In The West:

Psychological Warfare in Slam Dunk

It is irrefutable that the mental aspect in competitive sports, especially in professional leagues, is what separates winners and losers. Thus, athletes always try their best to gain a mental edge over their opponents. As multiple coaches and trainers have revealed to the press, psychological warfare always plays a big part in their game plan whether it’s a team sport or an individual sport. While psychological warfare is not often discussed in great detail on TV or sports newspapers, it is actually portrayed very well in the most influential sports manga, Slam Dunk since the reader can get a glimpse of the characters’ internal monologues and emotions. 

In this paper, I would like to take a closer look at the mental battle that the characters have to overcome on-court as well as off-court and how basketball coaches in the manga prepare their players’ mentality before or during a game.  

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Lunch break with the family 🕊

Joanna Karpowicz (1976- ) (Polish)

Diner 2020

Acrylic On Canvas

31 1/2 X 39 3/8” (80 X 100 cm)

Private Collection

© Joanna Karpowicz Art 2020

chat i saw a rainbow today

COMIC BOOK CLOSE UP

D O O M  2 0 9 9 Doom 2099 #10 (Oct. 1993) Pat Broderick (pencils), John Nybers (inks) & Chistie Sheele (colors)

Hi! I'm such a big fan of your art, you're a big inspiration to me :) I was wondering, any advice on developing OCs? I love yours so much (especially the WATSA characters), and I was wondering if you had any tips on improving/developing original characters. Again, thanks for creating such great artwork ❤

Thank you!! i’m flattered that you like my ocs so much! 

And hm.. yeah that’s been one of my struggles for years. Here’s a few links to posts that i’ve saved that might help:

brainstorming

random trait generator 

conflict ideas

face diversity exercise

writing tips

website that helps build ocs. you can save your progress there too!

oc masterpost that i reblogged a million years ago

character flaws

 45 questions to answer about your ocs

But mostly, for me, it takes years to get a character where i want them to be. And a lot of times, I adopt themes/little quirks from things that I like, and incorporate them into my ocs. Like for example, Florence’s obsession with drag racing. I kinda added that in, after the 4th time of completing gta v haha. Also, I add a lot of myself into my characters. The main trio (Riley, Florence, and Stellone) all share parts of my personality. 

Write what you know! And don’t be afraid to add conflict. It’s a big part of what makes your characters relatable. An exercise i do sometimes is I think of a conflict (let’s say, ran out of gas when on a road trip), and I think about how each character would react to the situation. Do they get frustrated right away? Do they start panicking, or are they a problem solver? 

I also like to make my characters as diverse as possible. One way to do this is to think of them in a line up. Height, weight, race, culture, body language, clothing style, etc. It’s all really important to think about when trying to make each character unique. You can also take it one step further, and turn them into silhouettes. If you can tell the difference between each, you’re on the right track! 

These are just a few things I’ve learned from developing my own ocs. I’ve just barely scraped the surface. I hope this helps a little bit!! Good luck :+D