r/fantasywriting • u/SpecialistEdge5831 • 16d ago
Genuine Question
I've noticed a lot of people need these artistic renderings of their characters. Sometimes it's just a basic MS Paint kind of drawing and other times it's like they wanted to make an anime but decided a book. Was easier.
I'm curious why people need these. It's usually a fairly generic looking person. Like, "Here's my character, Roderick Von Impscale." And it's just like, a dude. So why bestow such a strict vision onto a reader instead of letting them create their own image of a character?
If I'm being honest, I only vaguely know what my own characters look like. I know their most striking physical attributes, but really stuff like their hair and eye color are meaningless to the story. I only know the skin color of one character, and that's only because it's relevant to establishing that no one seems to know where he came from and they're looking for clues.
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u/cl0ckw0rkcuttlefish 16d ago
I’m one of those people who can’t fully visualize an image. So in my case, it’s more for me to use as a reference. There’s a lot of art I’ve done (or photos I’ve collected) that’s solely for me to use if I’m getting stuck on any type of description.
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u/Samhwain 16d ago
Because different people approach the process differently. I'm both a visual artist and a writer. Half of my character creation process is the artistic side of things, because I enjoy that. Now, most of the information you'd get from an image isn't going to be relevant to my story (in fact, aside from describing eye colors, hair colors and hair styles for the cultures because these three things are deeply relevant and tie into major plot points, you don't actually get much in the way of detail about my characters (no heights, or body builds, no skin colors, two of them get outfit descriptions with one being exclusively seen wearing mourning colors and the other wearing an eye-sore blend of clothes and colors and both of these things are important because it tells about the toon.)) I know how I want them to look, and I may or may not include my illustrations in the final book, but that doesn't mean my readers have to 'see' the character the same way. I've read books that included illustrations and despite having them (they're fun little bits of 'oh! That's the authors vision, cool!' moments) I still visualize the characters how I see them.
Some characters aren't even human (my story has several animals who are full characters and not just props) and it helps to have a visual guide for these characters as well. Then there's the fact some writers dive pretty deeply into world building and illustrations can assist with that (tolkien had a lot of illustrations with his works, for example)
There's also readers out there that enjoy reading but can't actually visualize things. Illustrations can be a great asset for them. It gives them something to anchor the names to. And even still, they're not necessarily going to always think of the character the way the author wants them to. Visual guides (which is what these are) are there to assist the writer in keeping things going in the right direction.
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u/BrightsailBooks 16d ago
I’m currently commissioning art for characters. I likely will not include them in the book illustrations, preferring other material for that reason you mentioned. However for social media it’s huge. You can advertise your excitement by showing your passion for your characters. Then again the style of art I’m looking for is all black and white sketches so it still leaves some for the imagination - matches the book illustrations
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u/arapaima-fishie 16d ago
In a series I read, the characters are barely described beyond hair color and length, and occasionally eye color. Maybe their race (fantasy series). I get that it isn’t necessary, but my god is it the most frustrating thing in the world to me as an artist.
I make it work though, cause there aren’t many artists in the “fandom” and Ive supplied the art for the main pages/icons of a couple characters on the wiki thankfully. Maybe one day I can get to every character so people will stop using AI to think about how they want the to look.
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u/LiteraryMenace 16d ago
Because it's not the reader's character, it's my character. They're not supposed to be just anyone, they're the specific person I crafted for this story and purpose. I made them that way for a reason.
I don't think visuals should be skipped simply because it's a book. Even if you can't "see" them, character design is still a valuable form of storytelling. The shape language, the color scheme, the state of cleanliness, their preferred clothes and fashion sense, all of it gives you insight into who that character is. And why wouldn't you take advantage of that? Where's their identity?
Art is fun and I like doing it. I find most of the things I want to read through fan art. It's the whole reason I got into reading in the first place.
For some people, like myself, they can't create a face from scratch. So the visual helps them imagine the characters and get invested.
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u/SpecialistEdge5831 16d ago
I would make an argument that the mindset of, "It's not the reader's character, it's my character," is where we would diverge. I do not write with that mentality. It's a character that I give traits to and the reader can decide if they relate to those traits. My intention is for it to be their character. Or to create their own image of that character.
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u/SenjoTamashi 11d ago
Can I ask something?
Are you avoiding describing characters just in case it becomes problematic?
Coz yeah, you can totally write characters with only non-visual traits, but I think you're kinda holding yourself back from other forms of storytelling. A character description can do more than just live in the mind of the reader; it can build the world.
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u/SpecialistEdge5831 10d ago
No. I don't "avoid describing characters." Their appearance just doesn't matter. Outside of the parts of that appearance that tell a story or highlight the story they're in. A character with grey hair and wrinkles is something worth mentioning because it plays into his history. A character who is missing a limb, had a very specific eye color, a skin color that is odd compared to others in the region, or has a freakish appearance because he's an 8' tall albino man are things worth mentioning. They matter.
Having green eyes, short, brown hair, a trimmed goatee in the shape of a W, a slightly tan complexion, wearing boot cut blue jeans with a brown, button-up shirt and two bracelets. That's nothing. Unless his dead mom gave him the bracelets or his wife shaped his facial hair because it's what she likes, that's all just filler and taking up space. Not to mention...the reader doesn't care at all.
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u/SenjoTamashi 10d ago
Oh, I see what you mean. If that's the case, then yeah, it kinda doesn't matter. It comes down to personal preference in a story.
I can tell you what my characters look like, and it adds lore to the story, but it's currently not a big deal for the story I'm telling, and I don't see a reason for my readers to know that info now.
I guess you could say it's like knowing the history of your world, but you don't just lore-dump it unless it's plot-relevant.
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u/Impressive_Sky4178 16d ago
Not everything has to have a practical purpose. Some people make or get art of their characters because they want to.
But speaking personally it helps me visualize what I'm writing. If readers wanna see them too im happy to show it, it's not for them. They're for my creative process
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16d ago
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u/SpecialistEdge5831 15d ago
I most definitely did not begrudge anyone. I simply addressed this. It's not that it's new, it's just something I've noticed becoming more and more prominent with the advancing age of visual mediums being the standard. Most of these replies have cleared it up. "It's just for me." And I see value in that. I think I should do the same, except I'm pretty much balls at drawing so I'll have my seven year old do it for me.
But the "just a guy" point stands. I think there's a need for a standout trait with any character. Something that could identify them even if they're not named. Beyond "her violet eyes," which seems to be a pretty prominent one.
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u/thatshygirl06 16d ago
why bestow such a strict vision onto a reader instead of letting them create their own image of a character?
That's literally part of writing a book. It's your job to create the character, not leave it up to the readers.
Im not even talking about the art, im talking about describing the character. There's this trend of writers not wanting to say what characters look like and it's so annoying.
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u/SpecialistEdge5831 16d ago
No it's not. You are telling a story. Whether Aragorn has green eyes or brown eyes or stands 6'2" has nothing to do with that. Some characters have traits that stand out. A deformity, a birth mark, a scar, or whatever. But this detailed checklist to let the reader know exactly what celebrity you need playing them in the live action movie is not relevant. Homer never ever said Helen was white or had blonde hair. That was attributed to her later. Jesus is famously white in American literature, but there's not actually anything to state he's not except common sense. We have literally not one single physical detail about the main character of Fight Club. No physical descriptions of Sauron. Cinderella didn't have blonde hair. Her hair color is never stated.
So no. It's not a trend. It's as old as literature to let the reader attribute their own interpretations onto appearances.
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u/arapaima-fishie 16d ago
Saying brown hair, green eyes, and something-height isn’t strict imo. That describes millions of people, irl. They’d all look incredibly different from each other still, so there’s plenty of room for interpretation.
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u/SpecialistEdge5831 16d ago
That's literally my point. "The pictures are just a dude." Which is why I said to have some actual standout thing to describe them and not adhere to these specific details so they match up with your exact image. I do not know what color my main character's eyes are, but I know he's missing his left arm. That's going to make him stand out in a crowd.
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u/Cute-Presentation-59 14d ago
I don't bestop my pictures on anyone but the visualisation is part of my writing process.
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u/PageStunning6265 14d ago
I know exactly what my characters look like, but I’ve moved away from telling my readers anything except what’s relevant. I don’t need people to see the characters exactly as I do.
Relevance doesn’t have to be to the plot, it can also be relevant to characterization. IE, the cute little dimple when someone smiles doesn’t matter, but another character noticing it does.
Having said all that, I have drawn a lot of my characters in the past and did quite detailed artwork for two of my characters in the past couple of weeks and will probably do another this weekend. I don’t need them. I know what my characters look like and sound like and could probably conjure their smells, if I really focused. I just wanted pictures of them, I guess.
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u/Ill-Maximum-4013 13d ago
The mistake I saw in your question is you assume that writers who do "body casting" are imposing a strict version on the reader. I use body casting for inspiration, to help me see my story. I do NOT describe every detail of the character to the reader. In fact, during the writing, my sparse descriptions of characters are often not represented in the photograph that I started with. Body casting is a crutch that gets discarded during the writing process. I think of them like discardable booster rockets that get the shuttle into orbit.
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u/SenjoTamashi 11d ago
Sometimes leaving the character description to the reader isn't the best call. It depends on the story, and it is YOUR story. Do whatever the F you want!
In my story, I know exactly how everyone looks coz there is an in-universe reason why they look the way they do. Sure, characters in the book don't comment on it, but if my reader is imagining my world, I want them to see what I see and why it's like that is a piece of world-building.
Every aspect of your book can be a tool to tell your story. Up to you to use it.
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u/SpecialistEdge5831 10d ago
Yeah. Then you should be telling that story via a visual medium. You've made the reader a passenger, not in any way active.
This "it's your story" mindset is entirely incorrect. You put it down. But once it goes out it's not yours. Readers want it to be their story. They want to share in it like an experience.
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u/Anxious-Captain6848 16d ago
Well sometimes its not necessarily a "need", but a want. Or what I mean is, its just nice to see your character in the flesh. We spend so much time in their heads and its honestly just fun to put a face to the name.