Visual Inspirations for Characters!
I have gotten so much done lately. I almost have a complete plot for the second book and there's still enough left for the third one. Awesome.
And I've been shopping for real life versions of my characters lately. I've come up with several sets. No one quite works for Sophie or Richmond, I'm afraid, though I've seen people in real life who are perfect, so I know I'm not asking too much!
For Sophie or Joséphine-Marie or whatever we're calling her:
She has a long, thin face, freckles, brown hair and eyes, and a sort of Roman nose. Do you know how hard it is to find actresses with Roman noses and sharp cheekbones in popular film? But I finally spotted one person when I was watching my favourite movie of all time who fit the bill!
Glenn Close!
Her eyes are blue and her hair is pretty much blonde, but she has the nose and the cheekbones for it! Unfortunately I always think of her as Cruella Deville (or, more recently, the ball-crushing Marquise de Mertreuil) and I never think of her as young, so it only works in theory. Still, she's something like this.
If anybody ever sees an actress who looks like a young, brunette, freckly Glenn Close, text me immediately. Because having a visual inspiration for a character makes it more fun.
The second hardest one for me is Richmond.
Now we all know he initially started out as Noel Fielding.
But I ditched that over time... kind of. He still has that hair (parted down the middle) and he still has sideburns that you can barely ever see, but he ended of morphing a teeny bit and mixing with my ideal Montparnasse.
Now, I'm quite confident in my ability to make him on the Sims. Easy. I have a little more trouble, however, when it comes time to find someone in the real worl who looks like him. I've seen them, though! They're out there! Probably all being male models and stuff.
In my mind, Richmond has a strong jaw and pointed chin, a longish, straight nose, and a sort of pronounced brow. And cheekbones. Everbody has the cheekbones. And blue eyes. It changes in my head whether they're light or dark blue. I think light blue is prettier--that icy blue colour that my first crush had in fourth grade--but I kind of don't like those eyes on Richmond. I tend to gravitate toward darker blue eyes... I like how I think more about Richmond's face than anyone else's. But the narrator's in love with him, so I'm allowed to be too! Don't mock me. I'll try not to go all Stephenie Meyer on you at any point.
Anyway, I genuinely cannot find an actor who fits the part. The closest thing I could find is this boy I met one time and then friended on facebook. And then he came out of the closet. He looks like this. And he also looks like this.
So yeah, if you ever see anyone (actor-wise) who might fit my description of Richmond... let me know.
And now a pretty easy one. Julian!
Obviously, Julian is heavily based on a sugar-high, childish David Tennant. However, in looking through my 700+ saved pictures of David Tennant I could only find two that I thought fit really well.
No, I will NOT size these pictures down.
I think these really shrieked Julian at me because of how wide his eyes are. And the scruff. And because he looks like he's plotting mischief. And he's wearing grey! Alrighty then.
But I promise I've seen other people who fit the role! To proove that, here is a picture of a guy who works with me who I often think of as a good fit for Julian (only physically, unfortunately). Though he's a little more beard-y than I want Julian to be.
And here's one that is easy because a lot of people fit the role and also hard... because a lot of people fit the role.
Adélaïde!
This is my least favourite Adélaïde face of the three I have picked out, just because she's kinda old-ish and, like Glenn Close and David Tennant, I strongly associate her with one of her roles.
Her facial expression and her hair are just so perfect here (for after Adélaïde decides to be a crossdresser) that I couldn't resist saving it.
And then I happened to notice this chick and thought she would be good for a super-pretty Adélaïde (which would make perfect sense):
She played that Scooty in that Impossible Planet episode of Doctor Who. She got killed by toby. But she's very pretty and has the eyes and that heart-shaped face or whatever that I imagine Adélaïde having.
And here is my favourite Adélaïde so far, though her hair is decidedly the wrong colour in every picture:
She played Annie in Desperate Romantics, and I had her cast as my Adélaïde after one episode.
Okay... that's enough of that.