I've been working with this character in my head and on paper (and digital paper) for years! -I first dreamed her up in the late 2000's. -It takes (me anyway), about seven years of daydreaming and sketching and making notes before a story finally comes into focus.
That might be called, "World Building", and boy, that sounds great! It sounds like an important writer's job. It sounds respectable.
But really, it's all just escapist pondering. A pleasant pass time when I should probably be doing other things. But sure, "World Building" will do.
I love drawing character sketches. -And as with the old photographer's rule of thumb, back before digital cameras, when it came to "Good Pictures" -for every roll of 32 exposures you might get one 'maybe' picture. Shoot ten rolls, and you might have something to sell which you're happy with. Something which tells you, "Yes, photography is something you can do. Keep going."
It's work, often heartbreaking when it's not working, but such SUCH rewarding work when that 32nd picture comes into focus. Most sketches don't do the characters justice, or teach you anything more about them, (or even look like they were drawn by somebody who knows their way around a pencil). But every now and then, if you're particularly 'on' that day, or through a quirk of an unintended line when you're not getting in your own way, a little swoop of graphite on the sketch pad, and Pow! -There she is! Or him. Or it. But there! An unmistakable twinkle in the character's expression which brings them an inch closer to being. -A little portal opens which you can see through and where you can hear in your mind's ear, "I'm Here! I'm Here! I'm listening, and I'm stirring and I'm on my way. Just wait. Almost there."
Seven years. I've come up with a lot of characters, and it's always this way.
Anyway, these are some of my sketches of Jenny Mysterious, "The Red Sorceress" which I found helped me realize, "Ah ha! So that's who you are. Welcome. Welcome!"