Characters, Characters, Characters

I like characters a lot, if you hadn't noticed. I've been drawing characters since I was a wee lil' lad and I still do today. I took a science-fiction writing class back in college and everyone would mention that all of my stories are very "personal and character driven". I do ponder a lot about how people think and the environments that effect them. If I wasn't an artist, I would have probably became a cognitive scientist. I have always been interested in the way "the mind" works. People like Steven Pinker, Andrew Newberg, and Richard Nisbett have some really interest ideas on how people act due to their beliefs. My hope is that I can better mesh my knowledge of cognitive science/psychology with character design to make more believable characters with all the proper complexities. A great way to develop character mentalities is to simply look towards reality for their closest counterparts. For instance, what is the mentality of interstellar colonist settling on another planet. One cannot be absolutely sure, but I can look towards people that were similar, like the American settlers of the Old West.

Anyways, I am always interested in the methods that people utilize towards creating interesting characters. Here's some links to articles that I have been reading lately.

http://www.essortment.com/all/creatingcharact_rdmv.htm

http://www.elfwood.com/farp/thewriting/mfocharacter/mfocharacter.html

http://guannawannablog.blogspot.com/2005/05/writing-101-creating-interesting.html

In Cali

So I am in California at the moment, specifically Pasadena and L.A. California is an amazingly bright state. I have essentially sweat my weight in water. I guess it is something you get used to.

Want to talk to me? Send me a message (ivan@ivanbakula.com)

I been running around a lot.

No, seriously. I have been running about 2.5 miles every other day (at least). It feels good to run long distance. I can feel myself getting faster and I have more energy during the day. My goal is to run a 5k in at least 19 mins. I probably will never be as fast as I was back in high school, but it can't hurt to stay in shape. Also, I bought new running shoes. I gotta run or my purchase will be in vain. :)

New Website!!

Welcome to my new website. 

The last layout was too cluttered and icky looking, so I decided to redo everything. Hopefully for the better. I now have a brand new rss feed from my blog, so I can easily update my website. If you are viewing this through blogger you can jump to my website from here.

Some people have been having trouble viewing my demo reel. If you can't see my demo reel, you can view it here. Also make sure you have JavaScript enabled.

I can't promise I'll update my blog everyday, but I will update it if something big happens. 

Peace

-Ivan