PBs
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Depends. Often a rough outline of a character comes from seeing someone specific in something. Though I don’t rip the character wholesale, there’s often something ineffably “that actor” about the character that I want to capture: Hiroyuki Sanada as Toranaga for instance.
Other times I describe a character to someone (a friend, or increasingly my children) and they make suggestions. Though often these days I don’t even bother with PBs as much.
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I prefer to use PBs that are public figures, especially actors. They are cast as characters for a living, people make “dream casting” lists for adaptations all the time, and their images are in the public space and easily credited to them. Many times they’ve played a role that fits the vibe of the theme in question.
These days I like to use character actors, supporting actors, and international film actors over A-listers, but I find them by watching something and later thinking “hey that person would be right for this vibe,” which to me is the main consideration for who to use as a PB. The vibe comes first.
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If I don’t have someone in mind already, I ask ChatGPT.
Prompt: “I am playing a character that is X, Y, Z. What actor/actress/model would best play this?”
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Pinterest, baybeee. Or modeling/actor agency websites sometimes have some interesting faces.
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I have decent luck trolling international cinema/TV if I want to find a unique face. Searches like ‘Spanish actors in their 30s’ and such.
There are some actors I just keep in my pocket because I like their vibe and want to use them when the time is right, though.
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@helvetica I used to use Pinterest (especially Roz’s pinterest collection) a lot but I’ve had issues running into unending unmarked but obviously AI images.
@KarmaBum THANK U. I need more resources like that.
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A lot of times I’ll use Pinterest, but the endless stream of AI that Tez mentioned is really getting on my nerves.
Other times, because my characters tend to pull a bit of inspiration from this over here and that over there and then maybe a touch of this movie or that song slapped on top of it, I already have someone vaguely taking shape in my head. So I’ll look back at what I drew inspiration from and see if there’s someone from one of those sources that fits the vibe, even if it’s a side character or a similar piece of media.
If I’m making characters with someone, they’ll get pulled into the decision process to make suggestions or veto something if it reminds them too much of someone they know, a PB they used, or a standout character from another game. I recently vetoed one of the names on a friend’s list because it was the Shadow Name of a Mage that I played for, like, almost four years. It just would’ve been weird to be on the other end of that and I want to show my friends and RP partners the same courtesy.
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I wish that I could use AI and feel good about it - I love the idea of being able to craft a character’s face that really goes with what I want to describe, instead of always having to be “close enough” by searching google images for a public figure who kinda-sorta-maybe is close to the description I ACTUALLY want to have.
But, AI being what it is, I don’t feel comfortable doing that anymore. So back into the search engine mines it is.
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I have a folder of faces and associated names – when I see an interesting face in a movie or show, I note down the name, look them up on Pinterest, try to wade through all of the BS AI fakes to find a good picture, and then slip that pic with their name into the folder.
I currently have 374 actors listed in there, across a wide variety of ages, colorings, ethnicities, genders, and pretty much everything else. So the first place I go when I want a PB is there.
Then again, I often get an idea for a character while watching a show, and then I already have a PB in mind (because I saw them in a similar role already). Then I just have to make sure that they don’t become an outright expy.
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T Tez forked this topic
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Oh, I forgot to mention that there is a second stage to my process: I have to check whether or not the bastard I want to use has been accused of anything heinous. Then have a mild reflective moment about whether killing someone ‘counts’ as something bad enough to discount a potential PB… It’s a process.
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Now that I know the kids say ‘faceclaim’ instead of ‘playedby’, I found a few other sources thanks to KB setting me on the right path:
- https://herorps.tumblr.com/fcd
- https://argentangelhelps.tumblr.com/faceclaimdirectory
- https://thefcdproject.tumblr.com/directory
- https://ooolympia.tumblr.com/fcdirectory
Shout out to this one for period appropriate pbs:
I guess I should say fcs now, but y’all will think I mean feature characters instead.
she/they
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@Tez Yeah, I feel like we should be crotchety and stuck in our ways (in our rocking chairs on the front porch) about “pb/played by” versus “faceclaim.” >.>
