/lit/ - Literature

>>18061636
These exercises sound good but will they help me come closer to innately understanding what makes a good character, because currently I feel I'd just be mechanically going through the motions.

To give you an analogy of my problem, learning how to draw is split into two initial phases, symbol drawing (depicted left) in which the artist doesn't understand the fundamentals and draws flat and ugly work, and drawing with understanding (depicted right) where the artist knows and uses the fundamentals like form, depth, light and shadows, etc to accurately depict people or objects in 3D, while also being able to add appeal beyond merely copying realism.

Now the symbol drawing artist can learn to copy the ideas of successful drawing without understanding them, and maybe even accurately guess where to add form or shadow to a drawing here and there, and the audience will sometimes be none the wiser, but after a certain point the knowledge needs to "click" so the artist will innately understand what things need to look like and why.

As someone who draws and recently clicked out of the symbol drawing phase, the disorientation and lack of direction I felt while I was symbol drawing feels dangerously close to what I feel now while trying to create and develop characters in writing. I used to look at fantastic drawings and wonder "why is this here, why does this part look like it does, what made the artist put this here, how are they achieving this effect" etc and now even though I still can't draw at those skill levels, I at least understand the full decision-making process and fundamentals that went into those drawings.