I have found that an interesting, fun, and very helpful exercise when getting to know your webcomic's characters is to drop them in different settings and she what they'd be or what they'd choose.
So, for example, if your character is in a fantasy setting, what would they be if they were in our world? How would they dress? How would they do at school? Would they even go or want to go? How about their hobbies, what would they have an affinity for?
If your character is in a realistic setting, what would they be if they were in a fantasy one? If they were a wizard or a fantasy creature, what would they be? How would they conduct themselves, where would they want to live, what kind of activities would they want to do? What would be their fantasy job?
These questions inherently teach us a lot about our own characters' profiles because they tie into and help us refine our idea of them. Their personality and their tastes remain the same across settings, so any parameters we may not have thought of in their actual setting has a higher chance of popping up when we're configuring them for a different one that asks different questions and needs different behaviors to be in the forefront.
I found that after I've engaged in this sort of exercise a lot, each character is in a much higher relief in my mind and a lot more concrete in who they are. Then, writing them and their body language, dialogue and even knowing their personal tastes and stuff comes a lot more naturally. And that shows in the writing and the drawing!
Have you ever done this exercise?
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An interesting exercise
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 17, 2025
4 likes!
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PaulEberhardt at 3:05AM, May 18, 2025
It's a great vehicle for parodies, too.
PaulEberhardt at 3:02AM, May 18, 2025
Oh yes, lots of times. I often used dreams as an excuse - something I might replace by something more interesting in the future. Combined with showing my main character messing up the history of her hometown when she was a couple of centuries younger, I'd say it's just about one of my mainstays. It's indeed an interesting exercise I can recommend to everyone who hasn't tried yet - and if it's a non-canonical extra. Hilarity always ensues, as is so often the case with changes of perspective and distorted images. The more absurd the "what if" situation the better. It probably helps if your characters happen to be blessed with a vivid imagination, but it's not essential. Most of mine tend to have rather one-tracked minds, and that only serves to make the confrontation with a totally different setting even more fun.
plymayer at 5:18PM, May 17, 2025
What if the yootoobes had been around in the 80s?
bravo1102 at 4:12PM, May 17, 2025
It just gives me a new story to put them into. I ask "what if?" and they say "why not?" And go their own merry way.
Banes at 9:07AM, May 17, 2025
Interesting! I've never thought of doing this. My characters are so entrenched in their specific stories and settings. Sounds like one worth trying to get a deeper handle on them!
J_Scarbrough at 8:51AM, May 17, 2025
I kinda-sorta did that with Levana, to an extent. Even though she was a fantastical character being a vampire, she was otherwise placed in our world - a world that made her feel like she was a misfit in society. This is why she was the way she was: reclusive, withdrawn, reserved, depressed, because she knew upon encounter, people would either fear her or misunderstand her. Her gothic attire wasn't to perpetuate a classic vampire motif, or because she was goth, it was an expression of how depressed she was about who she was and what she was, so it reflected her attitude about her vampish lifestyle. Only being able to travel at night to avoid fatal sunlight unfortunately made her a target for men who assumed she was a woman of the evening.
usedbooks at 7:50AM, May 17, 2025
My comic was born of "what if" exercises. My college roommates and I used to watch a lot of anime, and we picked the "us" characters in each series. One day at the mall, I was being dumbfounded by one roommate's cartoonishness and declared I was going to make them characters. So it became, "What if my roommates were in an anime?"
usedbooks at 7:42AM, May 17, 2025
I have sometimes considered what their D&D characters would be. It's a similar exercise but different because a character might not want to play someone similar to himself. He might be timid and cowardly but wants to play as a confident leader. -- I also used to do writing prompts/memes.