© Mako Fufu- CREATE
COMPELLING
CHARACTERS
It doesn’t matter how good your art, your
dialogue or even your story is if you haven’t got a
captivating protagonist to put on the page. As in
most films and TV, it helps if they’re active and
look striking enough to be memorable. To keep
her characters strong, Mako Fufu says she
“usually [has] either some model sheets or at
least illustrations of them; they are a good
reference, especially when the character is new
(or new to you), had a major transformation, or
you have a large amount of characters
appearing in the same comic. As you get
familiar with the character, it gets easier.
But at the same time you should allow
some change since the character may
mutate and evolve, because due to the
repetition and practice your own style
mutates and evolves. I enjoy comparing the
first and the latest episodes from mangas
like Berserk, where the artist was amazing
to start with, and he got even better as the
story progressed.”
© Mako Fufu