This easy task of making a character is actually surprisingly hard in the writing world. While in art you can draw the character, in writing you have to describe the character.

Well here's some ways I've learned how to do it.

Personality

So personality is key when it comes to writing a character. The problem I see when most people start is that it seems like they pick random adjectives and write the stereotype of those adjectives.

Take loud, fun, and smart.

Someone would probably write a loud comedic relief but with a dark side. Which is so overdone and completely hollow because their personality is too simple.

Characters have to be complex even when simple.

So let's say you do want to make a loud and fun comic relief character. What do you do?

You make them of course that loud and fun person but with a sense of control. They know their being happy-go-lucky but you have to put reason behind it. Say they like to make people happy, it gives them accomplishment. I often look to comedians when it comes to a character like this. Their acts fit that type of character. They find enjoyment in making people laugh but also say something about whatever they just joked about. Make the character say something about what their joking about. And you can't just make it all jokes. The character has to know when to be serious. Make it a surprise even. Like, they drop the act when something incredibly heavy happens in your story and make them complex.

Complexity is key when it comes to characters and I will not stop saying it.
It has to be complex even if it's simple.

Take writing a simple farm boy. Yes, he's simple but you have to make him interesting. Maybe he's the lonely farm boy, no one ever liked him because they only found him as a dumb farm boy when he was actually pretty wise in his own right. Maybe he's the smart farm boy, constantly correcting people who don't know shit and is pretty smug.

Simple yet complex.

But there is a limit to complexity. You can't make the personality so complex that it's just a dump of things.

Take a darker more somber character for example. They're supposed to be complex, yeah, but not too much. Don't cop out with depression or some shit like bullying. Some people just don't enjoy things. But you have to make them enjoy some things. Irony is actually key when writing a dark character. Chloe from Life is Strange is a great example of a moody character because her life sucks, she hates shit, but she still has fun, still makes jokes, she find everything stupidly ironic.

Personality has to be complex when simple and simple when complex.

Confusing, I know.

Looks

You can't just make everyone hot. I don't give a single shit, you can't make everyone super attractive.

You also can't add too much detail. They can have an interesting fashion sense but do you really find that they wear the most complicated shit like knee high boots with chains all over it interesting? No that's stupid. They can be simple knee high boots because who has the money for complicated crap.

Design the character wisely. Make it make sense in the sense that it matches the personality. But don't over do it.

Development

Character development has to do with the characters flaws. No matter how you look at it, the character will have flaws. The development is to improve on those flaws but not quite fixing them. In fact, they should learn on thing and become worse on a whole new thing.

Like, anxious character learns to communicate with people better. Oh shit, now the problem is actually knowing how to keep friends.

I'm putting it simply here but that's kind of what you have to do.

Character development is the plot believe it or not.

Dan Harmon made this circle that has become my philosophy for story telling.

Y'all better follow this with your life because it's the key to character development.

I'll get more in depth on this chart later in this book.

Conclusion

Make the character simple yet complex.

Make the character look the part. Match the personality with their clothes.

Develop the character through the story.