Character likeness

[Arkandel]

In all due hypocrisy since I haven't created a character in a very long time, what do y'all prefer:

1. A photographic reference using the same model.
2. Multiple photographic references that fit a theme/look.
3. Artwork.
4. Likenesses bad! Words good!

Oh and also why?

[Roz]

@arkandel 1 or 3. Having multiple photographic faces (2) can bug my brain. Although it's also not a huge deal for me, but just a preference.

[Jennkryst]

@arkandel 1 or 3 for me, as well, which one will depend on the vibe of the game.

[Derp]

@arkandel

I can do 1 or 3 as a preference, but I don't mind 2 as long as there isn't too much of a difference. Sometimes you find a good theme, or a good main picture, but the model in question just doesn't have a lot of them. I've had a couple characters now that have used multiple PBs.

[Carma]

This post is deleted!

[BlueBird]

@arkandel
Option 1 or maybe option 3 if it's done really, really well.
I'm a super visual person, and my brain has a hard time if there are different models for the same character, if it's obvious.
I've done option 4 and the character never quite comes together for me enough to use words. I need both, for my own characters.

Also, to @Carma point, it's a little unsettling to me if a popular public figure is used as a model for the character.
I tend to find a photo first, of some general theme from the type of place and character I want to play, then make a character around whatever model I find that's inspiring, I guess. Typically they're from some obscure photographer or something I found on Pinterest or DeviantArt. Which I've been told is also creepy and unsettling. I guess for me at that point, it's just art I'm using, and not a real person. Which probably makes it worse to some. Idk. Now I'm rambling.

[GreenFlashlight]

Number four. I've been having some weird ethical concerns about taking a real person's face to use as my character's lately, and hunting down an artist I can afford to pay for an image isn't likely either, so that leaves nice, cheap words.

[Pyrephox]

Four is my preference, but I'm flexible to what the game requires, although I do wish artwork were more acceptable across games. I would rather have a character sketch of /exactly/ how my character looks, then spending hours trying to find a model or actor that gets 80% of the way there, and becoming sadly resigned to the fact that no one will read or note the physical characteristics that differ.

I also usually only have one or two pictures; I try to find the one that best fits the tone of the game and the 'emotional feel' of the character - the same actor can look a lot different from different angles or in different outfits, and I like to keep it as consistent as I can.

[Arkandel]

@bluebird said in Character likeness:

Also, to @Carma point, it's a little unsettling to me if a popular public figure is used as a model for the character.

Just wait until you're in a room with three Robert Downey Jr. lookalikes.

[Grayson]

@arkandel said in Character likeness:

@bluebird said in Character likeness:

Also, to @Carma point, it's a little unsettling to me if a popular public figure is used as a model for the character.

Just wait until you're in a room with three Robert Downey Jr. lookalikes.

Hey, meeting yourself is always hilarious, and can be spun into a plot point without much trouble!

[Arkandel]

@grayson

[Misadventure]

None of my characters were ever likeness.

[BlueBird]

@arkandel
That has legitimately happened in a scene I was in, before. Only it was Orlando Bloom at the height of LotR/Legolas prettiness. People are silly.

@GreenFlashlight

"I've been having some weird ethical concerns about taking a real person's face to use as my character's lately,"

1000% understand this. I'd be so creeped out if suddenly someone decided to use my face as the face of a made up character someone else plays as, and likely does questionable activities to some degree or another.
But I'm also an asshole and, when I was still making characters, just tried not to think about it.
Don't know if it'd be the same these days or not.

[Lotherio]

4 and if wiki or something with images, I prefer 1. Artwork seems more make believe to me and my brain doesn't like imagining a cartoon. 2 is off the list, I dislike it becoming a contest to find the best actors that fit theme/period/genre.

I prefer the description first then finding something to fit. I really don't want Robert Downy Jr for someone who acts exactly like Tony Stark. I can watch Iron Man movies for that. I'd rather someone have the attitude but look different, inspired by is good for me, playing the bit exactly like the role and image chosen is a turn off. I think folks have said this, if they see someone like Ryan Reynolds after a Deadpool movie, they avoid the character.

4 for me and I'm good with 1 for web/wiki reference (I prefer an actual desc not a link to a website). I liked playing in the 90s when folks came up with the character and then occasionally there was what if we made the movie who'd play who was fun, but then it was others assigning actors to play your character.

[Seraphim73]

I like to have a detailed description that provides a sense of the character's personality, and also 1-6 pictures of the same likeness -- the latter mostly because it's a handy refresher for what color the person's hair or eyes are that I can see right in the scene (since I'm only on Ares games right now). I don't mind if the likeness is of an actual person or "realistic" art, but unless I'm playing on a comic book or anime game, I do want the art to be "realistic." I put that in quotes because how realistic art is can be entirely in the eye of the beholder.

But first I want the description. I want to read exactly what the character looks like, and have the words used influence how I perceive the character as well. The image then becomes shorthand for me.

[Solstice]

3, hands-down. I appreciate the visual short-hand and dynamism that art can convey far more than 'Oh look, it's someone else who likes Benedict Cumberbatch.'

[Three-Eyed Crow]

Preference is 1, 3 is OK if it fits the medium.

[BetterNow]

I'm definitely getting old. My OCD likes there to be something there, what it is can be whatever makes that player happy and inspired. No piccie though makes my poor brain short out these days for some reason. I think I've become more visual about these things since the advent of game wikis.

[BlueBird]

I'm realizing after reading some of these responses, that I assumed that a photo/picture of some kind, would be on a wiki....where in game you'd only have text.
Am I that old? Or sheltered? Are there just places where people are like "who am I and what do I look like? Scar-Jo. shows Picture, end of story" like .. can you show pictures on the client? Or whatever?

I don't even know what I'm asking anymore. I might feel a bit like a fossil.

I prefer a detailed description of the likeness and a picture of some kind somewhere, to back that up. Especially if it's my character.

Clearly I need to do some reading around about MU* stuff again.

x.x

[Sunny]

@bluebird

I don't think pictures have transitioned to descs yet, though some people do just use links as their descs (it's a very limited number, and exists in about the same frequency as it did back in the 90s, so it's not a Thing). People have words on the games, and pictures on the wiki. Generally.