Designing characters isn’t the most important aspect of writing – first you have to develop a character’s personality, her hobbies and career, her extracurricular activity, the way she talks, her relationships, and so on. That said, appearance is important. Not everyone should have purple hair and yellow eyes, but how you design your characters, and how much effort you put into designing them, will be based on your genre.
Distinct character designs can help in making characters unique from one another, especially if they have an unusual trait like a scar or multicoloured eyes. It’s worth noting that even writing books like Save the Cat cite the importance of character appearance, with one passage indicating your character might just need a mustache or an eye patch to pop off the page.
Even if your characters are going to look pretty normal, or you’re the type of writer to keep descriptions minimal, having an idea of what a character looks like in your own mind can help. For one, their personality can come out more if you have a clear picture; for another, you’ll be able to avoid plot holes like your character’s eyes changing colour later in the book if you have a solid image in your mind.
Your character’s appearance also factors into their personality. Not everyone with a “tough” personality has to be large and burly – if anything, you might create a strong and assertive character who’s quite scrawny or tiny. Whatever you choose to do with a character’s physical appearance, though, even more can be said about a character by what they wear.
How does your character dress? Are they into bohemian fashions, grunge, or a mixture of the two? Do they prefer to wear their hair long – thereby signifying everything from vanity to conformity – or do they cut it short, priding themselves in their practicality or need to be different? Something as small as bangs can contribute to a character; someone who grows them out in a prim line is more likely to care about their appearance. Conversely, a character whose hair shoots in every direction and who wears the same t-shirt all the time likely doesn’t care that much. It’s the little details that can make the difference between good characters, and characters who will feel lifelike to readers. Whenever I encounter a character with an outrageous fashion sense, I always feel closer to them.
Appearance can be yet another tool to bring your OC’s closer to feeling like people your reader will want to hang out with.
Having established why it’s important to design your characters, it’s time to look at how – which programs are available for creating avatars you can reference?
Before we continue, I’m Riley and this is Otherworldly Fiction. On this channel I ramble about books, sharing opinions, dissecting characters, and expanding on lore. In addition, I offer writing advice. If any of this sounds like your cup of tea, hit that subscribe button. Posts are on Fridays.
There are several applications available for writers, most of which are free, which can help you design your characters.
# 1: The Sims
This is easily the most expensive one on the list, but also one of the best. Depending on your needs, both Sims 3 and Sims 4 are likely your best bet, though certainly you could use the earlier entries in the series to design your cast. This method of character design can be expensive, especially when you factor in the costs of a decent computer and the many expansion packs; if you’re not a gamer, this one is better ignored.
However, if you happen to have a great computer, with plenty of storage, and are an avid life sim gamer, I can’t recommend this option enough. If you’re on a budget, it’s worth noting that Sims 4, as of the time this video was made, regularly goes on sale (note – Sims 4 is now completely free). You might be able to grab the game for as little as five dollars. Sims 3 has also had notable sales in the past, though the newer entry in the series seems to have sales more often. What’s more, if you can’t afford any, or all, the expansion packs, free mods are available to expand your options.
Mods, especially those for hair, can often be better quality than those assets created by EA. For hair alone, there are tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of options. Do you want to create a goth girl with a mohawk? You can, and mods can help you perfect her. Simandy and Clumsy Alien are among my go-to hair creators; for Black characters, Sheabutter is the best hairstylist you’ll find.
The game as it is allows you to create unique characters, but mods add the options of distinct fashions, makeup choices, eye colours, and even sliders for height and finger width. You can make nearly anyone; mods can even help you to create quirkier characters, such as those with tails or ears. Finally, creating a character via the Sims is easy; the latest entry allows you to click and drag to change features, and recent updates have only expanded options for players.
If you’re not sure what your character likes wearing, the Sims can also help you to determine their colour palette and fashion choices. Go with what looks best on the character, and trust your instinct when you’re designing them.
# 2: Picrew
I’ve used Picrew a handful of times, though it’s not my go to tool. My problem with Picrew is that it can be limited, especially if your characters have a unique look. That said, it’s a go to tool for many writers, and if you spend enough time on Instagram you’ll notice it’s particularly popular there for the writing community.
For those who can’t draw, being able to design characters through Picrew allows you to not only create distinct visuals for your OC’s, but provide a consistent aesthetic between them should you choose to share them on your account.
If your character is a purple skinned demon with bat ears, your options might be more limited – however, several of the avatar creators on the site do come with quirky options, enabling you to design some unusual characters from scratch. It’s not super in depth, and many of the site’s creators rely on your enjoyment of an anime aesthetic, but it’s a simple and popular option.
For characters who are more ordinary looking, such as a man with shoulder length gray hair or a brunette school girl with freckles, the website has everything you could wish for. Plus, it’s free to use; if you want to save your characters, and create a folder with them together, it’s more than easy to do so. Just be warned that navigating the website can be slightly confusing as a newcomer, given the lack of English.
# 3: Pinterest
Unlike most of the other choices on this list, Pinterest is not an avatar creator. If you’re someone who struggles to create a look on your own, photos of other people on Pinterest can give you inspiration for your character’s look. You can collect multiple faces, and then make “face claims” on them – meaning these photos become literal representations of what your characters look like, providing you with a reference point.
In addition to creating mood boards for a character’s literal appearance, or simply their aesthetics, which can include their colour palette and where they enjoy living, visuals can also be used for showcasing their hobbies. In creating boards for your characters, you can make the process as simple or as complicated as you want to; you might create a moodboard called “Molly” and pile everything associated with her into the board.
Conversely, you might have your boards divided with such categories as, “Molly’s looks,” “Molly’s aesthetics,” “Molly’s hobbies,” or “Molly’s clothing.” Having clothing boards for your characters is especially helpful – if paired with another avatar maker on this list, such a board can serve as inspiration when designing outfits.
It’s not enough for your character to dress “casual.” Does she like to wear t-shirts? If so, are those t-shirts overlarge and faded, or tight and splashed with bright colours or logos? Does your character wear torn jeans, or designer jeans? Does she have a farmgirl look, going about in gumboots and overalls, or does she prefer a summer dress?
Try typing in things like “goth fashion,” “grunge fashion,” “farm girl,” “boho,” and so on until you find a look that suits your character. We all like to think we’re special, but ultimately we fall into categories when it comes to our clothing choices. It’s possible the character you were picturing as goth is actually more grunge.
Moreover, even if your character is into wearing only hoodies or sweatpants, that’s still a distinct look – by looking at others wearing this combo, you might realize the look can be made more interesting by throwing in a knit beanie and a pair of ugs.
Finally, if you’re writing a period piece, having mood boards dedicated to period appropriate wear, such as “victorian fashion,” “regency fashion” or “medieval fashion,” becomes critical.
# 4: Fuse
Fuse is a free program on Steam – yet it’s also a beta adobe product. Confused yet? Adobe, seeing the potential in this avatar creator, bought the rights to the program. However, while the original company, Mixamo, could no longer charge money for their creation, the program remained available for all, and free of charge.
In other words, Mixamo’s version of Fuse, which previously used to cost money, is now completely free to download. Yet it still feels like a program you’d pay money for, featuring an extensive character creator, colour wheels for literally everything, and not a bad selection of clothing.
The hair available, while not extensive, is decent enough; there’s also a solid wardrobe of clothing available for your characters, though nothing special. If your character has a distinct fashion choice, the clothes available in the program might be disappointing, but you have your standard hoodies, jackets, t-shirts, and jeans, which are good for most OC’s.
Plus, even if you think the clothes themselves are boring, what you can do to them is pretty impressive – taking a leaf out of Sims 3’s Create a Style tool, Mixamo’s Fuse lets you add patterns or textures to clothes, as well as change the colour of every part.
A previously boring dress can become a neon piece with purple stripes if you want it to; a dull t-shirt can be brightened to a vibrant purple, and paired with mustard yellow jeans.
Sims 4 might have the more attractive wardrobe, but Mixamo beats it out with the ultimate colour wheel; in designing clothes, you’ll really feel like you’re playing Sims 3.
Plus, there’s the character creator itself, which allows you to fine tune the details of your character’s appearance down to their fingers. You can change height, use a slider to make a character more masculine or feminine, or even change a character’s age. If you create the adult version of your character, you could hit “Save As” and proceed to tweak them into their nine year old self with the click of a slider.
The proportions you can create are also impressive; characters can be skeletal and gaunt, or portly and large; they can be statuesque and muscular, or tiny and all gangly limbs. If you want to make someone truly strange looking, this program allows it. With its 3D style, you’ll also get an idea of what your characters would look like if they were actual people.
I can’t speak for Adobe’s version of the program, as I’ve not used it, but Mixamo’s version, freely available on Steam, is one of the best character creators I’ve come across.
# 5: VRoid
Used frequently by the virtual reality community, this program is essentially the anime version of Fuse. It also features near the same amount of fine tuning when it comes to your characters, featuring colour wheels for every surface, sliders for height and weight, and the ability to shape your character’s face to your preference (though it’s worth noting that these changes will still be within the parameters of the anime style).
However, this program offers its own unique features, the most incredible being the ability to literally create your own hairstyles and shape your character’s clothes. I’m not exaggerating – you can design your character’s hair down to the last strand, giving you as much freedom as if you were actually drawing the character. Then there are the sliders – if you find they don’t go as far as you’d like, you can type in whatever value you wish to push them past their limits.
As for the clothing, you can layer pieces, lengthen or erase sleeves, shorten shirts – the options are nearly limitless. You can then save your custom outfits. Plus, if you have Photoshop experience, you can add custom textures to your clothing. This part of the program puts the Sims’ and Animal Crossing’s clothing makers to shame.
The program comes with a learning curve, though how complex you want to make it depends on you. The game comes with its own clothes and hairstyles if you just want to cobble someone together, but the hairstyle and clothing creation tools are not difficult to use – a myriad of tutorials exist online to help you navigate the program.
Moreover, if you do want to take on more challenging projects, and delve into creating custom clothing textures or cat ears for your OC, there are tutorials for those too. In perusing the tutorials, you’ll be given ideas you never thought you needed, such as learning how to turn your character into a mermaid.
The options don’t stop there, either; you can choose to give your character a 3D look or a 2D look by thickening the lines around their features via a slider. If you want to use your character in an illustration, it’s also easy enough to take a photo of them with a green background, and then erase the background using Photoshop or its free equivalent, Krita.
Finally, all characters are fully rigged – which means you can use the poses and animations provided, or pose them yourself. With sliders for expressions like happiness and sadness, and points to assist you with lifting an arm, twisting a wrist, or cocking a head, you can make your carefully designed OC do whatever you want her to.
The best part of this program, though, is the fact it’s free. As with Fuse, it can be downloaded through Steam. It’s a program I’d happily pay fifty plus dollars for, and it doesn’t cost a cent – plus, the licensing seems to indicate that custom characters can be used in commercial projects. This is one of those things that feels too good to be true, but it’s the best anyone could hope for in a program.
# 6: Drawing
If you need absolute freedom to create every detail of your character, drawing her yourself is always an option. VRoid comes pretty close to giving you such freedom, but no program can emulate the unique style an artist has. If you plan to create your own book covers, or include illustrations in your writing, nothing beats drawing the characters yourself.
You can design their clothes to the last buckle, shape their hair, and give them highly unusual traits like lizard skin or mouse tails if you so desire. Drawing is your best option for creating a unique character – if you can do it.
I enjoy drawing my OC’s for fun, but my drawing skill, while not terrible, always leaves me wanting for something in my characters. If you choose to draw the same characters more than once, it’s also challenging to keep their looks consistent throughout.
Drawing will always allow for the most distinct outcome, but the other programs on this list exist for those of us who want to design our characters without going to art school.
In Conclusion
There are plenty of programs available to help writers, or just those who are bored, design the characters of their dreams, with most options being completely free. Other programs besides this one exist, with honourable mentions being Makehuman (another robust avatar maker), Mannequin (though it has more limits, and costs money) and Blender (which requires animation skills).
For writers, it’s important to have an idea of what your characters look like – whether it’s knowing basics like hair and eye colour, or knowing how skinny their fingers are, having an image can help you to avoid plot holes, make the character come alive for you, and cause them to pop for readers.
These programs can be inspiration if you’re stuck, or give you the freedom to create exactly who you were imagining. You can perfect a character’s wardrobe, tweak their hair, and ultimately make the protagonist of your dreams. Then, following that, you can quit procrastinating on your first draft and get your butt in the chair.
Which of these programs are you most eager to try? Do you have any go-to character creators you’d like to recommend? Sound off in the comments. And if you enjoyed this video, like and subscribe. Thank you for watching, and happy writing!