The Art of Characters: Protagonist

I've seen this going around a few of the blogs I follow and thought I'd give it a shot. The rules are:

1. Find three pieces of art that describe your character. They can be your own drawings or cosplays or sculptures, someone else's art (with their permission and/or crediting, of course), celebrity pictures, or a combination of the three. 
2. Answer the questions below about your character's description and link back to this blog so if anyone else wants to do it, they know where to go.
3. Put all this in a blog post or a deviantART journal.
4. When you post it, link up at Stori Tori's Blog (the link above) and you're done!

So there are three protagonists I could choose from to do this. Which one has had the least attention?

Tyv from Taken. Granted, he probably prefers a lack of public attention but too bad.  ^.^

"Tyv from Taken" by A. Smith

Pin found at http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/7d/1d/5d/7d1d5df7d2cc45e0adb1f61f2bd5b701.jpg

Pin found at http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/5c/3a/ce/5c3aceff2142026f41dcace98fa51b0a.jpg

Questions:

1. What does your character's eye, skin, and hair color tell about him/her?

Tyv has black eyes, black hair, but pale, untanned skin. I chose the black for his hair and eyes because he really does live a dark life on the streets, and if he isn't careful the darkness could take him over until there's nothing good left (thankfully that doesn't happen). His skin, I guess, could represent how he isn't all dark. It never darkens, after all.
2. What does your character's hair style tell about him/her?

That bathing isn't a priority and he doesn't care too much about personal grooming. His hair is long and hacked shorter using his knives, and it's always filled with dirt and sweat (gross). This is all just evidence that he lives in a bankrupt nation on the streets, trying to survive day in and day out.
3. What does your character's default outfit tell about him/her?

That he can't afford new clothes (they're threadbare and faded) but knows the basics of sewing (as evidenced by the patches). He also only has one outfit, chosen for practicality rather than appearance. It's simple and doesn't get in the way during a fight.
4. Does he/she have an object(s) he/she carries around a lot?

Through most of Taken Tyv carries around a pendant he stole for Ambyr. When thinking about getting home he'll take it out and rub it between his fingers. He's also always armed (unless he can't help it) with two fighting knives, sheathed at his sides.
5. Does he/she have any particular scars or birthmarks?

Scars, yes. Birthmarks, no. I believe Tyv has a few larger scars on his arms, one long one on his chest, another small one above his left eyebrow (barely noticeable, so much so that I didn't know it was there until now) and a couple on his knees.
6. Does he/she have any piercings or tattoos?

He lives in a medieval world starved of money. Nopety nope nope nooooooooo.
7. How does he/she carry him/herself? Shoulders back? Eye contact? Eyes down? Slumped shoulders?

He's pretty tall but he walks around with slumped shoulders and bunched up muscles, usually with his arms crossed and his head pulled further down towards his shoulders. He doesn't want to be noticed. He doesn't let his eyes drop to the ground though, because he's always watching for danger.

8. What is his/her default expression? Smiling? Frowning? Solemn?

That's easy. Tyv is a frowny-face. Mr. Grump incarnate. A few other adjectives to describe his few usual expressions would be anxious, cautious, annoyed. His favorite (but not default) expression is scowling.
9. Does he/she wear makeup or facepaint?

Haha, no. He'd look ridiculous.
10. Does his/her physical appearance change at any time? For example: If they have a power do their eyes glow or hair turn blue?

Nope. Tyv is a fully (mostly) normal, unchanging teen boy.

So that's that. I found out a couple things by doing this, so if you want to give it a shot I linked to it at the top. Please let me know if you do it; I'd love to read it!
ALSO, don't forget that next Tuesday I'll be posting the interview of Ace Harrod. Please head over to last week's post and ask a question (any question!). The more of them the better.

Now Taking Questions for Ace Harrod

So I looked at the date today and realized I missed the day for posting . . .again. It's getting terrible, really, but at least I caught myself a day after this time instead of three weeks. Anyway, I was wracking my brain trying to think of a quick topic for today's post. And I thought, "why not do another character interview?"
So here we are. I've chosen Ace Harrod for the honor, since I'm working on outlining his point of view for Shadows and Light currently and I need to work on building his character up a little more.

Quotes from Shadows & Light by A. Smith

Ace's real name is Julian. He prefers Ace, his middle name, because it "sounds cooler." That part of his name also has some history to it, but that isn't important. He is the (elder) twin brother of Mara, who you may remember from the Beautiful Books linkup series I did, but he tries to ignore the fact that they are related. They're both eighteen.
Ace is a star student in the Mage League and is progressing through training astoundingly quickly. He loves working for the Mage League and dreams about his star-studding heroic future, which he feels is guaranteed because of his Destiny. What is his Destiny, precisely? Basically, it says he'll save lives. He fancies himself Superman, honestly.
Ace has a secret love of playing the piano. Very secret, since the only one who knows he even plays is Mara and she hasn't let on that she knows. He doesn't want people to think he's sentimental or musical because he doesn't think it fits with the "confident" and "heroic" personality he cultivates at school. As a side note, he's very popular and has a French girlfriend.
His MBTI (for those who know what that is) is ESFJ/P.

So yes, ask away. I'm thinking I'll give it two weeks before I post the interview, to give enough time for asking. I need to figure out a few details on this guy, so any questions you can come up with - even if they're really simple - please, ask them.

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

Hi! I'm back . . .after yet another unplanned hiatus. Sorry.
So Savannah over at A Scattering of Light nominated me for this - the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. Thanks Savannah!

The rules are:
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you, linking back to their site.
2. Put the award logo on your blog.
3. Answer the ten questions they've set you.
4. Make up ten questions for your nominees to answer.
5. Nominate ten people.

And these are Savannah's questions for me:

1. How did you start writing?
School. I'm home schooled and my mum was having us do a trial lesson from the curriculum One Year Adventure Novel. We were supposed to write a short story in one minute, and I managed to write maybe a paragraph of a fanfiction from my favorite book series at the time during the time limit. I liked that so much that I expanded it into a one-page story . . .and then it grew again. Thank goodness the writing hit on a weekend, or I wouldn't have gotten any school done! I remember writing for eight hours a day, two days straight, by hand. I still have the notebooks.

2. Favorite song?
That's hard. It changes depending on what I need, but my latest is "Limitless" by Colton Dixon. Listen to it. Now. It's so inspiring. Look, I even attached the lyric video to the post! Isn't that convenient?

3. Have you ever gotten lost?
Not in my memory.

4. If you could live in a fictional world for a year, which one?
They're all so dangerous! I suppose it would be one of Brandon Sanderson's worlds - either from Mistborn, or from The Way of Kings.

5. Which fictional character inspires you most?
I'm not sure. Right now the only one I can think of is Vin, from Brandon Sanderson's series Mistborn. She's not physically strong or attractive and doesn't seem to have much going for her, but she becomes a hero. She deals with strong emotional and mental problems, which she manages to overcome. Those victories were more inspiring than Vin's physical ones (though there were many of those too). xD

6. Favorite book of 2014?
Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. PSYCHOLOGY. PLOT TWISTS.

7. Flight or invisibility?
Invisibility. Hands down. Even if I wasn't scared of falling (and therefore, heights), I'd still prefer to fly under the radar rather than into it.

8. Tea or coffee?
Tea, generally. Especially iced tea.

9. Starlight or sunshine? 
Sunshine.

10. Why did you start blogging originally? 
I wanted to have a place to talk about writing and get my thoughts down "on page." I also like talking to people and hearing other opinions.

And now my nominees:

To the Barricade!

Digressions of a Demented Scribe

Back to the Drawing Board

Lily's Notes in the Margins

Opal Swirls

I am afraid I cannot think of any more right now. Next, I must rack my brains trying to think of ten questions.

1. Best writing music?

2. Favorite book/series?

3. Do you have a writing schedule of any kind, whether it is for blogging or for novel writing?

4. Have you ever written collaboratively?

5. Which fictional character do you know that you could (or even do) hold up as a role model?

6. Have you ever watched BBC's Merlin? And if you have, what is your favorite moment/episode in the series?

7. Do you have any slightly embarrassing cooking stories? (I know I don't appear all too bright when I attempt to cook.)

8. Which book made you laugh the most?

9. How did you start writing?

10. What is your Myers-Briggs personality type? (If you don't know but are interested in knowing, you can take the quiz at 16personalities.com. There's even more info about the different types at oddlydevelopedtypes.com.)

That's it! I promise I'll try to think of something to write a post about for next week.
Thanks again to Savannah!