It doesn’t get more real than Back of the Yards, on the South Side of Chicago, when you’re growing up as a young person. It’s where fantasy and the power of story can build resilience, foster healing and lead to greater understanding. Based on the stories and experiences of real urban youth, the Made Collaborative Studio presents Back of the Yards, a new comic series of gritty truth that’s beyond your wildest dreams
A fictionalized version of the real Back of the Yards neighborhood serves as setting for the eponymous comic book series. Likewise, the stories and the characters themselves are based on the real lives and musings of Chicago youth. These stories were first conceived by students attending an afterschool arts program in the West-Side of Chicago. They were collected by the project’s founder, Jimmy Briseno, during Made Collaborative’s first round of afterschool collaborations.
From these original afterschool collaborations, Jimmy then had an idea to elevate these kids’ ideas by bringing professional comics artists and writers into the creative process. In this way, Jimmy hoped to validate the kids’ stories and experiences by weaving them together as the narrative threads of a real comic book series
The result is a collaborative effort between artists and youth and the start of our comic series. And it is also this framework that we are presenting you with an opportunity to join in this collaborative experience by submitting your own creative ideas to us for the possibility of being developed and illustrated further by our group of participating artists and even incorporating some of your selected ideas into future issues of this new Back of the Yards comic series!
In many ways, this entire project was born in the classroom on one cold winter’s evening at one of those early after-school sessions when a young youth proudly proclaimed that he had “an idea, and it is going to be great!”
From there, we first learned about the character of Andre, who would later become Andre Davis, one of the primary characters of our new comic’s early storyline.
Shortly thereafter, we would create other characters based on those first classroom collaborations, including Tamia Parker and Russell Patterson.
Our own writers would then create a character named Carl Castaneda, who would ultimately serve as the lynchpin character that tied those various early characters together into one common comic narrative – the Back of the Yards!
You can learn about all of that and more, including reading Issues #1 and 2, by visiting our Back of the Yards Studio Card page by linking to the QR Code to the left (link also provided). https//madecollaborative.com/cards/studio-card-3
Now, with this collaboration template, you can also create your own comic character and, if you so choose, submit your new character(s) to us. We will then be selecting certain character submissions to highlight on our website, along with inviting some of you for more direct collaboration with our artists, including developing illustrations of your new character.
We will spend the rest of this worksheet presenting you with a simple 6-step process to help you create your own character using our project website’s digital template. Within this digital template, we will guide you through various traits and characteristics for you to consider as you develop your own new comic character, as well as introduce you to some related concepts, tools and character-building insights from Marvel Comic’s creator Stan Lee and a psychologist named Carl Jung.
So, with that if you are ready to collaborate with us, just turn the page! And ultimately, some of those characters will be included in future issues of our Back of the Yards comic, with a goal of including at least 3 new characters in our next comic issue!
Comic Collaboration Worksheet #1
Let’s Create a New Character(s)!
To get started we must first access the “Create a New Character” Studio Card page. And you can do that by either linking to the QR Code to the right or linking to site page link below :
As you will see, once you land on the Studio Card webpage, as you scroll down you are immediately presented with a quick video that helps illustrate the importance of great characters to any great story or movie, which you can access simply by clicking the yellow play button on the website page.
FIRST,
GRAB A PEN & PAPER!
Before we jump into the collaborative steps of this “Create a Character(s) digital template, we do urge you to first grab a pen and paper (or just use this worksheet for your paper) The key to making this collaboration work will be for you to take time to collect your thoughts and take notes as you creatively brainstorm about your new character. And don’t worry, we will help guide you through this creative brainstorming process with the next four steps to follow.
STEP ONE
Creating Your Character’s Basic Background & Physical Characteristics
With this first step we will help you to essentially develop the “introduction” to your character. To do that, we help you think about your character’s basic characteristics, including their name, age, occupation and physical traits. Don’t worry about the smaller details with this first step – there will be plenty of time for that later below.
Think of the of the goal of this first step of the character development process as being able to briefly describe (in 4 sentences or less), your new character to a friend of family member.
So, with that context, what you will first see within this Step is a Google Slide presentation that present the “character dossier” of our Back of the Yards comic character, Andre Davis. We will refer to this Google Slide presentation throughout each step of the collaboration.
You can navigate these Google Slides by using the arrows in the lower left-hand corner. And you can also expand the Google Slide to full screen by click on the three vertical dots in that same lower left-hand corner.
After navigating the Google Slide presentation (with a focus on slide 3 for this Step One), you will be provided various example of (i) some basic characteristics of your character’s background and (ii) your character’s personality traits Take some time to review these examples and give thought to which might apply to the introduction of your new character.
And to help bring together these various concepts and examples, we provide an example of how this short character description exercise applies to screenplays in movies.
Pen to Paper!
As with each step of this digital template, we provide you with a quick “Pen & Paper” space to collect summarize your thoughts as prompted at the end of this Step One. And for your convenience, you can use the space on the following pages to write down your response notes.
PROMPT #1 - What are some of the physical characteristics of your new character? Feel free to use some of the examples from the table or link provided on the Studio Card website page. And you can also refer to Slide 3 of Andre’s Character Dossier if helpful.
PROMPT #2 - What are some of your character’s basic background elements? Occupation? Age? Birthplace? Family members? Any other basic information that you can think of that may be helpful to describe your character in one or two sentences? And feel free to also us Slide 3 of Andre’s Character Dossier if helpful.
PROMPT #3 - Now let’s bring it all together and using the Training Day movie example above along some of the physical characteristics and basic background elements you listed above, try to describe your character in two to three sentences as if you were first introducing that character in a screenplay. .
STEP TWO
Developing Your Character’s Personality Traits
With part, we focus on developing your new character’s personality traits. And to help you with this creative exercise, we provide you with a few references, including a helpful table of various personality traits to consider, and a few corresponding external link that provides additional personality traits to consider as you develop your new character.
We also help you think about personality traits by presenting two videos of contrasting personalities. The first personality we present is that of the Joker character. Joker, of course, being the infamous villain within the DC comic universe, and Batman’s nemesis. Known for his outrageous behavior, impulsivity and
cunningness, the Joker’s personality traits include chaotic, unpredictable, cruel, intelligent and obsessive.
On the other side of the personality spectrum, we present a short video describing the real-life personality and life legacy of Frida Kahlo, a worldrenowned Mexican artist that explored identity, pain and the female experiences and became a feminist icon and symbol of Mexican cultural pride
The stark contrast in these two personalities is very apparent and from these personalities you can begin to draw deeper insights into each character’s (one real, the other fiction) motivations and predicted actions in any given story line.
In that way, developing your character’s personality traits effectively will help you to develop future storylines of your character, informing your character’s decisions, actions and motivations in any given storyline.
Pen to Paper!
As with each step of this digital template, we provide you with a quick “Pen & Paper” space to collect summarize your thoughts as prompted at the end of this Step One. And for your convenience, you can use the space on the following pages to write down your response notes.
PROMPT #4 - What five personality traits do you think best describes the Joker’s personality if you were describing his character to a friend or family member who knew nothing about the Joker? You can use Slide #4 of Andre’s Character Dossier if helpful.
PROMPT #5 - What five personality traits do you think best describes Frida’s personality if you were describing her to a friend or family member who knew nothing about her or her legacy? Again, you can use Slide #4 of Andre’s Character Dossier if helpful.
PROMPT #6 - Now using Slide 4 of Andre’s character dossier as example, let’s bring it together and write down five or more personality traits that you would use to describe your new character to a friend or family member.
STEP THREE Character Archetypes & Core Value Traits
With this next step in your character development process, we focus on your Character’s Archetype and Core Values. As further described on the digital template page, Character archetypes are universally recognizable character types that represent specific roles, traits, or functions within a story's structure
To help set the stage for this collaborative step, we also introduce you to Carl Jung, who was a Swiss psychiatrist introduced the concept of archetypes as part of his theory of the collective unconscious, suggesting that certain character types and symbols are innate, universal patterns shared by all humans.
Character archetypes are essential in storytelling because they provide familiar roles that help audiences quickly understand characters' motivations and functions within a narrative. These archetypes like the Hero, Mentor, or Trickster serve as universal patterns that resonate across cultures and time periods. By using archetypes, writers can create deeper emotional connections and structure their stories more effectively.
In other words, if you can begin to identify Character Archetypes, you essentially have a creative cheat code in developing your own characters and their future storylines. And to help you better understand these Character Archetypes, we provide you with an overview of 12 such archetypes within a short flipbook.
After you flip through our Character Archetype overview, we turn to a closely related concept within this Collaborative step – core values.
Character archetypes are closely connected to core values because each archetype embodies specific principles or ideals that drive their behavior and choices. For example, the Hero often represents courage and self-sacrifice, while the Caregiver reflects compassion and responsibility. These core values further help audiences understand what each character stands for and create emotional resonance by aligning with the audience’s own beliefs or aspirations.
And to help you better identify the core values of your own new character, we provide you a table of sample core values on the Studio Card page, as well as an external link as an additional reference if helpful
Pen to Paper!
As with each step of this digital template, we provide you with a quick “Pen & Paper” space to collect summarize your thoughts as prompted at the end of this Step One. And for your convenience, you can use the space on the following pages to write down your response notes.
PROMPT #7 - Which of the selected character archetypes below do you feel that you most personally identify with? Feel free to select more than one if you're so inclined. Both people and fictional characters go through various phases of personal development that can include elements of 2, 3 or more archetypes throughout the course of their lives.
PROMPT #8 - Andre Davis is "The Hero" of the first several 3 issues of Back of the Yards, but that doesn't mean he'll stay that way!
But heroes can change. They may grow to become the mentor in another hero's story. They may be tempted by the dark side of some of their other character traits and become an outlaw rebel, or a tyrannical ruler.
Based on what you know from Andre’s character, either from the character dossier summary above, or from the comic itself, which way do you think Andre's character might develop in future issues of Back of the Yards? Be creative on this one. There's no wrong answer!
PROMPT #9 - In the spirit of the Creator archetype, here's an opportunity to jot down some ideas for your new character based on any of the 12 archetypes above, along with any corresponding core values. Just give it a try. You don't have to go into too much detail on this one and you can use Slide 5 from the Andre Character Dossier summary as an example if helpful. Just see where the spark of inspiration takes you.
STEP FOUR
Your Character’s
Biography & Other Interesting Facts!
Congratulations! If you have completed the first three Steps of this Studio Card collaboration, you now have the makings of a developed new character that you can use for your own storylines, and/or if you are so inclined, you can also submit to us for further development And for some of you, should you so choose, we may include your new characters in our next Back of the Yards comic issue.
More specifically, if you completed this first three steps above, you now have a character that has its basic physical and personality traits, along with a defined character archetype and core values That’s the foundation of any fictional character!
With this collaboration, we first present a quick video from the iconic Stan Lee, creating of the Hulk, Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man and the Black Panther to just a name a few. With this video, Stan Lee gives some insights on the character development process for some of these iconic comic characters.
We then present you a Google Slide presentation that basically gives you an opportunity to further build your character’s biography. Every
one of us has a history which helps to define who we are, whether it’s a school we went to, a neighborhood we lived or live in; a sport we play; move we love; a person we loved.
It is this past that forms the tapestry of our lives, and with this bonus round, we present you an opportunity to develop some of that early back story for your new character by presenting 100 questions in lightening round form that you can choose from to answer for your new character You can pack as many or few of the questions to answer for your new character.
Pen to Paper!
As with each step of this digital template, we provide you with a quick “Pen & Paper” space to collect summarize your thoughts as prompted at the end of this Step One. And for your convenience, you can use the space on the following pages to write down your response notes.
PROMPT #10 (BONUS ROUND!) - In many ways, this final round is optional and intended to just be creative icing on your character development cake. From the questions provided within the google slide presentation pick as many questions as you’d like to answer to help further define your character’s biographical history. And you can use Slide #6 of Andre’s character dossier as an example if helpful.
STEP FIVE
Let’s Collaborate!
Just as it says below, with this collaboration, you will have an opportunity to develop your own original comic character. Especially creative submissions could be chosen for further development with the Made Collaborative team . We'll feature your character on our website. They might also appear in the Back of the Yards comics!
We'll also invite some collaborators to take part in our livestream sessions over Zoom .
Interested? It’s starts simply by clicking the yellow button on the Studio Card page.
Once you click the yellow button, a Google Collaboration Form will expand below, within which you will see prompts for your new character submission.
And once you have completed each of the four collaboration prompts, you can then click on the “Submit” button and voila, you are one step closer to collaborating directly with us!
Last but certainly not least, you can submit to us any concept sketches or illustrations of your new character, you can do so simply by clicking the yellow button below.
After clicking the button, you will then see the submission box to your right and from there, you can select “Choose File” to upload your illustration submission(s) to the “Choose File” option within the corresponding submission box. And that’s it! From there, we will be reviewing all your submissions regularly and posting updates on the Project ”This & That” blog So, keep an eye out for those updates and as always, thank you for collaborating with us!
