When it comes to animation and games (most often referred to as “interactive” voiceover), the producers who are most likely to hire you are after original character voices. And if you are among those compelled to do character voices, then you absolutely must continue to flex that character muscle with regularity, otherwise these skills will atrophy. This is, in part, what makes you valuable as a talent.
I suggest you begin by considering character voices you’ve probably been sitting on most of your life—those the broad public has yet to hear.
With that in mind, here are five steps to discovering and creating original character voices:
1. Begin with an impersonation of an impersonation. Many of the characters used in animation today are loose or distorted impersonations of old Hollywood stars or famous people. For instance, the voice of Stimpy from “The Ren & Stimpy Show” is an exaggeration of Peter Lorre, rather than a direct impersonation.
Try this: Take an impersonation of someone famous—even a bad impersonation—of Orson Welles or Jack Nicholson or Mae West and see where that takes you. Regardless of how awkward or poor the impersonation might be,
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