I’ve been writing a lot lately and, for me, that process also involves a lot of sketching.
For me, characters always start as an image. Sometimes that image is in my mind. Other times, that image comes out of a doodle, and then gets refined.
That has been the case with one of the characters I’ve been developing for my latest project. I needed a wizardly character, and he originally came out of this page of brainstorming in my notebook:
I then refined the sketch:
As you can see, at first, I thought he would look old and wizened. But as I wrote, and the character began to speak, I realized he was spinning out of my control and leaving behind this initial visual design. As usual, I got stuck and ended up floundering on my keyboard—though not for long. Because I followed the advice I always give to my students. I retreated to my sketchbook and began drawing and reimagining. I ended up producing this new sketch:
As you can see, he is a lot more imposing now. Of course, his look and feel may continue to be refined. But so far, I’m pleased because the sketch accomplished its main purpose: it reinvigorated the character for me and my words once again began to flow . . .
Between the Cracks of Here and There 
I never find myself drawing the characters, mainly cause I prefer them to remain as how I see them. But that’s pretty cool what you’re doing, everyone has their own way of going about things.Very nice drawings by the way. When is the book set to release or are you shopping it around right now?
I’ll begin shopping this year, after I have a first complete draft. Thanks for your comments!