Well my people are just simple Blob Men and all my Characters are based on friends, so normally I just exaggerate the hair and the personality and I have myself a new character!

I always have been into Aliens, Mutated beasts, you know the Sci-Fi works.

The Leech: i was freaking angry as hell one night so i started doodling on the computer, when i saw what i have done i was fricken impressed, i seemed to be able to drawer better when my addrenaline rushed, so i constantly got into fights, not knowing if i won or lost (mostly lost) and started drawing more and more, Soon it came up to my creation of crazy Psycho Killing man.

Crazy Psycho Killing Man: Evolved from the anger i gotten from the leech and with an emo idea of wrist cutting, i had the idea of arms exploding into blades....What kind of blade you ask? CHAIN SAWS MUTHA FUCK! since he had the horror movie chainsaw arms i gave him a hockey mask (that and im not good at drawing face >_>), Hey had a hockey mask so i decided to give him a hockey shirt....and blue jeans since those are the only things for legs i can draw >_>

Jack and Lantern: Watched the daily show with john stuart on halloween and got the crazy fricken idea.

Super Jesus: Trying to make fun of religon

Super Pirate Jesus Super Jesus on Talk like a pirate day.

Glarg, Steve, and (random orange shirt guy): I was always facinated with UFO's and television programs, also the mixture of aliens and the bible, so i came up with this nutty space crew (also the orange shirt guy from startrek).

the reason i said dont try to love them- they're just plot devices is because if you love them too much you wont want bad things to happen to them. in a year from now, a character in desolation angel tango a character will die. and i really really like the guy. but his death is a major plot hinge-to keep the guy alive destroys the story. he has to die so the story can proceed. bad things happen to good people. good things happen to bad people. fall down 99 times, get up a 100. a certain person's got to learn that so he can become a hero. and he wont learn it until that death happens. okay, i'm evil- i'm going to make two- no three characters suffer for the story and i have to be fine with that if i want to tell the story i have to tell. and on another note, i'm embarrassed to say i learned early on in writing class that i'm prone to creating "mary sue"s and having a plot controls that problem.

I love my characters, but I'm not afraid of making bad things happen to them. Hell, only one of my main four characters will live to see the end of Equinox, and most of them will end up badly scarred or missing limbs over time, providing I ever get around to producing it.

I am very, VERY protective of my characters. I always develop affections for characters, but...
That doesn't keep me from torturing them to death in brutal ways. Characters aren't devices for a story, they ARE the story. Some of my favorite characters ever were made specifically so I could kill them off.

Hell, even something as light-hearted as HVH is going to go through a dark time towards the end... MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

LIZARD_B1TE
I am very, VERY protective of my characters. I always develop affections for characters, but...
That doesn't keep me from torturing them to death in brutal ways. Characters aren't devices for a story, they ARE the story.

I so agree!

For me, I originally used my friends.

Nick - is me, but I'd make him more "Homer Simpson" ish, really dumb. The silly guy.

Nate - The straight guy.

Of course, as time went on, I realized that any cynicism I had was put through Nate, and so, I began to write using that Nate is a cynical guy, and I added more layers from there. My story grew from the story growing from the characters, and it all sorta filled in nicely from there.

actually, this is one of those age-old questions that have been around since people started writing stories- should a story be plot-driven or character driven.

my personal mantra is this. my story is a body with the plot being the skeleton, and the characters are the flesh and i am the heart and the brain that moves it all. granted though, there are occasional voices in my head from the characters- a few of them are hams. i've had a threatening dream or two from a couple. i try to view it holistically.

so as you tell us about your characters, do you consider your work to be plot-driven or character driven and also writer or artist first

i'm plot-driven and consider myself a writer first and an artist second

For me, my character took shape in Highschool in the late eighties, while sitting in a study hall. I had done all of my homework, and all of a sudden, something came into mind. A creature that was half gryphon and half centaur, although I think I started the creature with bat like wings and gave him a different name. But then a few years later, I changed his name and came up with four robotic animal components to come together as one. Hense the name Cuatro. I've always been exposed to foreign languages and Spanish just happened to be one that I was fairly intuned with. Besides, much had not been done with a latino character so I thought I'd give it a shot. Also, my love of animals and mythological creatures had a lot to do with the development of my web comic. After Cuatro, other characters began to evolve. And ever since 1988, I've been developing Cuatro and the Zylonian Knights and still working out some of the old bugs.

I drew them.

Mostly though i just got a caffeine buzz.

i skipped the buzz and went straight for the tequila.

Corvin

Tantz Aerine

LIZARD_B1TE
I am very, VERY protective of my characters. I always develop affections for characters, but...
That doesn't keep me from torturing them to death in brutal ways. Characters aren't devices for a story, they ARE the story.

I so agree!

Heh, it should be obvious by the first page of TAE that I'm not afraid of brutally torturing my characters. It's why I'm part of a group called Character Abusers Anonymous!

But seriously, I love my characters to death. That's what makes hurting and abusing them so much fun! (I'm a sadist, I know XP)

Rimbaum

Tantz Aerine

LIZARD_B1TE
I am very, VERY protective of my characters. I always develop affections for characters, but...
That doesn't keep me from torturing them to death in brutal ways. Characters aren't devices for a story, they ARE the story.

I so agree!

Heh, it should be obvious by the first page of TAE that I'm not afraid of brutally torturing my characters. It's why I'm part of a group called Character Abusers Anonymous!

But seriously, I love my characters to death. That's what makes hurting and abusing them so much fun! (I'm a sadist, I know XP)

I have a habit of getting attatched to my villains, and they ALWAYS die sooner or later...
Not to mention, my favorite villains are the one's with painful pasts... They're just awesome, I mean, villains can really be used to get a point across. Alot of stories in my head actually started with an idea for a villain.

I don't really know how i make my characters, some times i draw something and if i like it i give it a name and a back story.
The rest of the time i have no idea.

Well, a lot of the characters I'm making now are sprite characters. So I would just scroll along sprite archives, looking for cool sprites to fuse together. I would just take idle poses of the best-looking, mess around with them, and come out with a strangely-colored mess. Then I would recolor it, come up with a personality for the character, and find a name.

Mostly, when I make names, I just translate wierd phrases into random languages. Like one character I'm making now, Dekas Vrow, is based on the words De kaas vrouw, meaning "Cheese Woman" in dutch.

Sometimes I just doodle stuff and a name and personality comes out of that. But those are for my hand-drawn comics, which I never upload to DD due to my lack of a scanner.

Well, I was watching a Back to the Future movie and that's where I got my ideas for present Di and future Di. That's pretty much it...

Jack appeared in a dream of mine when I was younger and has gone through LOADS of designs, personalities, and stories. I feel as if he has grown with me. ^^ (How cheesy.)

Orlock came from the idea to give Jack a very very mean sire. My original intent was to make it a woman, but somehow it went to this Castlevania-Alucard-esk thing....then finally, after looking at a statue of mine which has an interesting mix of gray, and being inspired by some pics of "Nosferatu", I decided on the whole black & white spooky look for him. His personality is inspired by the most evil characters I have witnessed in movies and television. He has grown on me immensley.

Jill started out as two girls in a VERY early comic starring, once again, Jack. Their names were Reelia and Alice. The few fans I had at the time were always debating over who should be Jack's girlfriend. Well, in the first incarnation of Vampire Phantasm I mixed the two girl's designs together...which created the first purple-haired Jill. Her personality however was more on the naive, innocent, and scared side. So now the new blonde Jill is more on the head-strong, independant, and tough side...however I may make a slow transition into a bit more softer side as she starts to open up more...since Jack and Jill's interaction was much easier when she was like that.

Topaz is once again a mix of two characters from an early comic of mine. The characters' names being Topaz (heh) and a strange gray demon thing called Bonda. Bonda was a MAJOR goofball and Topaz was a quiet, serious, and easily-angered dude. Once again I mixed the two personalities together to create Topaz for VP. He is another character that has grown on me, though I have been struggeling with him recently since VP has turned to the 'dark' side...making his role not make much sense at times.

Raff came out of nowhere when I desired a character for Jack to beat on. XD However his design has grown as well and has become much more than that. I have very mixed feelings about his character. Sometimes I love having him in the story, as he can create interesting problems. Other times I want to rip up all of the pages with him in it...because I suddenly think he shouldn't be in this comic.

Maila was designed because I thought I needed more girls. Now her role is starting to annoy me. The only interesting fact about her: Her name came from the actress who played "Vampira".

Rendal.....I don't remember how and why I created Ren....she just came out of nowhere.....just like in the comic. XD She won't let me kick her out of the comic....the bitch!!

Nendo...while this character is still in debate on whether or not he will be in the new VP...he has been around EVEN LONGER THAN JACK! He is another character that has gone through many designs and changes...often times being an enemy of Jack. Which is why it's really hard for me not to put him in the comic. If I can't though, I will be holding on for dear life to his design.

All three of my characters from Under Management have their origins. In fact, basically all three of them have their own individual story. However, these stories only explain how I CREATED the characters. Why I decided to use them is a different way of looking at things. You see, I didn't just make three characters to form a trio, or to make my comic seem generic. There are three characters because I seem to have three different sides, three different modes of emotion. My bitter, melancholy, "I don't give a rat's ass" attitude is displayed through Pocket Pylon. My energetic, wise-crackin', impulsive attitude is shown in The Giant Hotdog. And my awkward, cynical yet logical attitude comes out in Kooky. So I guess you could say I'm three different people, although that sounds cheesy because everyone has different attitudes at different times. So my three characters represent myself at different times in my life. How they act exactly how I would act if placed in a certain situation during that emotional part in my life.

As for how these characters came to be...

Pocket Pylon comes from an old idea I had for a comic and a Flash cartoon. I was looking for a virtually immobile character, who would lash out at everyone around him in a rage-filled manor. However, I did not want this character to be a human. So I, being the fan of random objects that I am, began searching for an inanimate object that people could easily recognize as... lazy. At the time, there was some construction going on in front of my house. When the crew finished up, they accidentally left an orange traffic cone at the site. So this pylon ended up sitting in front of my house for quite some time. Before long, I began to take notice of that cone. I started formulating character ideas, and drawing rough sketches. Pocket Pylon just came naturally once I started sketching. He was originally going to be in a comic and a cartoon called "Pylon", but the thought eventually passed. Now he has managed to sneak his way into the webcomic world.

The Giant Hotdog comes from my childhood memories, my elementary school days. As luck would have it, my sixth grade teacher was a big fan of the dramatic arts. So she designated half an hour of class time each day for drama class. One day, we were given an assignment to write and act in a detective story. Our childish sense of humor then came into play, and we thought of "The Case of the Giant Hotdog". It was a story that centralized around to competing meat chefs who decide to hold a contest to make... the biggest hotdog. Dr. Joe Meatman emerges victorious and quickly become a victim of theft. So two bumbling detectives take the case depart hot off the trail. The rest of the story was made up of comical interview scenes, lengthy chase scenes, a dance off scene and more crazy shenanigans. Anyways, we performed this extravagant play in front of the class and received top marks, surprisingly enough. Our teacher then incouraged us to perform this play in front of the class, which we more than happy to do. Te whole thing was a huge success. After the performance, I, as a joke, sketched out a "mascot" for the play. One of my original drawings of The Giant Hotdog can even be seen in my current avatar. Time passed, and I quickly forgot about the concept. But now, The Giant Hotdog returns and hopes to win your hearts at the top of webcomic stardom.

Kooky also dates back to my elementary school days. My friends and I attended an art class, where our teacher handed down a most unusual assignment. To put it simply, we had to portray bullying through a painting. In other words, we had to display alienation, social rejection and degredation. As a joke, we decided to paint a duck who wanted to become a clown. Unfortunately, he became a target of emotional jabs, as the other ducks were not too fond of how he chose to live his life. Yes, clowns were not welcome in the duck kingdom. So we drew a duck with the vary wig you see on Kooky today. We also added a sad expression and the sorry sight of taunting fingers. It was GOLD! So when I looked for a character everyone looked down on, I found Kooky. But as some of you may recall, the Kooky you see today is a Platypus, and not a duck. This is mostly because ducks can be over used and too predictable. Of course, this is not a jab at Drunk Duck itself.

So there you have it!

I agree with earlier posters. I love torturing my characters. That's also how I define them- by how much pain and stress and depression they can handle, and by how they handle it. for example, Tom is whiny, and wears his heart on his sleeve and lets everyone know he's depressed. He's also pretty passive; he'll just go along with everything. And he's plagued by guilt. Tom's motives are mostly to get praise and acceptance (which I haven't really developed yet, but in the scene after the next scene, I definitely will!)
King, on the other hand, is caring underneath, but will do whatever it takes to get the job done. He feels conflict about hurting his friends, of course, but if he gets orders, he'll follow them.
Eve and Flipper..? They're the most normal. She reeeeally wants a boyfriend, and she's not very sensitive (meaning, if someone insults her, she can brush it off) and she doesn't have much woe in her life. She kind of sugar-coats things. Flipper's a snake, and sorry, doesn't have much of a personality, although he's kind of jealous at times.
Erika: I don't want to spoil her. Right now she just seems to be a psycho. but there's more going on underneath
Leif: ... if only you knew his tortured past. he has the most interesting one out of everyone. Eve's is probably the most boring. ("I was in the circus! Then I was homeless!" *yawn*)

I had the idea at work this summer: I was filing paperwork and letting my mind wander, when I had the craziest notion. I was thinking of a friend of mine, Tom B(lake... am I allowed to give out random people's names?) We were friends in 7th grade, but then after that we drifted apart. He was the cutest goth/emo kid ever. But I hadn't seen him in a while, and so I was imagining us meeting up again ("Why Kristen.. what a lovely specimen of femininity you have become!" "And you, Tom, are a ruggedly attractive, older version of your awkward, geeky 7th grade self!" "Let's talk about anime!" "Ok!") and then I thought it would be fun to write a story about him. So it was going to be written-word, about seventh graders who rob a chinese food restaurant and get like $150 and hide in the woods until they get figuratively smoked out, and never see each other again. Somehow this all evolved into teenagers with superpowers fighting in a politically nebulous future. Blame it on Naruto. (Funny though, I planned most of the story out on post-it notes!)

wow, looking at my earliest sketches... (who am I kidding, I started drawing it the day after I had the idea) Eve was apparently supposed to be wearing bermuda shorts and a long shirt. Somehow that evolved into her wearing a skirt, and with long shorts showing to keep her dignity from being compromised.
And Flipper used to have spots.
weird.
And I almost gave Erika a trenchcoat... the kind flashers wear. glad I didn't.

I drawing more about myself nowadays, 'cause all the characters before that were always nothing but reflections of me. Well, sometimes they did things that I wouldn't do, but that's just when it was important fot the gag/storyline. A bad guy was most of the times just the opposite of me. Personal I think a lot of those comics tell a lot more about me than the auto-biographical shit I draw now. Only people that read those think not and like the comics about myself much better. It has much more impact on them if I let myself jump off a cliff than when I let it do to a random character, and still it's just the same person.

I relate myself to my main characters. Or basically, I create them just to envision myself being them in the setting I desire it to be. Or to do things in the comic that I could never do in real life.

Am I the only person who think like this?

Eunice P
I relate myself to my main characters. Or basically, I create them just to envision myself being them in the setting I desire it to be. Or to do things in the comic that I could never do in real life.

Am I the only person who think like this?

when I'm writing stories, I usually either have the main character be a crazy (in the literal way) manifestation of myself, or (and this takes away all my credibility as a writer, but oh well) my dream boyfriend. hehe. Not that it means I have really idealized characters (my two most recent stories have been about a guy who skips his father's funeral to go to Argentina and have sex with an Argentine stripper, and my other one was about a girl who sets her co-worker's house on fire for getting his crappy religious poems published.)
With my comics, it's kind of different; I feel like there's more of an emphasis on what's happening externally rather than internally, so I have a slight disconnect with my characters.

I'm like kristen, i usually write better when I put myself in the character...that's probably why most of my main characters are manifestations of me and some parts of the story is told in 1st person view. i'd like to thinks it's me living different lives...i.e my comic "mute"

Almost all of my characters are based on real people (I think I've mentioned the Fandemonium crew more than once ^-^ )

In fact, the whole idea behind Under CONstruction in the first place came from a Con-Com meeting. I sat through another bout of 'discussion' by the staff (me included O.o) and went - "Gee, this would make a good comic!"

The rest is history.

For any other work I have done, I worry a lot about the consequence of things. Why did this person go off and become a warrior? Why did my villain burn that village to the ground?

I don't care if the answer is 98% useless, and 2% *ick*. If I can figure out why someone is motivated to do what they have done, I have most of the story right there.

The rest of it is just splicing all the threads together until they make a coherent pattern. ^-^

Not being a good writer, I base my characters on myself or people that I know really well. So the process often goes like this: "I want to make a comic strip about superheroes who work in an office... what would happen if I worked in an office?... It would be boring and uneventful... I'm going to make a boring and uneventful comic strip about superheroes who work in an office, yeah..."

My oldest Character has been with me since i was 9 Years old. he has evolved so much over he years that there is no way i could possibly contribute just one thing that made my character what he is today but i will say that He did originate from a daydream.

Well, my main character i guess

Funny enough i created my character in seventh grade, i had just watched Inuyasha for the first time and my friend introduced me to a role playing place that was popular at the time. So i had to make up a character, and as fun as Japanese names were at the time i didnt want to have one that would be like all the same soooo...i picked the most random thing that came to my mind...Katch with a K not a C
and that was about as original as i got at the time.
So POOF my little badger demon was born
later as i grew up she kinda evolved and changed, so in the end i ended up with my comic, she was an experiment, fused with badger DNA and other things less pleasant and she was out to get revenge and find all her friends who were in turn experiments~

and thats pretty much it...in small version XD

The current two characters in my comic so far...

Namir is a humanoid version of my cat. XD

Sapphirine's birth was a bit more complicated. I had a dream and developed a young girl named Harmoni as my main character from the girl in the dream. Well, at the time I was roleplaying in a Star Wars rpg as a bounty huntress. My bounty hunter had blue hair, white skin, and blue eyes. She ends up having a kid in the rpg and I named the kid Sapphire. Sapphire ended up being played with more than the original who I killed off. The rpg ended and I eventually got this idea of combining Sapphire with Harmoni. I changed her name to Sapphirine and made her into a bounty huntress. Her eye color was also changed along with alot of other things as the years progressed. And now she is as she is.

I designs my characters based on people person that who I know.
Such as Kari can acted bit like me, when I have a short temper.