Subcultures - Character Design Reference

I just wanted to get a rough idea on how I should go about the process of character designing, instead of simply diving right into it, and so I decided to look into various examples that have been used for more professional means. It was no surprise that I soon enough gathered an ample supply of references and tutorials, just by going through several animation-focused blogs alone.

See how important moodboards are?

There were some incredibly detailed ones (Even for characters that would just wear one type of clothing throughout the entire show's run), so I tried picking out the simpler ones that I will be able to apply to my own character designs (Again, I should really try to avoid going overboard with this visual response). 

For animated works, it is no surprise that these model sheets would focus a lot more on how far a character can express him or herself with both their bodies and faces, sure they are given one page where they are roughly shown how their outfit, but there seems to be a lot more focus on their facial expressions and body language than anything else.

I will be doing at least one turnaround animation, so it's no biggie.

Perspective and Expressions

They probably extracted these from a much larger collection of model sheets.
Note how each character is shown how they look from the front, side and back
like the Sailor Neptune character sheet, as well as the an assortment of expressions
to distinguish each character more from one another.

As I am planning to design some extra clothing for each character, I felt that it was necessary to also look into how fashion sketches are normally displayed by fashion designers. I am sure there is still so much more to look into when it comes to how they professionally display their concepts, but I believe these rough concepts are already good enough for displaying each of my characters' own unique wardrobe.

I will most probably also be reusing the same character model for every outfit, instead of attempting to redraw each character in a variety of poses (And this is excluding the various perspective shots of them in their main outfits).

Not surprisingly, while character model sheets focuses more on the characters themselves. 

These fashion concepts of course tend to focus on the clothing themselves, though
they do get extra points if they actually bother giving these faceless models
some extra personality, hehe.

Speaking of that... while these are only colour block exercises, there is already so much personality seen in these faceless models (Which is not surprising really since these were done by the talented cartoonist Tiffany Ford). If I were to go for a simpler art style, I might actually have more time to draw my characters in more poses and so on. It will definitely give the overall visual response a more lighthearted tone to it, which would make it so much more entertaining and interesting.

Subcultures - Fashion Research

My Pinterest Boards

Aside from listing down what fashion elements are normally associated with these subcultures (As I had done in my previous research posts), I have also begun gathering together bulks of visual references for when I start designing each character's wardrobe. 

I started picking up the habit of putting together Pinterest boards when it comes to my visual research for recent projects, and this is all thanks to my Applied Animation 2 teammates. While I still prefer properly putting together moodboards on my own (As it allows me to relook through these images that I have collected and put them all properly together for stronger focus), this does make the process a lot faster.

While I cannot say that this will make the designing process easier (Or maybe it will, we will just have to see), I do believe that it will make it much more enjoyable. There is just such a wide variety of clothing and accessories to choose from, that I will surely have a fun time mixing and matching them together.

The boards can be viewed here:

Hippie Board
Punk Board
Goth Board

There are also other sites (Such as online shops) that I can refer to when it comes to what these subcultures would wear, that have already been listed in past posts.

Subcultures - A Brief Look into the Hippie Subculture

Hippies in Animation

Extracted from Wikipedia's "Hippie" article:
A subculture that was originally a youth movement that emerged in the US during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The word 'hippie' came from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into New York City's Greenwich Village and San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. Hippies created their own communities, listened to psychedelic music, embraced the sexual revolution, and used drugs such as cannabis, LSD, peyote and psilocybin mushrooms to explore altered states of consciousness.

In January 1967, the Human Be-In in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco popularised hippie culture, leading to the Summer of Love on the West Coast of the United States, and the 1969 Woodstock Festival on the East Coast. Hippies in Mexico, known as jipitecas, formed La Onda and gathered at Avándaro, while in New Zealand, nomadic house truckers practiced alternative lifestyles and promoted sustainable energy at Nambassa. In the United Kingdom in 1970 many gathered at the gigantic Isle of Wight Festival with a crowd of around 400,000 people and in later years, mobile "peace convoys" of New age travellers made summer pilgrimages to free music festivals at Stonehenge and elsewhere.

Hippie fashion and values had a major effect on culture, influencing popular music, television, film, literature, and the arts. Since the 1960s, many aspects of hippie culture have been assimilated by mainstream society. The religious and cultural diversity espoused by the hippies have gained widespread acceptance, and Easter philosophy and spiritual concepts have reached a larger audience. The hippie legacy can be observed in contemporary culture in myriad forms, including health food, music festivals, contemporary sexual mores, and even the cyberspace revolution.

Extracted from Suite's "Hippie Philosophy Understanding the Hippie Ideology" article:
One of the most recognisable aspects of the hippie counterculture was the strong opposition to wars and nuclear weapons. Hippies embraced the principle of non-violence and argued that no good could be obtained from mass destruction since attacking different countries in the name of justice is the opposite of the principle of justice itself.

Hippies understood that it is fruitless to search for peace outside when people have not attained inner peace, so many of the hippie practices such as living in community and sharing possessions were also an attempt to resolve inner conflicts such as selfishness, jealousy and anger. The lifestyle adopted by such communities was an idealisation of a peaceful society which would have overcome the barriers of egocentrism.

Extracted from Pg 22 of "Subcultures Cultural Histories and Social Practice" by Ken Gelder:
Howard identifies four hippie ‘types’ along these lines: the visionaries (‘utopians who pose an alternative to existing society’, repudiating in particular the conventional values of ‘work and commerce’), freaks and heads (drug-oriented hippies who relish the ‘trip’), plastic hippies (those for whom being a hippy is merely a matter of ‘fashion’ or appearance, that is, ‘inauthentic’ hippies), and midnight hippies - considerable numbers of usually older people ‘integrated into straight society’ who are nevertheless in sympathy with the bohemian values that hippies espouse (Howard 1969: 43, 50).

Hippies from the late 1960s might have relished the 'trip' but they also developed alternative modes of settlement through communal living: producing what Speck et al. had called 'new families', made up of groups of peers and radically distinguished from the conventional nuclear familiar at home (Speck et al 1974: 34). In his study of more contemporary 'cultures of resistance', Senseless Acts of Beauty (1996), George McKay mixes post-hippie social movements together with New Age Travellers and various neo-tribes to produce an affectionate tribute to British counter-cultures and subcultures during the 1980s and early 1990s that talks about rootlessness and settlement at the same time.

Extracted from Pg 45-46 of "Subcultures Cultural Histories and Social Practice" by Ken Gelder:
Irwin talked about two 'grand scenes' in the United States, hippies and surfers. These were also 'lifestyle' scenes, but they began with particular kinds of investments: in an ideology and world-view (hippies), and in a combination of way-of-life practices and actual skills (Surfers). Irwin's account gave these two subcultures a rise-and-fall narrative that would anticipate Dick Hebdige's view of the inevitable incorporation of British punks just a couple of years later (Hebdige 1979). The first phase for a subculture is its formation; this is followed by its expansion, its corruption, and finally its stagnation. The hippie and surfer subcultures expanded too rapidly, each drawing 'more people than it could absorb' (Irwin 1977: 121): 'hangers-on' who were less ideologically committed, less skilful, and so on. But perhaps their diffusion is more typical than unique. Scenes, for Irwin, are 'tightly scripted' in one sense, but they always leave room for 'improvisation' (194). The commitment one makes to them can indeed be 'casual' - a feature that also speaks to the inherent instability of a scene. Scenes might have more permanence than fads and crazes, but they do chance and they do become undone.

Reference and Further Reading:
https://suite.io/thais-campos/590d22t
http://classroom.synonym.com/hippie-values-beliefs-5594.html
Subcultures Cultural Histories and Social Practice by Ken Gelder

Subcultures - A Brief Look into the Goth Subculture

Goths in Animation

Extracted from Wikipedia's "Goth Subculture" Article:

The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. Notable early gothic rock bands included Joy Division and Bauhaus. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify. Its imagery and cultural proclivities indicate influences from the 19th century Gothic literature along with horror films.

Styles of dress within the subculture range from death rock, punk, and Victorian styles, or combinations of the above, most often with dark attire, makeup, and hair. The scene continues to draw interest from a large audience decades from its emergence. In Western Europe, there are large annual festivals, mainly in Germany.

Gothic fashion is stereotyped as conspicuously dark, eerie, mysterious, complex and exotic. Typical gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, dark eyeliner, black fingernails and black period-styled clothing; goths may or may not have piercings. Styles are often borrowed from the Elizabethan, Victorian or medieval period and often express pagan, occult or other religious imagery. Gothic fashion may also feature silver jewellery.

Extracted from Pages 3-4 of "Goth Culture Gender, Sexuality and Style" by Dunja Brill:

the Gothic subculture emerged in Britain in the early 1980s, in the wake of a musical genre originally referred to as Post-punk (Gunn, 1999). The characteristic features of this genre- whose early protagonists included bands like Bauhaus and Siouxsie and the Banshees - were echoing guitars, slow, repetitive drums and wailing vocals fused into an eerie, hazy sound. Song lyrics revolved around the dark recesses of human soul: death, suffering and destruction as well as unfulfilled romance and isolation, but also the more arcane, taboo aspects of magic and mythology (Eg, ancient rituals, vampires). The presentation of this music involved elements of theatrical performance, most notably pale make-up, black clothes and melodramatic gestures. Adopted and further developed by the fans of the genre, these performative features came to constitute the mainstays of what is called Goth, Gothic or simply Black style.

It is impossible to identify the exact point in time when the term Gothic was associated with this particular kind of underground music and style. However, the links between the two historical meanings of the term - a form of medieval architecture and a genre of nineteenth-century Romantic horror novels- and its present incarnation as a subculture are easily discernible. Goth in its modern form draws liberally on these epochs of cultural history (Baddeley, 2002), and its disciples revel in tracing back its lineage to sources in the distant past. Consequently, medieval music, Romantic poetry and the fine arts in general are revered as ardently as the current starts of the scene.

Goths' predilection for all things ancient and Romantic is also reflected in their dress style. Traditional Goth chic is, above all, black clothing, along with a penchant for previous fabrics like velvet, lace or leather and stylistic inspirations from Victorian era dress (Eg, corsets, lace-up dresses, pirate shirts). Other traditional features of Gothic style include elaborately modelled, long, black-dyed hair, thick black eye make-up with white grounding, and lots of silver jewellery (Eg, crosses, magical symbols, skulls, bats). However, Goth music and style have evolved and diversified considerably over the last two decades. 

Extracted from Pages 9 of "Goth Culture Gender, Sexuality and Style" by Dunja Brill:

The Gothic subculture displays some characteristic lifestyles, values and practices, some of which are closely related to issues of gender and sexuality. One conspicuous feature of the Gothic scene is its broad age range, from mid-teens well into adulthood. In comparison with other long-lived subcultures (Eg, Punk), Goth boasts an unusually high proportion of adults with steady professions, especially in science and academia, art and design, social work and computer programming. Many older Goths lead a fairly normal life and have well-paid jobs, their own car and flat, and a steady relationship or even family. This makes for typical scene biographies where an increasing separation between subcultural and everyday life is practiced. 

A demographic factor closely related to the typical lifestyle arrangement of Goths as a mixture of extraordinary cultural practices and well-integrated social and professional lives is class. nearly all authors analysing Goth (Eg, Farin, 2001, Hodkinson, 2002) have pointed out that it is primarily a middle-class subculture. Of course there are some Goths with working-class backgrounds, yet the values the scene propagates represent typically middle-class ideals. Many of its collectively shared fields of interest- Eg, literature, poetry, fine art, history- mark Goth as an unusually educated and literate subculture. The racial make-up of the scene is predominantly white.

Goths also display a strong interest in religious or spiritual questions, especially the taboo areas of magic and Satanism; yet, contrary to popular opinion, practicing Satanists are rare in the subculture (Brill, 2007). Religious motifs from various sources- Eg, occultism, paganism, ancient cults, Christianity- are sometimes appropriated through critical intellectual engagement, which leads to a highly eclectic and individual 'private religion' or occult-religious-philosophical bricolage' (Helsper, 1992, pp. 288/295).

Extracted from Pages 10 of "Goth Culture Gender, Sexuality and Style" by Dunja Brill:

As to Gothic values, the subculture's juxtaposition of retrospective, traditional, conservative tendencies and postmodern, individualistic, emancipatory ideals is particularly characteristic. On the other hand, Goths harbour a strong affinity to certain historical periods. They cherish the Romantic era, with its cult of emotionalism, and delve into ancient notions of mysticism and spirituality, such as paganism. On the other hand, they cultivate a- decidedly post modern- individualism, which manifests itself in 'a radicalised claim to self realisation' (Schmidt and Neumann-Braun, 2004, p. 316) and the endorsing of an extreme pluralism of values.

A second fundamental characteristic of Goth is the subculture's self reflexive, introspective, subjectivist rather than activist, confrontational stance. Its form of protest or opposition vis-a-vis general society is one of withdrawal and refusal rather than open rebellion. One central Gothic value flowing from this attitude is the seemingly paradoxical ideal of 'demonstrating strength through weakness, through tolerance, endurance and suffering' (Schmidt and Neumann-Braun, 2004, p. 75).

Reference and Further Reading:
http://www.whitbygothweekend.co.uk/
http://ultimategothguide.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/what-makes-realistic-goth-character.html
http://www.fairygothmother.co.uk/
http://www.sophielancasterfoundation.com/
http://popgothica.blogspot.co.uk/
http://ultimategothguide.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-is-goth.html

Subcultures - A Brief Look into the Punk Subculture

Punk in Different Medias

Extracted from Wikipedia's "Punk Subculture" article:

The punk subculture which centres around punk rock music include a considerably diverse array of ideologies, fashions and forms of expression, including visual art, dance, literature and film. The subculture is largely characterised by anti-establishment views and the promotion of individual freedom. The punk subculture is centred on a loud, aggressive genre of rock music called punk rock.

Although punks are frequently categorised as having left-wing or progressive views, punk politics cover the entire political spectrum. Punk related ideologies are mostly concerned with individual freedom and anti-establishment views. Common punk viewpoints include anti-authoritarianism, a DIY ethic, non-conformity, direct action and not selling out.

Early punk fashion adapted everyday objects for aesthetic effect, such as T-shirts, leather jackets (Often decorated with painted band logos, pins and buttons, and metal studs or spikes), footwear such as Converse sneakers, skater shoes, brothel creepers, or Dr. Martens boots. Hardcore punk fans however adopted a dressed-down sort of style, by simply wearing T-shirts, jeans, combats boots or sneakers and crewcut-style haircuts. Women within the hardcore scene would normally dress in army pants, band T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts.

One of the biggest parts of punk was creating explicitly outward identities of sexuality. Everything that was normally supposed to be hidden was brought to the front, bother literally and figuratively. For some punks, the body was a symbol of opposition, a political statement expression disgust of all that was "normal" and socially accepted. The idea was to make others outside of the subculture question their own views, which made gender, gender presentation and gender identity a popular factor to be played with. Men could look like women, women could look like men, or one could look like both or neither. There was a notable amount of cross-dressing in the punk scene, it was not unusual to see men wearing ripped up skirts, fishnet tights and excessive makeup, or to see women with shaved heads were oversized plaid shirts and jean jackets and heavy combat boots. Punk created a new cultural space for androgyny and all kinds of gender expression.

In the punk and hardcore subcultures, members of the scene are often evaluated in terms of the authenticity of their commitment to the values or philosophies of the scene, which may range from political beliefs to lifestyle practices. In the punk subculture, the term 'poser' is used to describe "a person who habitually pretends to be something he or she is not." The term is used to refer to a person who adopts the dress, speech, and/or mannerisms of a particular subculture, yet who is deemed to not share or understand the values of philosophy of the subculture.

Extracted from Wikipedia's "Punk Ideologies" Article:
Punk ideologies are a group of varied social and political beliefs associated with the punk subculture. In its original incarnation, the punk subculture was primarily concerned with concepts such as anti-establishment, equality, freedom, anti-authoritarianism, individualism, direct action, free thought and non-conformity. These ideologies are usually expressed through music, literature and spoken word recordings, fashion or visual art. Some punks have participated in direct action, such as protests, boycotts, squatting, vandalism, or property destruction.

Punk fashion was originally an expression of nonconformity, as well as opposition to both mainstream culture and the status-quo. Punk fashion often displays aggression, rebellion, and individualism. Some punks wear clothing or have tattoos that express sociopolitical messages. Many punk wear second hand clothing partly as an anti-consumerist statement.

On religious issues, punk is mostly atheist or agnostic, but some punk bands have promoted religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, the Rastafari movement or Krishna.

Extracted from Pages 3-4 of "Punk Style" by Monica Sklar:

This often misunderstood subculture began in the 1970s, in major metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and the United States - a vital way to perform subcultural ideas that incorporated its own art, music, dress, and lifestyles. From its 1970s origins through its various present-day incarnations, punk is commonly rooted in those who are in some way disenfranchised from society. Self identified punks may be critical of mainstream art, politics, popular culture, consumerism, lifestyles, or sexual and social mores. Punk dress was rooted in a desire to be ironic and anti-hegemonic; it reinvented mainstream styles to critique society via bricolage and appropriation. Many elements of punk dress, such as combat boots, studded belts, and vibrantly dyed hair, have become iconic and stable in popular culture, yet symbolism and meanings have changed throughout time.

Popular perceptions presumes that punk is rooted in the music. But, in fact, the music and fashion have always developed simultaneously and in conjunction (Which is true of many subcultures beyond punk). The early days of the punk scene were a blend of fashion, music, politics, hooliganism, youth culture, avant-garde artists, intellectuals, societal outcasts, and the generally disenfranchised. Punk today continues to contain most of those elements, and thus it is not solely a musical form, or even a music based community. Instead, it is a lifestyle choice often shaped into communities by individuals who think along the same lines. Music is an outlet expression of ideas and creativitiy , and punk music shows are a gathering place for the community. “I tend to view punk as much less about a style of clothing and more so about a way of being in the world”, said Matt, a self-identified punk.

Extracted from Pages 6 of "Punk Style" by Monica Sklar:
... it is clear that the image of the mohawked, tartan-wearing, spikes and chains adorned, middle-finger-waving punk is not wholly accurate as a descriptor of all who identify as punk. Some of those interviewed for this book do, in fact, dress close to that iconic style as a form of artistic and identity expression. It is not that the look is fabrication or has ceased to exist; it is simply not as rigid a punk norm as outsiders may believe.

The iconic punk style, mostly rotted in 1970s British fashion, is still in existance, but it has developed into a form of caricature and few choose to utilise all of its most exaggerated elements simultaneously. This is particularly true among those punks who are not in a performance context. It certainly has lived on throughout the decades and been transformed to meet the expressive needs of punks around the globe, but its origins and the apex of its popularity were specific to a time and place- since then, other looks have represented other punk genres, times, and contexts.

One thing to consider is that there were always other kinds of punk dress besides "the iconic look", such as the 1970s New York look rooted in jeans, T-shirts, and tattered American street wear mixed with a few avant-garde elements. This look remains popular and influential, especially within the United States. Another consideration is that many subsequent movements within punk or adjacent to punk have influenced punk style or have been incorporated into the overall aesthetic. This is especially true of later generations of punks, such as mods and glams, who appropriated the stylistic influences of previous generations. Hence, today multiple modes of appearance would qualify as punk style. For example, contemporary punks sometimes dress in more subtle ways. Audra said: "I don't have an excessive amount of plaid clothing or leather pants with zippers or any high heel boots." Matt added: "I never had a real weird haircut or anything like that. And never really owned a leather jacket that I considered to fit in as punk in any way."

Extracted from Page 63 of "Subculture the meaning of style" by Dick Hebdige:
The punk aesthetic, formulated in the widening gap between artist and audience, can be read as an attempt to expose glam rock’s implicit contradictions. For example, the ‘working classness’, the scruffiness and eaherniess of punk ran directly counter to the arrogance, elegance and verbosity of the glam rock superstars. However, this did not prevent the two forms from sharing a certain amount of common ground. Punk claimed to speak for the neglected constintuency of white lumpen youth, but it did so typically in the stilted language of glam and glitter rock - ‘rendering’ working classness metaphorically in chains and hollow cheeks, ‘dirty’ clothing (Stained jackets, tarty see-through blouses) and rough and ready diction.

Punk thus represents a deliberately scrawled addendum to the ‘text’ of glam rock - an addendum designed to puncture glam rock’s extravagantly ornate style. Punk’s guttersnipe rhetoric, its obsession with class and relevance were expressly designed to undercut the intellectual posturing of the previous generation of rock musicians. This reaction in its turn directed the new wave towards reggae and the associated styles which the glam rock cult had originally excluded. Reggae attracted those punks who wished to give tangible form to their alienation.

I ended up making mindmaps for each subcultures based on the information extracted from these books and sites, and listed down various aspects (Such as the subculture's values, fashion elements, etc.) that I will be able to apply to my character designs.

Reference and Further Reading:
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1988-05-29/news/0040280015_1_pomeroy-punk-community-punk-rockers
http://www.layouth.com/hey-punk-think-twice-before-you-stereotype-a-punk-rocker/
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/Punk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_subculture
http://dyingscene.com/
Punk Style by Monica Sklar
Subculture the Meaning of style by Dick Hebdige

Subcultures - Mindmaps

There isn't much time left before we will have to submit everything in for this module (As a matter of fact, I believe that I only have around 2 weeks until then), and so hopefully I will at least be able to finish my research and development for the visual response of this module's final assignment by this week.

As usual, to collect my thoughts, here are some mindmaps that I put together on the brief and the topic I wish to focus on:

Overview

Brainstorming

The topic of Subcultures is an incredibly extensive one, and so it has proven to be a challenge to narrow it down when I was writing about it for my essay (There were so many sections I ended up removing so that it wouldn't go over the maximum number of words). On the bright side, there is still so much more that I can look into and expand on if I was to continue focusing on this topic for next year's essay.

After this, I will be posting up what research I have gathered on my chosen subcultures that will allow me to progress more smoothly with my character designs.

Subcultures - Proposal

How are subcultures represented in animation - are they being made fun of, or is there perhaps a slightly deeper meaning to the representations seen in the animated medium?
What research needs to be undertaken into the general and specific contexts of your practice?

1. Books and online articles on the History into each discussed Subculture.
2. Books and online articles on Subculture fashion.
3. Various examples (From animations, movies and video games) focusing or at least making mention of such subcultures, be they stereotypical or not.
4. Documentaries on Subculture (Such as "The Don Letts Subculture Film").
5. Visual Responses (From Pinterest, Tumblr, Online Shops, Friend Photos, etc.)

What are you proposing to undertake as a practical response to your essay title? 

This would be a good opportunity to explore more into concept designing as I believe I never truly had the opportunity to get more detailed character designs done for any of my assignments thus far.

Aside from showcasing the stereotypical way people see these subcultures dress, I thought I could also design clothing that is just as often worn but not as well known by the media, something simpler and considerably less outlandish, while all the same still retaining the qualities of that subculture. (Eg, punks also tend to dress in tees and torn jeans, they do not always sport crazy mohawks and layers of tartan, leather, safety pins and chains all over their bodies).

I will still keep it down to the European area however (Especially when considering how diverse some subcultures can actually be if you go further past that area presented by popular culture). There will be a total of 3 characters, though more than one outfit will at least be designed for each of them. Little backstories will also be written to give better insight to each character and their supposed lifestyles, and of course make them a more roundabout character.

If there is time, I might also do at least one turnaround animation (At most 12 frames) for one of these characters.

What approaches will you take and what processes, methods, materials and tools are to be involved in research into your practice? 

This will all basically be done in Photoshop, particularly the final character designs and turnaround animation/s.

During experimentations and studies however, I will try using various traditional mediums (Pencils, markers, paints, ink, etc.) to experiment with colours and textures for their outfits when working on their designs (Though I will make sure that they will all be done in the same (Or at least similar enough) art style so to show that they actually come as a set during submission). Considering the direction that I will be taking this visual response in, a lot of fashion studies will be done during the development of this project.

Do you need to do any primary or secondary research in order to undertake your practical? This could be visits, conferences, or books, magazines, periodicals that me be relevant. (Use Harvard referencing where appropriate. ) 

These Areas of Research are:

1. I will be able to make further use of the books I have borrowed for my essay (About Subculture History and Fashion).
2. I might interview a few acquaintances who consider themselves to be part of a certain subculture (Eg, punk), so that I will be able to create a more realistic and relatable backstory for each character I am designing.
3. Various Character Model Sheets (More professional examples especially).
4. Tutorials on writing proper backstories for characters.
5. Research into more diverse designs, with different skin colour and body types.