the dark side of some of their other character traits and become an outlaw rebel, or a tyrannical ruler.
Based on what you know from Andre’s character, either from the dossier summary above, or from the comic itself, which way do you think Andre’s character might develop in future issues of Back of the Yards? Be creative on this one. There’s no wrong answer!
Prompt #9
In the spirit of the Creator archetype, here’s an opportunity to jot down some ideas for a character of your own based on any of the 12 archetypes above. Just give it a try. You don’t have to go into too much detail on this one. Just see where the spark of inspiration takes you. But save your idea for later. The Made Collaborative Studio’s Action Cards will provide more in-depth opportunities to develop your ideas further.
STEP FOUR
A Lightening Round - Your Character's
Biography and Other Interesting Facts!
So now that you have all the basic building blocks of your character in place, including their basic characteristics, core personality traits and archetype core values, we are ready for a lightening round of sorts! It is here that we will begin to sprinkle in some of the details of your character’s back story and other interesting facts that make your new character unique! And to help you do this, we will present to you 100 quick and easy questions for you to consider within the Google Slide presentation below.
And for a little creative inspiration, we bring you a few words from Stan Lee, creator of Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Black Panther and many more from the Marvel universe.
(Original art to the right by participating artist, Eric Nyamor.)
Of course, you don’t have to answer all these questions for your character – in fact, you don’t have to answer ANY! But we do encourage you to just have fun with it and try to answer at least 10 or so. Even if you don’t have a clear idea of your character’s back story just yet, some of your answers to these questions may nonetheless help you with the next stage of your character’s development if you so choose – developing their Hero’s Journey storyline with Studio Card #2!
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Pen To Paper!
Prompt #10 - BONUS ROUND!
In many ways, this final round is optional and intended to just be creative icing on your character development cake. From the questions provided within the google slide presentation pick as many questions as you’d like to answer to help further define your character’s biographical history. And you can use Slide #6 of Andre’s character dossier as an example if helpful.
STEP FIVE
Let's Collaborate!
With this collaboration, you will have an opportunity to develop your own original comic character.
Especially creative submissions could be chosen for further development with the Made Collaborative team. We'll feature your character on our website. They might appear in the Back of the Yards comics!
We'll also invite some collaborators to take part in our livestream sessions over Zoom.
Submit Your Artwork
Although by no means, required, but to the extent you have developed any concept sketches or illustrations of your new character, we encourage you to submit those illustrations to us. Just do us a favor and let us know which character you are submitting illustrations for, and we will absolutely make sure our artists receive them when they are reviewing your character submissions!
And we may feature your artwork in the future either on the project website or directly in our comic issues, all subject to your approval!
Table of Contents
More Studio Card Collaborations!
Studio Card #4: Our New Comic Hero
Studio Card #7: The Mysterious Mentor
Who is Len Kody?
Who is Jimmy Briseno?
Who is John Golden?
Studio Card #11: Our Gentle Giant Everyman
Who is Eric Nyamor?
Who is Dan Dougherty?
Studio Card #6: Our Young Dreamer
Who is Manny Dominguez?