How you design your OC's?

[~Mae~]

Hey there, so I decided to get my little book where I keep my novel ideas in and rounded up all my characters and I legit have around 30...

I either know what they look like or have an idea of what they look like for just over half but the other half are completely open and are just names tied to plot ideas...

So I'm attempting to do a little concept art for them on paper but I'm not the best at drawing people or hair or anything so I was wondering how I should go about it?

The half that I know are either characters I created years ago or ones that I just knew what they should look like or even some of my animal crossing characters (and deleted ones) and so I know roughly what they should look like.

I feel a bit overwhelmed to be honest because there's so many and there's two that I need to think of names for still and appearances for but I know they're personalities and back stories because they're from a fanfiction I'm writing and I'm adapting them.

So how do you go about designing your OC's? Either looks or personality or background wise

I know a lot of people get art from here which I'm planning on eventually doing, but how do you make sure the artist gets it right?

(Also what is this toyhouse thing I keep seeing it says invitation only or something but it looks like it would come in handy..?)

 

[Pokemanz]

I'm the same way. I have all kinds of characters from my novel that I've had to deal with over the years. After writing about them enough I started to picture how they might look and I really just went from there. One thing that helped was making Mii characters for them since that kinda allowed me to see what they might look like. I don't even deal with all of them, just the main characters and the side characters who are more important.

Most of my character's designs are actually just something someone drew once. I'm not good at designing clothes and all that so I really just have someone draw them in "whatever" and if I like how it looks I make it their official outfit. Since it's just words on paper it's really hard to picture clothing so I try to leave that up to people who know better about that stuff.

Also Toyhouse is a really great way to organize characters imo. You can find invite codes all over the place.

 

[vogelbiene]

oh!! toyhou.se?? I can try to get you an invite code! uvu
but anyway, with my ocs, I usually go about making refs for them first and then I flesh out their background and personality. With the ref sheet, when you create it, make sure you include everything that you want the artist to draw, such as appropriate clothing, colours, hairstyle, ect. the ref sheet is the reference that artists use to draw your ocs; that's how you get them to draw it accurately. If you want, I could include some ref sheets of my own? some people just use pictures of their ocs to use as references instead of ref sheets.
most of my ocs are actually bought/obtained from others, but my designed ones, I usually don't plan their appearance; I just draw. sometimes I use a personality basis or a colour palette to inspire my characters!

I hope that helped!

 

[~Mae~]

I'm the same way. I have all kinds of characters from my novel that I've had to deal with over the years. After writing about them enough I started to picture how they might look and I really just went from there. One thing that helped was making Mii characters for them since that kinda allowed me to see what they might look like. I don't even deal with all of them, just the main characters and the side characters who are more important.

Most of my character's designs are actually just something someone drew once. I'm not good at designing clothes and all that so I really just have someone draw them in "whatever" and if I like how it looks I make it their official outfit. Since it's just words on paper it's really hard to picture clothing so I try to leave that up to people who know better about that stuff.

Also Toyhouse is a really great way to organize characters imo. You can find invite codes all over the place.

Ah that's a good idea to make mii characters, I might pop some of them onto tomodachi life..

I think I get what you mean, the only ones I have a clue about are ones Ive written before! like from a reallyyyy old fanfiction I did when I was 13 and the two I'm adapting from characters that already exist which will be hard haha but in my fic they're nothing like their 'actual' selves so hopefully >_<

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oh!! toyhou.se?? I can try to get you an invite code! uvu
but anyway, with my ocs, I usually go about making refs for them first and then I flesh out their background and personality. With the ref sheet, when you create it, make sure you include everything that you want the artist to draw, such as appropriate clothing, colours, hairstyle, ect. the ref sheet is the reference that artists use to draw your ocs; that's how you get them to draw it accurately. If you want, I could include some ref sheets of my own? some people just use pictures of their ocs to use as references instead of ref sheets.
most of my ocs are actually bought/obtained from others, but my designed ones, I usually don't plan their appearance; I just draw. sometimes I use a personality basis or a colour palette to inspire my characters!

I hope that helped!

Ah thank you very much ^_^ that would be great with the ref sheet pleasee aha >_<

 

[vogelbiene]

this is one of my older ref sheet for brynne, and I really need to update it quq here

this is a basic ref sheet, not made by me, but for my baby emelja here

takao's ref has everything an artist should need, but that's it. this is the most common ref sheet you see here

quq

 

[boujee]

Like how do we design our own characters?

 

[~Mae~]

this is one of my older ref sheet for brynne, and I really need to update it quq here

this is a basic ref sheet, not made by me, but for my baby emelja here

takao's ref has everything an artist should need, but that's it. this is the most common ref sheet you see here

quq

Ahh thank you very much those are really helpful ^_^

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Like how do we design our own characters?

Yeah c:

 

[Milleram]

I feel like the way in which I design OCs varies from time to time.

For my vampire OCs, I came up with their appearances and personalities almost simultaneously. I think it was because I had been reading a lot of vampire novels around that time, so I knew what kind of characters I wanted.

Right now I am working on a visual novel with my sister. She is doing the art, and I am doing the drawing. For the characters in my story, I definitely came up with their personalities first, and then I came up with appearances to match their personalities.

In terms of getting someone else to draw your characters for you, I think it definitely helps to make a rough sketch of them for the other person to see, even if you are not completely confident in your art. It is hard to communicate certain details when you are describing a character to someone. I think this is especially true for the hair. XD

 

[boujee]

How I design characters is base off appeal and originality. If one doesn't work then the other one must. I have to keep in mind what's too bland or too much. Even a simple character can look amazing; same with a complex one but certain aspects of the design must compliment the other aspects of the design instead of contradictory. This can be good for artist as well since people like nice designs and not ones where they can get bored of.

 

[Sdj4148]

I have OC's that I don't have art for yet, but I have the outfits, weapons, etc. they'd use. They don't even have stories, they're just figments of my imagination. So that's my advice, use your imagination! Sure, all the advice before me is relevant af but the most important thing is that it appeals to you. If you like vampires, then make a vampire OC! If you think have lightning powers is cool, then make a lightning mage, or even a different species! Every little detail about their lives can be developed along the way, but making a base for your character (Name, how they look, what species they are, what their abilities are, etc.) and always make sure it appeals to you! No need making someone that doesn't make you happy, especially if it's your first character.

 

[Mega_Cabbage]

For designing them, I usually just make a random face/headshot first. The clothes are usually the hard part because they have to match both the head and each other. The first thing I do is either choose a theme or color scheme. I make a list of what styles would look good together and plan out what I want my characer to look like on notes. Afterwards, I draw out the general lines of the clothes based on the theme/color. Small details can come afterwards once a general background is drawn out.

For example, I just started out wanting to draw a guy with blue hair. He reminded me of space with his blue hair and gold eyes, so I wanted him to be a space prince/god. Space is open and weightless, so I wanted his clothes to look all flowy and graceful. I thought it would be cool if he was related to stars, so I made him get spit out of a white hole for when he gets born. Added a sleeve that opens up to a miniature vortex where he can absorb and project things like a black or white hole. From then I just added random stuff that I wanted like pompoms and a belt. Eventually I made this: Lucio

 

[~Mae~]

I feel like the way in which I design OCs varies from time to time.

For my vampire OCs, I came up with their appearances and personalities almost simultaneously. I think it was because I had been reading a lot of vampire novels around that time, so I knew what kind of characters I wanted.

Right now I am working on a visual novel with my sister. She is doing the art, and I am doing the drawing. For the characters in my story, I definitely came up with their personalities first, and then I came up with appearances to match their personalities.

In terms of getting someone else to draw your characters for you, I think it definitely helps to make a rough sketch of them for the other person to see, even if you are not completely confident in your art. It is hard to communicate certain details when you are describing a character to someone. I think this is especially true for the hair. XD

Oo what's the visual novel about?
I'm attempting to do some rough sketches of the two I created last night, I kind of got a ref of some male hair in an animeish style and I picked a few xD

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How I design characters is base off appeal and originality. If one doesn't work then the other one must. I have to keep in mind what's too bland or too much. Even a simple character can look amazing; same with a complex one but certain aspects of the design must compliment the other aspects of the design instead of contradictory. This can be good for artist as well since people like nice designs and not ones where they can get bored of.

Ah that's a good point... I think Max is going to be quite a simple design so I'll have co compensate there and Arlo will look super badass ahaha

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I have OC's that I don't have art for yet, but I have the outfits, weapons, etc. they'd use. They don't even have stories, they're just figments of my imagination. So that's my advice, use your imagination! Sure, all the advice before me is relevant af but the most important thing is that it appeals to you. If you like vampires, then make a vampire OC! If you think have lightning powers is cool, then make a lightning mage, or even a different species! Every little detail about their lives can be developed along the way, but making a base for your character (Name, how they look, what species they are, what their abilities are, etc.) and always make sure it appeals to you! No need making someone that doesn't make you happy, especially if it's your first character.

That's a good point actually- they're my OC's after all ahaha

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For designing them, I usually just make a random face/headshot first. The clothes are usually the hard part because they have to match both the head and each other. The first thing I do is either choose a theme or color scheme. I make a list of what styles would look good together and plan out what I want my characer to look like on notes. Afterwards, I draw out the general lines of the clothes based on the theme/color. Small details can come afterwards once a general background is drawn out.

For example, I just started out wanting to draw a guy with blue hair. He reminded me of space with his blue hair and gold eyes, so I wanted him to be a space prince/god. Space is open and weightless, so I wanted his clothes to look all flowy and graceful. I thought it would be cool if he was related to stars, so I made him get spit out of a white hole for when he gets born. Added a sleeve that opens up to a miniature vortex where he can absorb and project things like a black or white hole. From then I just added random stuff that I wanted like pompoms and a belt. Eventually I made this: Lucio

Ah he's really cool :3 I'm trying to do some headshot sketches ish with notes around the sides aha, that's a point- I'll have to start thinking of clothes...

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Ah thank you all so much so far, on another note, do you guys ever use chibi makers? You know that one that's like the first result if you type that into Google I've found that quite helpful in the past though there isn't such a wide variety of clothing choices

 

[Milleram]

Oo what's the visual novel about?
I'm attempting to do some rough sketches of the two I created last night, I kind of got a ref of some male hair in an animeish style and I picked a few xD

The visual novel is a horror story inspired by the song 'My Grandfather's Clock.' I'm done with the writing and most of the coding. Now I'm just waiting for my sister to finish the art. XD

Oh, that's great that you got some sketches done of your OCs! Are you planning on posting them here?

 

[~Mae~]

The visual novel is a horror story inspired by the song 'My Grandfather's Clock.' I'm done with the writing and most of the coding. Now I'm just waiting for my sister to finish the art. XD

Oh, that's great that you got some sketches done of your OCs! Are you planning on posting them here?

That sounds really cool! I think I will post them once I'm happier with them aha

 

[FleuraBelle]

How I create my OCs always starts with some kind of story or idea that I will soon make into a story. You see, my dream is to be an animator and ever since I was young I always drew little comics. So I find great pleasure in practically bringing my characters to life and creating a world which they live in.

I try to make all of my OCs unique in their own special way. I also love supernatural things so a lot of my OCs are not humans, but that doesn't really mean they are pure animals. For example I have robots, dragons, demons, angels, gods, goddesses, humanoid playing cards, monsters, spirits, foxes and much more cool species as OCs.

I always try to avoid making my OCs too similar to another existing character, otherwise I feel like I'm copying. But whatever I'm interested or currently interested in, I revolve making my character around those things. I'll give you another example.

Spoiler: This is Alara. One of my newer characters

I was always a fan of Spyro the Dragon games and my favorite was hands down the first one. I designed Alara to look fun and adventurous which is how I felt when I played Spyro games. I even took a name of a world from a Spyro game and made her name similar to it. The world was called Avalar and I named my character Alara. Inspiration does it for me.

 

[~Mae~]

How I create my OCs always starts with some kind of story or idea that I will soon make into a story. You see, my dream is to be an animator and ever since I was young I always drew little comics. So I find great pleasure in practically bringing my characters to life and creating a world which they live in.

I try to make all of my OCs unique in their own special way. I also love supernatural things so a lot of my OCs are not humans, but that doesn't really mean they are pure animals. For example I have robots, dragons, demons, angels, gods, goddesses, humanoid playing cards, monsters, spirits, foxes and much more cool species as OCs.

I always try to avoid making my OCs too similar to another existing character, otherwise I feel like I'm copying. But whatever I'm interested or currently interested in, I revolve making my character around those things. I'll give you another example.

Spoiler: This is Alara. One of my newer characters

View attachment 178440

I was always a fan of Spyro the Dragon games and my favorite was hands down the first one. I designed Alara to look fun and adventurous which is how I felt when I played Spyro games. I even took a name of a world from a Spyro game and made her name similar to it. The world was called Avalar and I named my character Alara. Inspiration does it for me.

Ahh that sounds really cool omg (I can't look at the attachment for some reason?)

 

[Varil]

On the subject of OC designing, personally I don't get OCs for the sake of getting art of them (because I prefer getting fanart ;_; )so I may be biased but...

I tend to design OCs according to the purpose they were created for. I do a bit of research, look at said character roles and possible inspirations, and then I start putting together parts until I get something I like. More than once I've disregarded personal taste for the sake of... well, a character fitting into the role they were made for!

I don't love my OCs enough, haha ^^;;

 

[riummi]

I just doodle random things in class lol but my oc's are like my children ;;
- you can think of a "theme" and start from there? For example, let's say I want smt Flowery and Light - I could go with a short character that wears flowey clothes. Overall color palette would be pinks/purples/browns. Her personality could be gullible or ditzy. They all kind of relate to the theme - you can even branch out and think of other related words. (flowers, light, airy, birds, nature, and so on so forth)
- You can base it off a story - how has their past shaped who they are now? Just try not to fall into those lame character tropes or else it will make the character bland. If you do though then add other interesting aspects to make it interesting.
- Try to stay away from cluttering your character - some of the best designs are simple yet memorable (not toosimple though). Some characters are simple but they don't have that "impact" that others can give.
- small details can go a long way! a small scar?a mole? etc.
- I sometimes suffer from "same face syndrome" LOL which means that every character I draw just has the same face ;; almost like it's a base or smt. Try to add variety to your characters face (small nose? big nose? harsh eyes? round face? slim face? etc)
- start with a rough idea and keep coming back to it so that you can refine/revise it~
- btw most artists will require you to say a few words about your character's personality so that they dont draw them out of character or you can just mention that to them(ooc)

 

[~Mae~]

On the subject of OC designing, personally I don't get OCs for the sake of getting art of them (because I prefer getting fanart ;_; )so I may be biased but...

I tend to design OCs according to the purpose they were created for. I do a bit of research, look at said character roles and possible inspirations, and then I start putting together parts until I get something I like. More than once I've disregarded personal taste for the sake of... well, a character fitting into the role they were made for!

I don't love my OCs enough, haha ^^;;

Aha that's a different way of doing it I might try that haha

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I just doodle random things in class lol but my oc's are like my children ;;
- you can think of a "theme" and start from there? For example, let's say I want smt Flowery and Light - I could go with a short character that wears flowey clothes. Overall color palette would be pinks/purples/browns. Her personality could be gullible or ditzy. They all kind of relate to the theme - you can even branch out and think of other related words. (flowers, light, airy, birds, nature, and so on so forth)
- You can base it off a story - how has their past shaped who they are now? Just try not to fall into those lame character tropes or else it will make the character bland. If you do though then add other interesting aspects to make it interesting.
- Try to stay away from cluttering your character - some of the best designs are simple yet memorable (not toosimple though). Some characters are simple but they don't have that "impact" that others can give.
- small details can go a long way! a small scar?a mole? etc.
- I sometimes suffer from "same face syndrome" LOL which means that every character I draw just has the same face ;; almost like it's a base or smt. Try to add variety to your characters face (small nose? big nose? harsh eyes? round face? slim face? etc)
- start with a rough idea and keep coming back to it so that you can refine/revise it~
- btw most artists will require you to say a few words about your character's personality so that they dont draw them out of character or you can just mention that to them(ooc)

That's a very good point aha, I'm pretty sure any characters I've drawn all have pretty much the same face bar the eyes oops, I'll have to look into that...

 

[FleuraBelle]

Ahh that sounds really cool omg (I can't look at the attachment for some reason?)

Oops! Thats weird. I just fixed it. :>

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I just doodle random things in class lol but my oc's are like my children ;;
- you can think of a "theme" and start from there? For example, let's say I want smt Flowery and Light - I could go with a short character that wears flowey clothes. Overall color palette would be pinks/purples/browns. Her personality could be gullible or ditzy. They all kind of relate to the theme - you can even branch out and think of other related words. (flowers, light, airy, birds, nature, and so on so forth)
- You can base it off a story - how has their past shaped who they are now? Just try not to fall into those lame character tropes or else it will make the character bland. If you do though then add other interesting aspects to make it interesting.
- Try to stay away from cluttering your character - some of the best designs are simple yet memorable (not toosimple though). Some characters are simple but they don't have that "impact" that others can give.
- small details can go a long way! a small scar?a mole? etc.
- I sometimes suffer from "same face syndrome" LOL which means that every character I draw just has the same face ;; almost like it's a base or smt. Try to add variety to your characters face (small nose? big nose? harsh eyes? round face? slim face? etc)
- start with a rough idea and keep coming back to it so that you can refine/revise it~
- btw most artists will require you to say a few words about your character's personality so that they dont draw them out of character or you can just mention that to them(ooc)

And thanks for pointing this out! Literally all my characters have that baby face anime face and I need to stop. XD
I should make their facial features more distinct