Character Jump
Sei Meshounen | Suunuku Koumage | Mikioi Fugisha | Masashi Shobu | Kushiro K Blochen | Wo Chun Fa |
Wo Quan Yi
Wo Quan Yi
Name: Sei Meshounen (nickname: Seikun)
Age: 16
Skin: White
Hair: Brown
An unflappable, unorthodox, kindhearted delinquent who attempts to live every day in the coolest way possible.
Age: 16
Skin: White
Hair: Brown
An unflappable, unorthodox, kindhearted delinquent who attempts to live every day in the coolest way possible.
The first original character I ever drew, upwards of 10 years ago. I had no ambitions to create a world of characters at the time - I just liked to doodle when I was bored. So the first sketch (which I sadly did not save), was drawn inside a notebook during middle school. When I created Seikun, his hair was very short. It barely raised off his scalp, but it started with four main spikes, just like his current style. Back in the day, my doodles were heavily influenced by the anime I watched, which at that point in my life was little other than Dragonball Z. So I thought spiky hair was really cool. As I grew and as my skill grew, so too did Seikun. His hair became taller and taller (admittedly I do not remember why his hair got taller, but it may have been accidental due to my poor replication skills), until finally I settled on this design and even gave him a name.
His name, honestly, was created to be a joke. In shows like Dragonball Z and Yu Yu Hakusho (the first two anime I watched), character names often had well-known alternate meanings or were puns based off character traits/qualities. I considered this to be a norm and decided to make my character's name in that style. Seikun is a guy's guy; at least, he thinks that's what he should be. He is convinced that men are meant to be cool and do things in cool ways. Even though he is already a male and a tough guy at that, he goes out of his way to make himself look like more of a man, and he makes sure everyone knows it. In the end, he's the one who looks foolish because he tries too hard and his methods end up looking outlandish and strange. His name, like his actions, also "reaffirm" his status as a male. The Japanese name "Sei" on its own is a gender-neutral name, but it is more often used for girls. So, adding "kun" to the end (an honorific suffix used to address friends and males), makes the name "Sei" more manly. His last name, Meshounen, means "eye of boy". "He's a guy, get it? A guy!!", is what I want the joke to say. These days when creating characters I usually put more thought into names above just making jokes, but this name grew on me and stuck.
I like to think that all of my characters have a little bit of me in them, but Seikun comes the closest to being a surrogate for myself. He tries to act cool and do cool things because, like me, he grew up watching anime, and he dreams of living his life as if it were an anime. I shared this dream as a child as well. Unlike some author surrogates, I don't use Seikun to display any particular deep message about myself, or to try and say things through Seikun that I myself can't say. Rather, I use him to spout my bad comedy/observations. Seikun is a cynical boy and is very critical about certain things, particularly names. He has a philosophy that names help define who you are and can speak volumes about a person. But Seikun gets it a little mixed up......rather than making smart observations about people based on their names, he makes his own names for people based on what he observes about them. And a lot of those observations are things I have observed about my own characters. This is why Seikun calls my next two characters, Suunuku and Mikioi, by the nicknames stated below; because I noticed things about them and decided to make Seikun see what I saw. Rather than giving him my voice, I give him my eyes. I like to think there's a subtle difference there.
We see life through the same eyes, and in that way I feel the closest to Seikun out of all my characters. As well I ought to, since he was the first, after all. I literally look at him as if he were my own child - he's a precious creation that I gave life. And I take him everywhere. When I go to work, when I go on trips, Seikun is right there with me, doing cool things and making his blunt observations. Whenever I'm feeling down or depressed, I think of Seikun and his adventures and it always brightens my day. That is how much I value and revere this character. He's no masterpiece, he's not the best character ever written; but he will always be my Number One.
Name: Suunuku Koumage (nickname: Hedgehog)
Age: 18
Skin: White
Hair: Pink
An idealistic, persistent young woman who, despite her outward appearance, carries a rich history of hardships and mettle beneath her smile.
Age: 18
Skin: White
Hair: Pink
An idealistic, persistent young woman who, despite her outward appearance, carries a rich history of hardships and mettle beneath her smile.
Call her "Suunu" for short if you like. This character was my first attempt at drawing a girl. And it was not easy. You know how they say it's difficult to write the opposite sex? I consider that to apply for drawing the opposite sex as well. The only main feature of Suunuku that has remained the same to this day is the "three down-curved spikes" hair style on each side of her head. She originally had a huge forehead and a very wide hairline; her bangs merged much more closely in a frill-shape as if they were held there by a string. Over the years I allowed her bangs to settle more naturally and her hairline curved downward, in an attempt to make her style look more realistic and less poofy. In later years, I've looked back on Suunuku and realized both her original and final design resembles a character from a Sonic game. She was not created with the intent to draw a character with "Sonic" hair, but apparently I thought large, wide spikes were easier to draw (and to be fair, they are). I retroactively go back now and call her "hedgehog" (in Japanese, I say "Harine-chan", in which 'Harine' is a shortened version of "harinezumi", the translation of hedgehog) every now and then in honor of that 'coincidence'.
Suunuku is one of my favorite characters to draw (Seikun is the easiest to draw, because I've drawn him SO many times). The shape of her hair is fun and easy to remember, and her clothes are simple but unique to her character. But the main reason is her eyes. As a distinction between the male and female characters, I defined two types of eyes. Males have strictly black eyes, with only a little iris definition. Females have "anime eyes". Their purpose, quite simply, is to show the eye more intricately and beautifully to accentuate the beauty of the character. My version of the female anime eye isn't nearly as intricate as the professionals, but it is something I always enjoy getting to use because of the greater attention to detail.
She was clearly a women, but she wasn't very......cute, back then. Which is how I try to make her look to match her personality. But in truth, despite how simple she seems, Suunuku is probably one of the most multi-faced characters I have created to this day. She is capable of running a whole gambit of emotions, from sweet and innocent to tough and determined. I wanted the primary female character of my story to be more than just a pretty face - she can also take care of herself. She can hold her own against and even best many of the predominately male cast. I feel like most of my female characters are like this. They all have depth that makes them feel more human and less like elements of a story, and I think that makes for more intriguing characters.
I'm very happy with the way Suunuku turned out. My character-verse wouldn't be half what it is today without her presence. On a meta-level, she's also a source of inspiration for me. She's very energetic, and is always the character to get up and go first. One of her catch phrases is, "If you just sit around, you'll never get there". When I find myself stuck on a drawing or a chapter of the story, I picture her saying that, so she effectively spurs me to keep on going. She's the character that makes the others smile, and she's always able to make me smile.
Name: Mikioi Fugisha (nickname: Knuckles)
Age: 20
Skin: White
Hair: Jet-black
A wild, arrogant ladies' man with a passion for love and life that soars higher than the clouds themselves.
Age: 20
Skin: White
Hair: Jet-black
A wild, arrogant ladies' man with a passion for love and life that soars higher than the clouds themselves.
Really, I don't know what it is about this Sonic thing. Maybe it's just me, but this guy turned out looking EXACTLY like Knuckles the Echidna, as a human . Again, I didn't set out to create a look-alike; it's all coincidental. I wanted to take a stab at a character with flowing, shoulder length hair, but not make it too intricate, so I came up with this appearance. Still, it can be a challenge to frame his locks accurately around his face; characters like Mikioi and Suunuku can be tricky because their hair often is positioned such that it hides part or all of their ears (Mikioi's in particular are almost never visible). I've discovered through much experience in drawing these two that sometimes, a face with hidden ears doesn't look quite right if the face isn't framed well. I don't have any kinds of issues with ears, they're not hard to draw or anything; these two just happened to turn out with designs that conceal them.
I would classify Mikioi as a character I created out of necessity. As in, "this kind of character should be in my story, so I should create one". I wanted to have a character to rival my lead, and I came up with this fellow. Primarily influenced by Vegeta from Dragonball Z, I incorporated a little of the saiyan prince into his design (his eyebrows are DBZ style, and his middle bang is shaped similarly to Vegeta's trademark widow's peak). He's pretty much the opposite of everything Seikun is. Seikun tries to act cool things and do cool things, but he doesn't believe that he himself is cool. Alternatively, Mikioi thinks he is the coolest thing since sliced bread. Seikun tends to be unwittingly rude in the way he makes observations without provocation. Alternatively, Mikioi "turns on the charm" and speaks as politely as possible to turn people onto his side and in his favor. Seikun states his opinions loudly, but they are always directed in a fair manner; and he never lies or cheats. Alternatively, Mikioi is crafty and will purposefully trick people to get what he wants if necessary. Seikun is very awkward when it comes to relationships - he never can strike up the nerve to approach women, and he never flirts/romances. Alternatively, Mikioi is a hopeless flirt; he will follow a woman to the ends of the earth for a chance to romance her. In fact, one of the only traits these two share is how vehemently they try to live their lives in their own exaggerated ways; and how silly they appear when doing so.
I wanted Mikioi to be a character that made you want to think. To continue contrasting him with Seikun, Seikun doesn't really open up to people or reveal portions of his past, but he makes it quite obvious what kind of person he is at heart. What you see is what you get. With Mikioi, he always speaks with a falsetto charm, he's always doing suspicious activities, and you never can tell what he's thinking. Mikioi doesn't reveal ANYTHING genuine about himself through his actions, basically. When people meet him, even though he acts polite and charming, they can't help but feel that he is mysterious. They're aware he's putting on a show, and they wonder if this is how he really is (I know the answer to that, but I'm not telling). He's an enigma. Call him Mikioi the Enigma, if you will (okay, now I'm pushing the joke).
Name: Masashi Shobu (nickname: Handicap)
Age: 18
Skin: White
Hair: Soft black
A quiet, subservient young man who displays his insecurities to the world while simultaneously concealing his virtues.
Age: 18
Skin: White
Hair: Soft black
A quiet, subservient young man who displays his insecurities to the world while simultaneously concealing his virtues.
Masashi is a perfect example of a character who has changed completely from his original design. As I was planning out early story arcs for Seikun's journey, I created Masashi as nothing more than a villain to be defeated. He was contained in a rather weak plot line which allowed Seikun to overcome someone who was on equal terms as a fighter. The story arc he appeared in has since been completely scrapped - my writing was not very good back then and that arc went to the trash like so many others. But I had grown attached to Masashi as a character and decided to keep him around. I wanted him to have something greater than a supporting villain role, so I made him switch sides and gave him a new personality. This decision is what eventually made me implement the trope of the "traveling hero group" into my story, in which the cast of heroes travel from place to place in a group and have adventures. Little Shobu was the first of these new companions to join Sei and Suunu.
Masashi's first design, like his story arc, was a throwaway that I didn't put much thought into. There was nothing unique about it that made you remember him. In retrospect, this might be part of the reason I changed his design; because I had forgotten what he looked like. Regardless, the image above is what he eventually became. Up to this point, most of my character designs were heavily influenced by my beloved shounen action series. For Masashi, I wanted a character that I had never tried to draw before - a design that would force me to expand on my style. I found myself drawn to the "one-eye" design - a character who only has one visible eye; the other being concealed by hair or an eyepatch/headwear. This became the focal point of Masashi's design. I set out to draw a character "whose left eye and over half the left side of his face is covered by hair", and the rest came naturally. His hair is shoulder length like Mikioi's, but whereas Mikioi's hair is smooth and straight, Masashi's is rough and matted; unkempt and mistreated.
Now we're at the secondary main characters. Masashi is a character that anyone who watches anime or reads manga should have a good guess about at first glance. If you said that he is shy, you would be wrong. He is the type that is not happy with himself, and does nothing to hide that fact. This is reflected in his appearance. There are no apparent issues with his left eye, and yet he allows his hair to grow over his face. This is where Masashi's nickname comes from, by the by: "Handicap" (in Japanese, "Shinshou"). Sei calls him this because when he first met him, he thought he couldn't see from his left eye, and thus was "crippled" in a sense (he's just at the height of good manners, that boy). His hair is messy as I said above; he doesn't take care of it. His persona gives off similar vibes. He doesn't often smile, even when he's happy. His trademark is that he mumbles and stutters constantly when speaking. Again, this is not because he is shy. He stutters and mumbles even to friends he is completely comfortable with. Even to his own family. Due to a troubled upbringing, he feels so insecurely about himself that he thinks and speaks at a slower pace than most people, trying to find the right words. You could say that this is where I put a little bit of myself into Masashi. I too have trouble coming up with words, so I will stutter and think for a long time about what I want to say. In my case, though, it IS usually because of shyness. Masashi is like that, to an exponential degree. But that's not to say that Masashi is a completely negative person. In fact, he regularly shows concern for his friends and does whatever he can to help them, and he has above-average physical prowess; but he often neglects his own well-being in helping others.
It's a bit difficult to describe in words what Masashi adds to my story. It wouldn't even be a lie to say that the story could go on largely unchanged without his presence. Not to mention a lot of people don't like these kinds of characters, and I completely understand why. But I feel like I did my best to write a character who reminds you of that classic stereotype of the "insecure, reserved teenager" and give it my own spin that makes it different. Unfortunately it's hard to show that when not talking about any of his particular scenes from the story like this. Disregarding that, I really do have an extreme fondness for this guy. Even in all his negativity, there's a sincerity and quiet charm in his actions that I find infectious. Of all the secondary main characters from here on out, Masashi probably comes closest to being my favorite.
Name: Kushiro K Blochen (nickname: Dango)
Age: 11
Skin: Grey
Hair: None
A wide-eyed, impulsive child who is always living in the moment and defining his own rules.
Age: 11
Skin: Grey
Hair: None
A wide-eyed, impulsive child who is always living in the moment and defining his own rules.
This one is going to take some extra explaining. You may have seen my other three drawings this character appears in and wonder why he is clearly not a human. Kushiro is definitely an abnormal character, and he came from an abnormal place - a video game. Back in 2008, there was a game called Spore where you could create alien creatures that inhabited an alien planet and help them grow and evolve. I spent most of my time in Spore using the Creature Creator, creating various monsters of all shapes and sizes without worrying about playing through the story mode with them. One day I was messing around and I made a thing that was so odd to me I'm not even sure how I had come up with it. It was a four-limbed creature, stood on two feet, normal-size, with mitten-like hands (no fingers). But out of the back of its head there was a large growth, like a tumor; which had come to be by my thoughtless sculpting of the creature's base mold. By no means was it the strangest thing you could create in Spore, but there was something about it that intrigued me. He looked like Mickey Mouse if he was Mickey Monster; a cute monster. I decided I had to work it into my story somehow, and I immediately I sketched it in my own style (sadly, at the time of this post, I seem to have misplaced said sketch). Thus, Kushiro was born.
In the world my story takes places, animals are much more varied in terms of appearance and genetics. Some species are feral while others are civilized, and can even speak in discernible languages. Kushiro is one of these creatures. His full name is Kushiro K, a member of a race called the Blochen. Blochen have two arms and two legs, and are able to walk on two or four limbs. Their skin is coated in a hard, rubbery substance that is more durable than human flesh. Rather than a structure for ears, they have two circular canals on either side of the head. But their most distinguished feature is a large flab of skin fat and boils that protrudes from the skull. When Sei first meets Kushiro (being the first Blochen he has ever seen), he thinks this protrusion looks like dango (a type of Japanese dumplings) on a skewer, so he calls him "Dango-brain".
I suppose you could call Kushiro the "annoying" character of the group. He's loud, energetic, and he speaks in strange mannerisms that more often than not leave the other characters confused. He refers to himself using the first part of his name, Ku; using that in place of the word "I", as if he was talking about a completely different person. He's easily trusting of people, but at the same time he will instantly dislike someone if they fill a requirement he does not care for. On the reverse end, he is extremely caring and helpful to those he looks up to and approves of. He likes what he likes, and there's no changing that. What makes Kushiro most confusing is despite his infant age, he seems to be wise in the ways of the world. He seems like a child to us and seems to be doing childish things, but as a Blochen, he's actually quite mature. Even as a child, Kushiro is considered a warrior among his people. It was important to me to construct him in this way to compare and contrast the differences between humans and other creatures of my story; showing how they live versus how we live, and their own definitions of maturity and aging. Kushiro lives on a different scale balancing the virtues of childhood and adulthood than what we're used to, and that makes him difficult to understand. He's loud and obnoxious, but he can comprehend adults and speak on the level with them. He's humble when speaking of himself, yet judgmental and boldly honest to the point of being rude (like Sei) when speaking of others. But to Kushiro, none of this is unusual. It's my hope that this would make him a character that people wanted to see show up; that they would want to see how he would act in different situations and what kinds of things he would say. Because he is quite weird - but that's just how he is.
Name: Wo Chun Fa (nickname: Chung)
Age: 22
Skin: Dark tan
Hair: Dirty blonde
A mentally unstable buxom bombshell with a vicious and unpredictable propensity for violence.
Age: 22
Skin: Dark tan
Hair: Dirty blonde
A mentally unstable buxom bombshell with a vicious and unpredictable propensity for violence.
This is Chung. She, like Masashi, is a character who originally had a small role; but I came to like her so much I made her a major supporting character. Chung came about as one of the many various design types I tried out for characters. Many anime/manga are well known for having characters with ridculously lengthed heads of hair, sometimes draping down all the way to their feet! Without going completely ridiculous, I wanted a character *like* that. It's not as if I was in short supply of silly-haired-heroes, so it wouldn't have been out of place. This long-haired character I discovered was looking an awful lot like another minor character, Sei's childhood friend Ako. This is largely the reason Chung has dark skin - to make her distinguishable from my other long-haired female designs. You may notice that not all of my characters have Japanese names. For some characters I loosely based their names based off other regions of the world because they come from my "representation" of those places. Chung's full name is most closely related to Chinese; however it is the only Chinese aspect to her character.
So what's special about Chung? She's crazy. No, really. Her mind is clinically unstable - I didn't make her look sadistically disturbed in this image for nothing. Chung comes in the story along with her brother Quan (profile below) as assassins-for-hire/bodyguards for one of the primary antagonists. Chung is, to put it lightly, the more enigmatic of the pair. Rarely does she perform an assignment the way it was intended, instead preferring to enact elaborate, long-winded schemes that suit her own unnatural tastes. Her allegiance is never quite clear in the heat of the moment; she might turn on a heel without warning if it feels right to her. Among the fighting forces of this world, she is undoubtedly one of the more dangerous individuals. Her twisted obsession with murder combined with her unstable mind (not to mention that she is actually quite smart and cunning) makes her an incredibly volatile target to deal with in any proximity.
Even though I'm her creator, honestly I have a hard time myself classifying how I feel about her. It's always a challenge writing her scenes because there's never an established tone. Sei usually acts in certain ways and Suunuku usually acts in certain ways, but Chung doesn't act in...any particular fashion that can be familiarized with. Her presence itself is unsettling, and that's kind of what I was going for. I presume that a lot of anime/manga fans like this kind of character - characters who are batshit insane and diabolical. So I tried, and I may have failed, but oh did I try, to make Chung both appealing and unappealing. She's a beautiful women, but she's rarely ever presented as an object for the reader to ogle. I never want my female characters to exist simply as sex/fetish symbols, but that's a different discussion. With Chung......I wanted a character you COULDN'T sympathize with. This doesn't mean she's an irredeemable character - she has a rough past and rather sad backstory. You can connect with the things that have happened to her, but you can't connect with HER, if that makes sense. The only kind of sympathetic emotion I want a reader to feel for Chung is the kind of patronizing sadness where you shake your head and wish there was something you could do, but you can't. She is the way she is, and it's sad.
So yeah, I guess you could say I feel bad for this woman I have created. Kind of strange, isn't it? And yet I like her - a lot. It's fun writing a character that you don't necessarily want to see; a character who's presence could possibly hinder a scene rather than strengthen it. Chung brings a sense of urgency and chaos to the story; safe to say there is never a dull moment when she appears.
Name: Wo Quan Yi (nickname: Quan)
Age: 24
Skin: Dark tan
Hair: Silver
A sly, tactical brawler who will perform any odd job of any scale; for a price.
Age: 24
Skin: Dark tan
Hair: Silver
A sly, tactical brawler who will perform any odd job of any scale; for a price.
The basis for Quan's design came from the fact that I wanted to draw someone with a fusion dance vest from Dragonball Z. I came up with a lanky-limbed individual with a slimmed face that always wore a look of calm bemusement. Once I heard that a good way to know if you've created a memorable character is if they have a unique silhouette. I agree with that, however I also like to assign a specific action and/or appearance and/or behavioral tic to a character to make them stand out from the crowd. Masashi, for example, stutters all the time. Suunuku is always seen with a one-strap bag over her shoulder in which she carries her weapons. As for Quan, he is almost always seen with his eyelids closed half-way. Even though it is a very popular stereotype, I feel like the "keeps their eyes completely closed" trope a la Brock from Pokemon or Ling Yao from Fullmetal Alchemist is a bit overplayed and it's not a favorite of mine - but I guess Quan comes close to it. For that same reason I will probably never write in a character who wears glasses and is constantly adjusting them with his middle finger.
Quan is an assassin like his sister, Chung, but he works in full as a jack-of-all-trades for hire. An incredibly well-respected and revered individual in the shadows, he is known by many brokers as "The Magical Fist" due to his impressive skills as a fisticuff brawler. His signature move from which he receives his namesake is rumored to always his its target no matter the circumstance. While Chung is loud and likes to perform her work in the open in any way she wants, Quan prefers to keep quiet and do business behind-the-scenes. This being said, Quan has an affinity for showmanship which lead him to form very elaborate schemes that are harder to keep under wraps. He adores his work extravagantly for one purpose and one purpose alone - money. To him, the man with the greatest status in the world is the one with the most money, and he always seems to be trying to climb his way up that ladder. The exact purpose for which he desires it is unknown, but he seeks to obtain more by any means necessary.
Quan and Chung are a case of siblings who are very close, but they have almost nothing in common. Quan is a man who constantly has a goal in mind that he usually does not reveal to the rest of the world. He is very calm and aloof when not brawling to put a false sense of security in his foes so that he can later trip them up when they least expect it. Honesty is the last policy on Quan's list - he'll use every dirty trick in the book to get his way. In fact there is only one person he isn't constantly trying to screw over - his sister. The two of them get along as you might expect a brother and a younger sister would - he acts as a protective figure and she admires him. Quan feels obligated to take this position strongly because of Chung's mental disabilities. Even though they are a team, they usually work separately when on the job. Chung is usually sent to perform simple tasks such as performing a hit. Quan takes responsibility of the more complex and dangerous jobs so that his sister can be happy doing what she loves without concern. Despite being a greedy man who doesn't show much compassion for lower lifeforms, Quan is very serious about his sister and cares deeply for her. This is the key way I try to sneak past his exterior and show off his redeemable qualities: in his devotion and loyalty to familial bonds. In addition to his sister, the man has a troupe of comrades who follow him from place to place on his odd jobs, and all of them he considers very close friends he can depend on. Quan is a team player in the rare instances he is on a team - the bonds he forms with a person last a lifetime and he always keeps a helping hand outstretched. Now, the process of actually becoming his friend and getting past his nasty hitman habits.......that could prove to be monumentally difficult.
