It's Not Rocket Science by George Peter Gatsis - Branding Your Character

[Rich Johnston]

Say you have an awesome idea for a comic book... where do you begin?



The knee jerk reaction would be to start drawing... or writing a story.

Stop!

Ask yourself a few questions... okay, just one question...

• Do you know how to distinguish your main character from the sea of characters already out there?

If you've answered yes to the question, comeback for the crazy climatic conclusion... same BLEEDING TIME, SAME BLEEDING CHANNEL.

If you've answered NO to the question read on...

BRAND POSITIONING PLATFORM TEMPLATE



The corporate world has a wonderful little formula that BRAND MANAGERS get paid a lot of money ...?*( and by alot of money... I mean, you can go to the comic shop on Wednesday and buy the entire 52 and still have enuff money left over for a mansion and a yacht... that you can include in the small city you are building with the rest of your Lego Star Wars, Harry Potter Collection)?*... to use, apply and execute concepts with... and you are about to learn what that is for FREE!

The formula goes something like this:

the?*BRAND?*( Whatever your concept is - a person, a thing, a service )

1. TO BE :?*Transcends day to day operations to raise the challenge from where you currenly are to where you want to be... most of the time, it's a catch phrase or forward thinking statement.
2. TO FEEL :?*Summarizes what the soul of the brand is. Describe the main and distinctive characteristics and tap into deeply rooted needs... usually as little as 3 words in total.
3. TO SAY :?*Describes the way a brand or service is defined for a specific consumer target. It should describe the unique selling proposition that will make people want to come to the BRAND. Focus on:a) important attributes;b) benefits offered;c) competitive advantages;d) occasions of use.

Okay? Got it?

Hmmmm... I would have to say no, I don't understand. You sound like the crazy lunatic from the Steam-Punk un-employment office.?*(cause everyone knows Diesel-Punk is in.)?*What the heck are you talking about? How do you apply this formula to my character... or ANY character?

Well let's try an example...

Your character is an alien from (loud echo engaged) OUTERSPACE!

Yeah, so is Superman, Venom, President Obama and so many others...

Yeah, so... let's try Superman in the formula.

the BRAND ( Superman )

1. TO BE : Fight for truth, justice and the American way.
2. TO FEEL : Invincible, Idealistic, and Inspirational
3. TO SAY : Fill people with hope that, the truth will always prevail, justice is swift and the world is united.

There you go...

Now try applying this branding method to your character and compare your results with what is already out there.

If you find something similar or exactly... then rethink your strategy until the similarity disappears in the void that is at the end of the rainbow... or the edge of the universe... whichever comes first.

Up next: Creating a general story template... same BLEEDING TIME, SAME BLEEDING CHANNEL.

Sincerely,

George Peter Gatsishttp://www.georgepetergatsis.com/

[Charlesknight]

Sean G Murphy has similar thoughts but applied to the creator themselves:

I'll use my friend Scott Snyder as an example here (and I'm about to repeat his name a lot). Scott's first hit was on American Vampire with Stephen King. Immediately, Scott is labeled as a horror writer because that's what Stephen is. As Vampire continued without Stephen (it's Scott's book, after all), Scott's branding went from "working with King" to "Scott is a horror writer in his own right". Aware of his branding, Scott has been careful to select projects that fit his brand. Swamp Thing, Severed, and Batman are all books with a horror twist. It's easier for him to get these books because DC and Scott know what Scott's brand is. His brand is so clear, in fact, that he has to be careful of what he works on in the future. Skipping around without regard to what books suit him would hurt Scott. I suppose Scott could write Spider Man one day (Scott can do anything well), and if it ever comes time for him to tackle the web-slinger, I think Scott knows that he has to approach it very carefully because Spidey's not known as a horror book. Scott isn't doing well because he's lucky--Scott also pays attention.

As artists, we still have a brand. And even though we all need to pay bills, we shouldn't say yes to everything. Your brand is built by the titles you produce, the characters you've drawn, the writers you're associated with, the vibe of your art, and by your blogs and tweets. Figure out what your brand is and use that to dictate your decisions. Even if you're on a book that's not quite "you", perhaps you can suggest something to the writer to help inject your brand into the story. I didn't think of Joe the Barbarian as being within my brand, but making it really dark helped me move it closer to my brand. American Vampire SOTF is totally my brand; PRJ will be the purist form of my brand.

5 Year Plan by *seangordonmurphy on deviantART

[abcdiablo]

Sean G Murphy has similar thoughts but applied to the creator themselves:



5 Year Plan by *seangordonmurphy on deviantART

Yeah, I thought this was gonna be a parody of that.
I was disappointed that it wasn't.

[tbdeinc]

Yeah, I thought this was gonna be a parody of that.
I was disappointed that it wasn't.

That is on my list... but it requires a great deal of Prep & Landing before I release it to the world...

GPG