How To Make Good Flaws vs Bad Flaws for Likable Characters

whether you're drawing or writing characters we've talked in the past about how if you want a character to be likable it's a good idea to make them flawed to give them flaws usually a pristine perfect character repels us it has the opposite effect of what we would hope okay cool good make them flawed give them flaws seems simple enough is a robot arm a flaw though is a disadvantage a flaw let's take a closer look [Music] one of the most interesting things that happens when you mention to people that a character needs flaws is that they automatically assume that they now need to be bad evil characters are edgy anti-heroes but that isn't actually the case all of us as humans are imperfect and we make mistakes and some things are just by accident but others are predictable repeat offenses or patterns now when a character has a personality flaw it's not only believable it's a relatable thing that we understand it's also a tool for telling their story for example if a character has an insecurity and then comes up against something that presses that button of theirs we probably know how they'll react and likely it will be a mistake on their part some flaws that aren't really flaws are things like physical limitations tragic elements of their past or bad circumstances think about it someone having a limb missing maybe an impairment from a certain standpoint just like losing a family member being separated from the people that they care about or being wrongfully imprisoned but all of those things are external a character with no flaws might handle these situations perfectly they could be at peace with their missing limb be grateful that they're alive make the best of things and there's no conflict these flaws aren't really flaws but they're close they're just missing one ingredient conflict going back to those personality flaws that we talked about before some things are so deeply ingrained in our characters that they likely won't change other things could possibly change over the course of a story which we would call an arc losing a family member isn't a flaw but there is a conflict present in the grief and mourning that a character goes through maybe they don't handle it perfectly big hero six is a film that's primary conflict is the idea of grief or loss of being able to let go versus holding on now the color of someone's skin certainly isn't a flaw but an insecurity related to the color of their skin perhaps through treatment that they have internalized throughout their life could make them react harshly when they perceive something to be a racial slight against them now a story can be as simple as a character wants and we can complicate it by involving multiple characters who aren't similar or different things but we could say that in a different way and phrase it as a character lacks something now an insecurity is typically something that we lack that causes conflict so if a villains flaw is their greed that means that they lack money or power but the thing with that lack is that it won't go away no matter how much that they acquire in order to cure them of that greed there needs to be something else or something deeper that gets resolved now oftentimes the character lacks the humility or the strength to ever actually change their ways if you're having trouble figuring out what sort of thing would make a believable flaw for your character think about what good things they have going for them good qualities or advantages that they have and take that thing further obscure or distort it a little bit take a character's confidence and turn it into blind overconfidence as an example of this Sonic the Hedgehog has had plenty of iterations some versions that I would say fit the idea of being too perfect kind of pandering to an audience that just wants this super cool character and he's often portrayed as being very confident now these iterations tend to repel me personally but then you'll have times where this confidence actually registers as overconfidence it gets him into trouble him going fast becomes going too fast and suddenly you have that complication or conflict that makes an otherwise perfect character more relatable now again we might start to focus the idea of flaws on bad things selfish traits or insecurities however remember that there are other ways that we can make mistakes other ways to make a story more interesting by not being solvable or finished easily again we might start to focus on the idea of flaws being bad things selfish traits or insecurities however remember that there are other ways that we can make mistakes other ways to make a story more interesting by not being solvable or finished easily flaws don't have to be malicious or have ill intent for example naivete or being naive makes for a great flaw it allows characters to trust others too easily it allows them to think the bear in the right when they aren't now this applies to characters like babies of baby doesn't really have any ideas of harming others necessarily but because they're so inexperienced and defenseless it's like an ingredient for a good conflict and story naivete can apply to characters like Yoda someone who we think of as wise and pure good in the setting of Star Wars but has some big mistakes behind him that you could chalk up to being naive or even too arrogant to see where he and the rest of the Jedi have made mistakes in the past now the primary time that we know him or at least were first introduced to him is after this arc in his life but that doesn't mean you could couldn't go back and add this sort of thing earlier in a character's life be careful to that you aren't making fun of your character through a trait you've given them all too easily sometimes you'll see a heavyset character be the butt of the joke simply because of their size now all this does is make it look like the storyteller is poking fun at them so have you ever heard a little kids start out telling a story that they made up sometimes there's a lot of good set up like for example there once was an alligator with a jet pack and he had five hundred children one day he needed to drive to the store and he did the end so not only are there a lot of extra elements in that story that ultimately had no impact on the actual story the story itself of him driving to the store had no conflict nothing interesting along the way and no change or a resolution of any value now more than that the alligator has no perceivable flaw in security or internal thing that makes them relatable likable or in need of change as a person as you tell stories with characters use flaws to your advantage make them the spices that influence and deepen your character instead of simply an element that's tacked on as an afterthought think of it along the lines of earning what will your character do to earn their outcome not cheap for it and what will you do to earn your audience's attention and care for the character not cheating it now before you go this week I'm offering a free downloadable wallpaper for your computer or phone screen and all I ask of you in return is if you'll help me out by answering a few quick questions about this channel the content that I make and things like that the first link in the description shouldn't take more than a minute helps us out helps you out with future stuff the second Biko's backpack is also shipping out this week make sure you're on board on patreon.com slash bagel denizen to get all of these here items thank you so much for watching and have fun creating [Music]

Channel: Brookes Eggleston - Character Design Forge

Views: 216,131

Keywords: likable characters, 5 ways to make a character more likable, 5 ways to make a character more likeable, character design forge, character flaws, character flaw, brookes eggleston, good flaws, bad flaws, learn character design, telling stories with characters, character development, writing, characters

Id: eNdi5zGcu1A

Length: 7min 45sec (465 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 04 2020