I don't have much to put here right now, so I'll start off with question I'm asked a lot.

Question: How do you create three-dimentional characters and design them, giving them a trade mark look?

Character Development - I've been creating characters since I was 8 years old.... so it's kinda just something that comes to me. About character personalities, one thing I can say is to make sure there's a part of you in each character. You have to understand and relate to those characters. That way, you can put your heart into them and other people will love them too. I'm not saying to make a character EXACTLY like yourself, but give him or her things about you. Here's an example. A while ago I was writing a series with three brothers. I gave each brother a part of my personality.

Phil - the oldest. I gave him my insecurity. He's always unsure about himself and very shy... kinda withdrawn and avoidant. (now, while this can be me at times, i'm not ALWAYS withdrawn and avoidant. I took this trait in myself and blew it up to make it his MAIN trait)

Justin - The middle brother. He's kinda a confident jerk, which isn't me at all, but I gave him my obsessive compulsiveness. He's very neat and likes things in perfect order. He enjoys cleaning and it drives him NUTS if something is out of order. (again, while i'm not a neat freak at all, my DVDs are in alphabetical order and if someone puts one out of place i get kinda upset. lol)

Kyle - The youngest. He's angry, confused and always feeling left out of everything. (I'm also the youngest and my family... I have three MUCH older sisters, so I know first hand what it's REALLY like to be the baby sister. I also have him at 18 years old, about the age I was when I started writing the story. He was going into the college scene and hating it... kinda how I felt when I first started college. It's really easy to understand someone who's going through the same things you are.)

Character designs - I'm not really sure I can help much on designing. none of my characters really stand out too much as being unique. THe only thing I have going for me in MOI is the whole blue deal. Yukio would look BORING if he wasn't blue. lol. I think what sets my characters apart are their personalities and therefore their expressions in the pictures. Maybe you can ask someone else about character designs? i tend to make my character designs fairly simple so I don't have to work too hard while drawing. LOL