Artist insight

Writer Isabel Armitage shares her advice on building coherent characters for your artwork – Art by Toby Hawksley

©Robin Clewley

I kind of stumbled upon my career in art. Way back when I worked at a brewery in Yorkshire I met the gallery director of RedHouse Originals, who took a liking to my relationship between art and words. The combination of literate descriptions with visuals is a winner, and since working at the gallery I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate with artists across the globe.

I believe there is a lot of merit in making and creating away from your workspace, and in terms of character, where better place to explore that than the real world. Curiosity is an underrated attribute and I hungrily consume as much information as possible in life; catching knowledge within a metaphorical net.

These tips will guide you through exercises that can help your art in a way you may not have considered before, detached from a visual process, pushing you towards a broader outlook on how a good character is made. I hope they help you and can become an enjoyable part of your creative process that doesn’t necessarily involve a drawing tablet and Procreate.

1 TRY FREE WRITING

It’s undeniable that the creative industry is a stressful one. I find the pressures of freelance and working for myself a tough career path sometimes, and one tip I find extremely useful when I’m beginning the character development process is free writing.

Free writing is when you set a timer for five minutes and continuously write on a page without a second thought. I find this stream of consciousness an opportunity to write effortlessly in a less pressured, less calculated manner. I often develop a character in my head to the point where my vision becomes far removed from my original idea. Free writing can literally free up the mind for a moment and allow you to create more openly.