Book of art 1

Before and after of a cliche 'Mary Sue'

Have you ever created a new bab and you realise that your retinas are burning from all the neon colours and your face is crinkling up to look like a salt bag when you read their backstory? Well this could mean that your charter is a 'Mary Sue' or 'Gary stu'
These are some pictures of common Mary Sue trade marks, but don't worry, just because your original character has certain things in common doesn't make it a bad!

But first, here is the definition of a Mary Sue: A Mary Sue is an idealized and seemingly perfect fictional character. Often, this character is recognized as an author insert or wish fulfillment. They can usually perform better at tasks than should be possible given the amount of training or experience, and usually are able through some means to upstage the main protagonist of the story, such as by saving the hero.

This is what they most commonly look like. But first I want to clarify that I do know all these are for a joke

I made my own for a redesign

And this is how they turned out
                        V

(once again i can't do line art so i coloured the sketch sketch)

So as you can see here, I've kept pretty close to the original design but changed a few things to make it easier for the eyes.

It's good to have a mix of both bold and softer colours in the design depending on the character's aesthetic and personality. Also keep in mind what era, age and what climate they are dealing with eg
A little girl in 1999 who lives in the artic isn't going to wear shorts and a t-shirt, they are going to be wrapped up in layers to keep themselves from freezing. Oh! And remember to use reference pictures if you're ever confused on something like clothing or overall proportions.

I will talk about backstories in a chapter to come, I'm just not very good and creating them and need to practice

Hope this helped even a little bit