worker / workshop / (slang) troublesome / high-maintenance (person)
to do; to engage in / to write; to compose / to pretend; to feign / to regard as; to consider to be / to be; to act the part of / to feel (itchy, nauseous etc) / writings; works

= + : Rosa Luxemburg (亻) and Zapatista Zebra (zu) are high-fiveing in the observatory's bathroom (o4) because they're growing so awesome Mohawk (乍) haircuts.

作 character breakdown

at first / suddenly / abruptly / to spread / (of hair) to stand on end / bristling

Mnemonic symbol: a Mohawk haircut. It fits the hair "to stand on end" and the character itself looks like a head with a Mohawk haircut facing towards the left.

James II of England (zh) tries out a Mohawk haircut (乍) in the ashram's bathroom (a4).
"person" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 9)

= 丿 + : Mnemonic symbol: Rosa Luxemburg. She's quite radical, and her name starts with "r", just like "ren2". Also, 亻appears at the left-hand side of characters, and Rosa is a leftist as well.

Robinson Crusoe (r) and Rosa Luxemburg (亻) are having their favorite snacks in the encampment's kitchen: Rosa is eating a banana (丿) and Robinson is eating a dinosaur bone (丨).

Characters with 作 as component

cable

Words with 作

work (of art) / opus / CL:部[bu4],篇[pian1]
author / CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4]
school assignment / homework / work / task / operation / CL:個|个[ge4] / to operate
to put out / to come up with / to make (a choice, decision, proposal, response, comment etc) / to issue (a permit, statement, explanation, apology, reassurance to the public etc) / to draw (conclusion) / to deliver (speech, judgment) / to devise (explanation) / to extract
to commit a crime
to make merry
to host (a dinner) / to treat / to pick up the check
valid / counting (as valid)
to court disaster / also pr. [zuo1 si3]
composer / song writer

Sentences with 作

xi̅ng
xing
pu̅
chéng
yín
hé
 
 
cǎi
hóng
jià
zuò
fe̅i
qiáo