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Consider other ways to develop characters. Is your character like anyone you know? Who? Does the character resemble an actor or actress or one of the characters they play? In what way? Stay away from characters that have been overdone. Does thinking about this real or fantasy person give you any ideas to make your character funnier or more realistic? Is this character a combination of people? Juxtaposing traits gives you something we wouldn’t expect. You might want to take this real or fantasy character, and then give his personality a new twist.

Observe people and use your observations. Try taking some real traits that you’ve observed, and add a funny trait to make your character unique.

Quality characters are often more complex. This may explain why they tend to have more lasting appeal. Make a list of inconsistencies in your character: He’s this, but he’s also that! What’s illogical, surprising, and unpredictable about him? What makes him interest- ing? Different? Fascinating? Compelling? Never too bland? Always larger than life? Use “what ifs” to dig deeper into your characters. Once you’ve decided on these inconsistencies, they should remain constant. They do not change on whim or in keeping with the current episode’s story.

What makes your character funny? A comic character needs to have a flaw that makes him funny. What are his funny attributes? What very human mistakes does he make that would make us laugh? Recognize ourselves? Be typical and recognizable to kids of a spe- cific age category? We tend to like comedians who let us feel superior (like Charlie Chaplin). We know that we’re much smarter, more resourceful, and luckier than they. For animation comedy we often want to create loveable and larger-than-life characters to whom slapstick

things are almost certain to happen. It’s human nature to like to see slapstick things happen to people with power or authority, especially if they’re pompous or misusing that authority (the mean boss, the overbearing substitute teacher, the bully who’s a hall guard). Most of us humans struggle to be normal, to be perfect children or parents, to be the ideal student or employee, and fail at these things every step of the way. Much current television is based on these failings.

Do you really understand this character and what makes him tick? How is this charac- ter similar or different from you? Let his feelings and emotions show. Do you like him (even if he’s the villain)? Accept the shadow side of yourself so you can accept those flaws in your characters. If you truly understand and like your characters, others probably will, too. If you still don’t quite “get” your character, do more research. Delve more deeply into yourself. Write or act out scenes that won’t be in your script to learn more about him. Make your character real to you.

Then exaggerate! Make your characters larger than life. Think James Bond or Super- man! When the average person is the main character, he or she often walks taller than in real life. The character becomes a model of all average people. Make your slob a superslob, the bore a superbore. Exaggerate! Exaggerate! Exaggerate!

More realistic characters are harder to animate convincingly. You can’t squash and stretch a real person. The less realistic ones lend themselves more to the medium and to the gags, especially if it’s a comedy.

What behavioral tagsdoes this character have? These are repeated actions that are spe- cific to that character. Does he go into a one-armed handstand when overjoyed? Does she shake her hips from side to side or tug on her ear?

Set up relationships. One way to create a series is to start with a character type or one really strong character and let all the remaining characters bounce off. How does your char- acter feel about each of the other characters, and how do they feel about him? Why are these characters friends or enemies? Contrast characters (a smart guy with a dumb guy). How does this character affect each of the others by the strength of his personality, by his actions? How do they affect him? Does he team up well or conflict with the others? Each of your characters should be as different as possible from each other. You might want to make a list of characters and then itemize the traits of each to make them as different as you can.

There may be two stars. What brings your characters together and keeps them together? What pushes them apart and provides the sparks? Is life better for others around this team or worse? Is life sweet or bitter when they’re together? Are there enough believable reasons that this team will stay together, or is the conflict intense enough that they must eventually split up and end your series? Too much attraction and the show is boring; too much conflict and the characters may become unlikable. Roadblocks may come from the situation rather than the characters themselves to avoid this problem.

Avoid using too many characters. Keep economy in mind. Also, it becomes much harder to identify with characters who don’t receive a lot of screen time. If there’s too many, we don’t care about any of them.

Can we identify with this character? Bond? Does the audience have real recognition of that character? We need enough information about a character to empathize. What are the real-life, down-to-earth traits that we immediately recognize? What are the character’s little eccentricities, small compulsions, and very human characteristics? Or you may want the audi- Developing Characters 67

ence to feel superior to (rather than identify with) a character. Think of Scooby-Doo. You could let your character be the scapegoat, the butt of her own or someone else’s jokes. It’s okay to let your character appear foolish and find life difficult. The audience sympathizes.

Do we really respond strongly for (or against) this character as a person? We need to feel that this character is family. What makes us root for her or hate her? How can we strengthen this? It’s been said that it’s hard to sympathize with someone who is too naive or dumb, but one moving relationship with another person may save an otherwise unsym- pathetic character. If you must have an unsympathetic character who’s not a villain, then start by showing what happened to make her that way. Avoid showing your protagonistas a complete misfit in the beginning. Your audience must like her and admire her enough to want her to recognize character flaws and try to change. We like characters with positive goals and dislike characters who are evil or selfish and have negative goals. If something is important to your likeable character, then it will probably be important to your audience as well.

Buyers like a cartoon character with an edge, someone you love to hate. Think of bad Bart Simpson. The audience will identify with someone who’s not sickening sweet but has tastes, dreams, and weaknesses.

Is your villain reallybad? Your hero or heroine is only as strong and as good as your

villain is evil. A truly great villain can add inches to the stature of a hero. Is your villain a life-and-death threat? A monstrous antagonistrequires a stronger hero to beat him. But you may want to add those shades of gray, a wisp of human kindness where you least expect it. Give your villain emotions and feelings to make him vulnerable. Motivations keep any villain from becoming cardboard. In a very short story you may require a fairly cardboard villain due to the lack of time to develop anything else. Why does this villain want what he wants? Is he aware of how evil he seems to others? How does he convince himself that this is right or at least justified? A funny villain isn’t very frightening. Watch out for bumbling antago- nists. They need to be at least as strong as the hero to make it a fair fight. A bumbler might work in a comedy, especially for younger children. If you want a funny villain, try making him the secondary antagonist, with a stronger and more evil villain as the main foe. The antagonist doesn’t always have to be a villain and be evil, but the antagonist usually is evil

in animation.