What gives a character their personality? Is it the clothes they wear or their mannerisms? One could say there is little difference between the two. A person chooses what they wear normally as an expression of themselves.

But a character in a story be it movie, comic, or video game wears what they are given by any such creator of their world. Potential creators should consider the personality types of their subjects, beyond their occupation and into their unique quirks and beliefs.

There’re some key questions I like to ask myself while sketching a character for the first time that help me identify the archetype and personality I’d like to shine through. Keep these 5 questions in mind when giving birth to your concept and let the art flow from your brain!

1. When they wake up in the morning, what are the first movements or actions they take?
   • e.g. I always slam the 10 minute snooze, make a hot drink, then do some stretching.
2. While they’re completely alone, with no contact with the outside world, how do they feel?
   • It may be loneliness and a desire to find company to entertain or be entertained by with haste, or perhaps they are comfortable in the solitude and seek a solo activity to keep them occupied.
3. What does their living situation look like?
   • Do they live with family, classmates, roommates, comrades, or alone?
   • Are they good at keeping their living space tidy, or live in organized chaos?
4. How do they recover from fatigue caused by their occupation?
   • Do they work a physically or mentally demanding job?
   • What are the consequences of failing to perform at their occupation?
   • Does the thought of failing cause them mental anguish?
5. If they were visited by someone they considered a personal hero, what would their reaction be?
   • Admiration is a common emotion evoked by meeting a personal hero, but what if they were not as great as your character originally believed?
   • If a character based their lives around the image of their hero, and they were betrayed by reality of the person under the mask, would they tear the posters of their beloved superstar and reject all associations with the identity they built up around them?
   • This one is for the anime and manga nerds out there: Would the impact of discovering All Might had a hidden dark side to him at a pivotal moment in Deku’s schooling be strong enough to dissuade him from hero work?

Think of the above as a quick start to a mind map for your character’s personality, ask as many follow up questions as it takes to flesh out how they would react in any situation. Discover their motives, fears, and childhood traumas by reasoning with yourself to get to the root of their personality.