Art for original stories?

[serria]

Does anyone draw art for their original stories? Anything from character designs to scenes. I'm a visual person, so often when I'm setting up a new character, I'll do a quick sketch to help me think about what kind of clothes he or she would wear, the hair, the height, the expression. Not that I'm a very good artist, but they are for my personal benefit only! I like seeing scenes, too, though that's a little beyond my artistic ability. I was really honored when, back when I wrote a lot of fanfiction, a reader drew me "fanart" of my story - that was so cool, to see what I had written in visual form.

How about you? Especially for characters, I sometimes find it difficult to work with them if I don't have a clear picture of them in my head - even though I don't tend to use a lot of descriptions of people in my actual writing. I tend to like to keep it vague, unless the appearance is particularly important, but I need it in my head clearly at least.

Comments

[inkdust]

I could NEVER draw anything from my head, and I badly wished I could, until a few weeks ago I felt the urge to sit down, relax, and just see what I might be able to do for a character portrait, and it turned out to be incredible. I thought that was just a fluke, but last night I tried again with another character with great results. I would still only consider myself decent with a pencil, but the faces actually look like the images in my head, and seeing their faces outside my head is such a rush.

However, faces for my characters generally come in bits and pieces for me. Usually only a few physical features stand out to me for a long time, whether that's hair or posture or body type. So I don't feel like I really could attempt to draw most of my characters, only the few whose faces are clearest. But the experience of actually being able to do it is amazing.