If you are a character designer, a writer or just any creator that works with characters this is for you.
I found this on the book that I am currently reading called “Creative Character Design” by Bryan Tillman
Let’s dive right into the questions.
BASIC STATISTICS
Name:
What is your character’s name?
Alias:
Does your character go by a different name in your story?
Age:
What is the character’s current age?
Height:
How tall is your character?
Weight:
How much does your character weigh?
Sex:
Is your character a male or a female?
Race:
Is your character Caucasian, African-American, Elvin, Dwarven, etc?
Eye Color:
What is the color of your character’s eyes?
Hair Color:
What is the color of your character’s hair?
Glasses or Contact Lenses:
Does your character wear glasses, contact lenses, or neither?
Nationality:
What is your character’s nationality?
Skin Color:
What is the color of your character’s skin?
Shape of Face:
Is your character’s face round, square, triangle, oval, etc?
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES
Clothing:
How does your character dress? High fashion, sloppy, professional, or casual?
Mannerisms:
What unique gestures and movements set your character apart from other
characters?
Habits:
What habits, good or bad, does your character have? Smoking, drinking,
pencil tapping, cleanliness, etc?
Health:
What is your character’s current health?
Hobbies:
Does your character have any favorite hobbies? Basketball, video games,
sniffing glue, etc?
Favorite Sayings:
Does your character have a favorite saying?
Voice:
What does your character’s voice sound like? Raspy, sexy, soft, etc?
Walking Style:
How does your character walk? Heroic, sneaky, nervous, etc?
Disabilities:
Does your character have any disabilities, physical or mental?
Character’s Greatest Flaw:
What is the one negative thing that stands out above all the rest?
Character’s Best Quality:
What is the biggest thing that makes your character great?
SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
Hometown:
Where is your character originally from?
Current Residence:
Where does your character currently live?
Occupation:
What does your character do for a living?
Income:
How much money does your character make?
Talents/Skills:
Does your character have any talents or skills that might be useful in the
story?
Family Status:
Does your character have any siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles,
etc, and what is his relationship with them like?
Character as a Child:
What was your character’s status as a child? Child prodigy, school dropout,
petty thief, etc? Why did your character have that status?
Character as an Adult:
What was your character’s status as an adult? King, beggar, genius, ninja
master, etc? Why did your character have that status?
ATTRIBUTES AND ATTITUDES
Educational Background:
What is your character’s highest level of education?
Intelligence Level:
What is your character’s IQ?
Character’s Goals:
What is one short-term goal and one long-term goal that your character
wants to accomplish in his/her lifetime?
Self-esteem:
When your character looks in the mirror, how does he/she see himself/
herself, physically and mentally?
Confidence:
Is your character overconfident, not confident at all, or of average
confidence?
Emotional State:
Is your character ruled by emotion or logic or both?
EMOTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS
Introvert or Extrovert:
Is your character an introvert or an extrovert?
How does your character deal with
sadness?
anger?
conflict?
change?
loss?
What would your character like to change about his or her life?
Is there anything your character would change about his/her life if he/she
could?
Motivation:
What makes your character get out of bed in the morning?
Fear:
Is your character afraid of anything?
Happiness:
What makes your character happy?
Relationships:
How is your character with relationships—social, emotional, physical, etc?
SPIRITUAL CHARACTERISTICS
Does your character believe in God?
Does your character have a strong connection to his/her faith?
Does your character live his/her life according to the laws of his/her faith?
CHARACTER’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE STORY
Archetype:
Is your character the hero, the mentor, the shadow, or one of the other
archetypes?
Environment:
Does the environment affect your character physically or mentally? Does it
affect the way he/she dresses?
Timeline:
Describe five important events that led up to your character’s storyline. What five events in your character’s back-story led up to the current story that will be presented to the audience?
Decided to put this here in case anyone needs it. I’m going to be filling out a couple of character sheets with this now that I have such a wonderful resources. Thanks to Bryan Tillman for this awesome tool.
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