Tony

• Tony’s hair is curly and wild in pattern. He can be drawn with headbands of any pattern, or with his hair tied back in a bun or pony tail. As a teenager his hair is shorter and curls more into bangs in front of his face. He let’s it grow longer as he ages.

• Stylistically, I often draw my characters with black eyelids. This is not representative of make up, I just appreciate this artistic choice. If an eye color is needed for a particular style, a dark brown can be used.

Tony is quiet and keeps to himself in most situations, but is observant of social circles around him. He is heavily closeted, even later in life, as he feels the circles he works in would be hostile to his identity. This manifests in him keeping most people distant, and appearing to be overly cagey in ways people may find perplexing. While he does improve in self confidence as he grows older, he may still refrain from participating in basic social situations with his boyfriend (Dean), on the off chance that someone may assume he was gay.

This lack of confidence in himself if undoubtably rooted in a tumultuous home life growing up.

While relying on his guarded and quiet nature, Tony is an emotional mess of self doubt and inadequacy, but has a burning desire to be understood and accepted. Having grown up in an abusive household, he struggles with accepting himself, and accepting that other’s are able and willing to love him. Despite this, he has a developed sense of humor, and is easy company to keep in most cases. He’s low maintenance and happy to simply exist in the same room as those he cares about. Simple things like taking a drive with a friend while listening to the radio or a crafted mixtape is enough to make his heart full.

Being vulnerable is difficult for Tony, and he usually attempts to hide behind an even vail of cool. He lacks natural charisma, and this usually manifests as quiet and unapproachable to most people. Tony is a very sensitive person and often feels overwhelmed by emotions, positive or negative. This can introduce situations in which he leads people into believing he isn’t interested in something, simply because he believes appearing overly eager would be unbearable.

He has self destructive tendencies, which includes self isolating and substance abuse. He can have a violent streak, especially when those he cares for are insulted or harmed. When drinking, Tony loses most of his filter, and can pick verbal fights with people who have been irritating or offensive. This temper may reveal itself in a new scrape down the side of your car, a mysterious flat tire, a black eye at the bar—maybe all three. This can be frustrating to those with him as any attempts to calm him will only gas the fire.

When feeling dysregulated, he loses his words and ability to verbally express himself, and can become impulsive or say things he does not mean. Alcohol only exacerbates the severity of these negative responses and can send him into a negative feedback loop of more substance abuse.

As a teenager, Tony’s clothing largelyconsists of ripped jeans, boots, and tshirts, plain or graphical. He almost exclusively wears boots, mostly because he only has one or two pairs of shoes at any given time. Accessories may include studded bracelets or fingerless gloves. His jeans are dusty from working in the fields, and may display an array of home stitched patches. This is likely the eighth day in a row that he’s worn the same pants.

As an adult, his dress remains largely the same, with the addition of a few more leather jackets and over shirts. Tony will grow out of his clothes before he feels inclined to shop for himself. This largely changes when Dean takes the wheel and purchases him new clothes. Anything grungy or earth toned is fine by him.

• Drinks a lot of tea, specifically southern sweet tea. His tupperware collection largely consists of Bill Miller’s tea buckets. Breakfast food is his favorite any time of day, but enjoys most classically southern food.

• Tony lives into his early twenties with his dad in a small mobile home surrounded by a flat farm landscape with nothing but windmills to pepper the horizon. Down the road lives his best friend Dexter.

• Tony had to repeat a grade in junior high due to failing grades and difficulty with reading. He has dyslexia, although this is hardly addressed. Being held back is an insecurity for him, as he was teased by his fellow classmates that progressed without him.

• Can speak some spanish. Understands more than he would attempt to speak.

• Growing up working the farms has left him proficient in servicing and operating the equipment, and he continues to work in fields that are mechanical in nature.

• Tony’s taste in music usually consists of rock and metal, with some of his favorite bands being Type O Negative and Fields of the Nephilim. He does however enjoy other artists like Bruce Springsteen and alternative bands like Grant Lee buffalo.

• Peter Steele is Tony’s only notable celebrity crush. Yes, he does have the Peter Steele playgirl issue.

• Tony has an older half sister named Charley, who is the child of his dads first (now dissolved) marriage. After the divorce, Tony's dad washed his hands of his first wife and child, and ceased to see his kid or pay child support. Being grateful to have him out of her life, Charley’s mother never pursued the money or a continued relationship and mutually withdrew entirely. Because of this, Tony isn’t close with his sister and rarely sees her. This isn’t helped by their 12 year age gap.

• (cw; substance abuse/overdose) Tony's dad never remarried but fooled around with many women, Tonys mother being one of them. Tony was an unplanned baby, and after a brief and half hearted attempt at forming a family, the relationship predictably fell apart. His mother struggled with substance abuse, and the fallout of a flimsy relationship and unplanned child put further strain on her mental health. When Tony was four, his mother passed away from a drug overdose and was then raised by his single father.

• (cw; abuse) Tony’s father hold’s resentment for Tony’s existence, and their relationship is cold and stunted for most of Tony’s life. Verbal approval and affirmation was close to non existent growing up with his dad, and physical discipline through belt beatings or a painful jerk of the arm was the only form of behavioral feedback he would receive. Tony spends his entire school career covering bruises, something he silently understood to do. Their relationship marginally improved when Tony became old enough to be “useful” and help out around the house or with farm work; his his dad’s main form of employment. Despite it all, Tony desires to please his father as he searches for his love and approval. In reality, there is nothing Tony can do to win his father’s approval, and this is a difficult reality that takes him a long time to accept.

• Character created in 2016. It goes without saying, but this character will never be for sale, and should not be utilized or replicated in any way without discussion. My characters are mainly written within the 90s, and shouldnt be portrayed with modern technology.