Step 1 - Start with a person you know
- Short intro:-
- Frankie Foo - an army bunkmate.
- We were not considered close friends but he is one memorable character whom i met.
- As a soldier, he has all the qualities that you shouldn't find in a soldier.
- His qualities:-
- Nervous and stuttering.
- Old, unfashionable, long winded and naggingly annoying.
- Disgusting, constant red runny nose, blows nose frequently and loudly.
- Snores, sleeps with pillow covering the face most of the time.
- Lazy, pot-bellied, slow-witted, clumsy and ignorant.
- Untidy, couldn’t be bothered, in his own world, happy-go-lucky.
We hurled our fieldpacks into our bunk after an outfield exercise. All of us tired and dirty. Instructions given was for us to clean and maintain our arms. Frankie takes off his shirt and throws it on the floor beside his bed - a simple and cheap put-together of a sponge wrapped up with a white sheet of cloth placed on top of a metal mesh secured to the bed frame by springs at the edges.
From the stacks of fallen over manga on the floor, he picks up one from a red grocery plastic bag. Everyone else in the room is busy dismantling their SAR21 rifles and cleaning its interior to prevent rusting.
Frankie jumps into his bed, that had earlier been folded into half for a bunk inspection, shirtless and with a manga in hand. Another bunkmate, Llewell, warns Frankie not to slack and to follow suit and start cleaning his arms before the rust sets in and get him into trouble with the army. Frankie, however, brushes off the suggestion and says he will do it later.
Springs securing his bed had already worn out and right in the middle of the metal mesh, that was revealed by the half-folded bed, was a hole. His big butt sank right into the gap forcibly expanding it bit by bit with his every movement.
Suddenly the alarm bell starts ringing. Most of us quickly put together our rifles and run down the stairs to assemble at the designated gathering area. The commanders are going to do a surprise rifle inspection for cleanliness. Midway through the inspection, Frankie stumbles downstairs with his rifle in hand. He is late but the commander was lenient and had wanted to just allow him to join the group when he sees a huge tear in Frankie's trousers and questions him about it.
Frankie stutters for words with a perplexed look on his face. He turns his head and sees his polka dot briefs showing through and gives an embarrassed smile before giving himself away by stating that it must have been caused by the hole in his bed. Needless to say, Frankie was eventually punished for an absolutely badly rusted rifle.
Later in bunk, he curses about his bad luck at getting punished with having to stay behind in camp and not allowed to go home for the coming weekend. "Well, at least I have all the time now to read my Manga..", Frankie sighs as he resigns to his fate.
Step 3: Another list – What would this person be if they were:
- Weather?
- A bright, sleepy, warm afternoon.
- An animal?
- Sloth.
- A household object?
- A clock with batteries running low. the second hand ticking back and forth at 44 sec and 45sec. Not enough energy to go move the second hand up and sustain its position.
- A machine?
- A sputtering farm tractor.
- A place?
- A quiet, cold and spacious auditorium having an engineering lecture.
- Music?
- Slow opera music.
- A color?
- Dark brown.
- A font (optional)?
- Lucida Console. (font of the "blue screen of death".)
- A fictional ‘archetype’ or stereotype? (eg. the superhero, the wicked witch..)
- Unexpected hero. (ie. super nerd turn fluky hero)
- Choose 2 or more of your answers from Step 3 and create a character that combines their visual characteristics. This character no longer has to depict the person you started with.
- Use any form of image-making you like – a rough sketch or diagram is okay.
Above: Red tractor on a boring sunny dayconstructed using Lucida Console font type.
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