For those who have OCs, how did you come up with your character?

[Dunquixote]

I really love the art that I’ve been seeing of everyone’s OCs here and the bit of background that I’ve read on some of the characters. I’m interested in making my own and even if I wasn’t, I’ve been curious about what inspired everyone’s characters, how you all come up your ideas, a bit of the process that you all do (like did you write a character sheet first or did you sketch something), do you use your oc in personal writing or art, or just have art commissioned for you. Also, what is it you love most about your OCs?

 

[Zerous]

I’m very new at making OCs, but I’ve just been enjoying designing characters lately. I personally don’t have stories for most of them yet, but maybe in the future.

For me personally, I’ve been going in with a particular vibe, style or occupation I want them to have. Or sometimes I’ll start with one particular feature I just want to draw! One of my most recent started just because I wanted to draw a character with a big jacket hahah.

The design I’ve put the most time into is probably my genshin OC, but I made a whole backstory for them first, then I did research of design motifs from that area in the game, but also clothing from the time period it was inspired by. Then I slowly put stuff together in a sketch until I liked it!

I’d love to see them if you did end up designing any characters!

 

[Dunquixote]

I’m very new at making OCs, but I’ve just been enjoying designing characters lately. I personally don’t have stories for most of them yet, but maybe in the future.

For me personally, I’ve been going in with a particular vibe, style or occupation I want them to have. Or sometimes I’ll start with one particular feature I just want to draw! One of my most recent started just because I wanted to draw a character with a big jacket hahah.

The design I’ve put the most time into is probably my genshin OC, but I made a whole backstory for them first, then I did research of design motifs from that area in the game, but also clothing from the time period it was inspired by. Then I slowly put stuff together in a sketch until I liked it!

I’d love to see them if you did end up designing any characters!

Ooh! That’s awesome that you’ve been coming up with your own and having fun doing it .

That is a great idea to focus on one particular feature . I get overwhelmed a lot of times with projects of any sorts when I try to do everything at once, so I assume when it comes to creating a character that the same might happen to me .

Thanks so much for sharing! That’s really cool you have a Genshin OC! That’s smart to dig up as much as you can from the game and also things that inspired that part of the game .

I’ll definitely be happy to share with you ; I just started putting together a reference sheet. I’ve had a vague idea for awhile for a character, at least for where she’ll be from .

 

[buzzfly]

i love having, making and trading ocs a lot. my first oc was my sweet sweet lady ruth, i don’t really remember how i came up with her but she had a major design change halfway through, changing her whole wardrobe from red to black and brownish clothes as well as aging her up a bit and getting rid of her middle name. she was made alongside ralph who is her neighbor from across the street and later on becomes her love interest.

after writing for those characters a lot i soon got more into fandom ocs. first for my favorite movie the fly, i made belphegor. she is my main oc and comfort character of all time, i love her so incredibly much. she is a humanoid housefly and probably set the first stone on my way to make lots and lots more beastpeople characters. later on i started writing on my fictional sequel of the island of dr. moreau, called aftermath. i picked up design elements from the movie to make my own characters, which is pretty clear with solomon here. on the other hand i have more human designs like asmoth. i also bought and traded many designs that seemed fit for my story, some of my favorites are malachei and edward.

other fandoms i own characters for are pokémon, tamagotchi, furby, pikmin and spongebob. for the pokémon characters the inspiration is a hundred percent the mystery dungeon games. i put them in little teams too, if you want to check out, here are my goobers!

 

[BTCircley]

I have a whole bunch of OCs. Many of them were created when I was a kid, and they are random. Despite this, when I create projects, I pick characters that fit like Zancesbu for Pi Day.

 

[Yanrima~]

For the most part, my OC's were inspired by the things I love to see more of and things that I love. Normally, I just like character designing and coming up with character stories in general. Creating stuff is a good exercise especially when you get to be inspired and put your own spin into things. My upcoming concept is basically a post-apocalyptic story about a bunch of cartoon and anime like characters going toe-to-toe with the robot-like beings from the old world (basically back when humans are still alive until the robot uprising). I'm slowly trying to figure out how to draw robotic and mecha designs but that means that I can push myself to draw better and draw things outside of my comfort zone. Some robots can pass off as human because of their advanced technology to replicate humans. (the assassins that injure Elinor upon her arrival.)

The only surviving human is the main villain because he is solely responsible to why humanity in that world became extinct in the first place. Along with the experimentation with an oil-like material which destroys all organic life.

Here's basically the list of my OC's:
Elinor
Morgaine

And some misc. characters that I'm still figuring out what to do with them:
Ren
Leo

 

[Dunquixote]

For the most part, my OC's were inspired by the things I love to see more of and things that I love. Normally, I just like character designing and coming up with character stories in general. Creating stuff is a good exercise especially when you get to be inspired and put your own spin into things. My upcoming concept is basically a post-apocalyptic story about a bunch of cartoon and anime like characters going toe-to-toe with the robot-like beings from the old world (basically back when humans are still alive until the robot uprising). I'm slowly trying to figure out how to draw robotic and mecha designs but that means that I can push myself to draw better and draw things outside of my comfort zone. Some robots can pass off as human because of their advanced technology to replicate humans. (the assassins that injure Elinor upon her arrival.)

The only surviving human is the main villain because he is solely responsible to why humanity in that world became extinct in the first place. Along with the experimentation with an oil-like material which destroys all organic life.

Here's basically the list of my OC's:
Elinor
Morgaine

And some misc. characters that I'm still figuring out what to do with them:
Ren
Leo

Thanks Yanrima for sharing . I really think that is an awesome how your OCs were inspired and I think that sounds fun to try designing characters that you want to see more of and ofc coming up with stories for them. Each time we talk about your characters or some mention of wanting to see something more in games, you make me want to try coming up with some ideas myself.

I think you’re right; that’s exactly why it has been so appealing to me to try. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get around to writing a story, but trying to come up with my own characters and a background for them would help give me an idea if I want to go further .

I’m looking forward to seeing what else you come up with; I’ve been curious about what role Leon is going to play .

 

[-Apples-]

Chef Apple was an accidental OC of mine. When the last TBT Fair started, I asked one of my friends to draw a birthday apple so I can follow the theme of the TBT Fair. But after the fair was ending, I asked the same artist if she could redraw my character, but with a chef’s hat instead. When I commissioned to have a Christmas avatar at someone’s popup shop, I wanted to use my apple instead of my ACNH character. From that point on, Chef Apple has became an OC of mine.

As for her Louisiana-based heritage and her skill in Louisiana cuisine, it’s one of my favorite states, so I decided that I would make her a talented chef in any cuisine, but is better at Cajun cooking than other cuisines.

 

[daringred_]

i'll be honest, most of mine kind of just. spawned in, for lack of a better term. claire is the only one i really remember consciously making, and it was a long time ago. i must've been fourteen or so and had a raging crush on a fictional character, but i didn't want to write a self-insert because the thought of writing about myself or using my name made me uncomfortable, so i made claire sarah as a character to ship her with. over time, i started adding some of my own characters, which is when very early versions of lisa and tyler came about. they were really one-note and walking archetypes/stereotypes, but the groundwork for their current iterations was there. this was also around the time that claire got her current name. then i lost interest in the show/character and replaced them with an original one in abby and started world-building for the group. they were still in the same setting of crime-drama/thriller because that's just a genre of show i've always liked due to the formula, and i wanted to be a detective around that age lmao.

i started writing some original short stories and scenarios with them, which is when i added some other characters like chris and morgan to fill out the usual formula of that genre/setting, and shortly after that i started getting ideas for a book level plot with them. they've all changed drastically since they were first made, even the slightly more recent characters like chris. like i said, they were all quite one note and stereotypical at inception, including claire, but i think they're much better written and developed now. more like real people. the relationships are also a lot different to the ones i used to have them paired in lmao.

i suppose this doesn't Quite explain how i came up with them. it was sort of just that when i needed a character, i suddenly just had a full name, basic appearance and archetype in mind, and they developed over time the more i wrote them. (claire is the only one who had a drastic name change. abby's surname changed, too, but that was literally it.) they don't have very complicated designs in the first place either because they're based in a real world setting. i genuinely couldn't tell you how i came up with a lot of the character details, it's sort of just instinctual? like i just know that tyler would have two moms or that abby would play softball or that claire enjoys sleeping etc.

 

[CoolJhon]

Warning: A lot of text but I think it’s pretty interesting!

Spoiler: Benry

My main OC, Benry, has a fun story behind it. Here’s a pic of him in his earliest form, when he was just a Mii and I didn’t ever draw him. His modern design is very similar though

It was my birthday last year, and me and a friend were awake at like 2 AM. Then he thought it would be funny if he made a video where he screwed around with the Mii maker on switch and while pretending to be one of those YouTubers that are obviously like 6 years old (that video is gone don’t look for it). Then I thought I’d do the same, and in the process, I made Benry. But at the time, he wasn’t really a character like he is now. For the next few months after that party, I had a YouTube channel called “Benry Gaming” where I’d make needlessly violent and silly videos parodying actual video game fact channels. But I got tired of that, so all those videos are gone. Later, I started using Benry Gaming as my username both on my real Yt channel as well as on the Terraria Forums. Since then (around June or July), he’s been growing in my mind into an actual character. Now there is some ridiculous lore. He’s part alien, he has a friend named Eugene, and he wants to stop the evil Alien King Zogert of Planet Seglop from taking over the world by finding the RedGem on planet Earth.

Spoiler: Zogert the Alien

The story of how I came up with Zogert is much older. When I was little, and the Wii U was in the end of its heyday (2016ish) I used to make so many god awful Mario Maker levels so quickly that I would actually run out of spaces for levels. So I’d make more Users on the Wii U to have more save files to spam with crappy levels. I started making random Miis for this. One of which was an alien. At the time, he was just a normal looking human but with a bad haircut and long Squidward nose. I was probably eating yogurt, then thought “I’ll just name him yogurt but add a Z so it’s more alien like” so the name Zogert was born. This Mii just kinda rotted on my Wii U and eventually switch for YEARS. But in like 7th grade, my friend (coincidentally the same one who decided to make the silly video at that birthday party) was making an alien Mii on his 3DS. It looked just like Zogert but with big black eyes. He asked for a name idea, so I said Zogert, just because the new Mii reminded my of him. This threw that old Zogert Mii back on my Radar. Eventually, while developing the Benry lore, I decided I needed an alien villain, so I picked Zogert. I don’t have a picture, but his current design is green skin, bald, same nose, and with a gold crown with a little star on it.

Btw, I’ll probably make a lore thread for this eventually.

 

[Balverine]

I hallucinate sad dudes in situations at 3am

LOL in all seriousness, it kinda depends. For video game OCs like my cyberpunk and dragon age characters, I start by designing a character I like with the creator, then as I go along I build their personality and lore
My most fleshed out OC is my main cyberpunk boy, Den, which is very funny because I wasn't even sure if I would like the game when I started LOL and now he's far detached from the actual main character of the game

As for standalone OCs or from other types of media, it really is a lot of "wouldn't it be cool if that kinda character existed? oh I can make that happen" or certain things may inspire me like how I wanted a werewolf to draw and now I have multiple werewolf OCs LOL

I guess I've always just liked telling stories in my head, so it's easy for me to come up with a cast for those stories LOL

 

[Dunquixote]

I hallucinate sad dudes in situations at 3am

LOL in all seriousness, it kinda depends. For video game OCs like my cyberpunk and dragon age characters, I start by designing a character I like with the creator, then as I go along I build their personality and lore
My most fleshed out OC is my main cyberpunk boy, Den, which is very funny because I wasn't even sure if I would like the game when I started LOL and now he's far detached from the actual main character of the game

As for standalone OCs or from other types of media, it really is a lot of "wouldn't it be cool if that kinda character existed? oh I can make that happen" or certain things may inspire me like how I wanted a werewolf to draw and now I have multiple werewolf OCs LOL

I guess I've always just liked telling stories in my head, so it's easy for me to come up with a cast for those stories LOL

Ooh that is seriously a really good and interesting idea!

The last paragraph: that’s me when playing the Sims 3 and Dragon Age Origins and Inquisition! I totally get it. I think that is awesome that you can do that . I’ve made some little character bios on my old tumblr for one or two of my Wardens and Inquisitors (never finished them I don’t think). I’d constantly come up with fictional scenarios in my head and personalities and other details outside the story; I found the world and lore so immersive.

Thank you so much for sharing! it’s really hard for me to put my ideas down into words and into how exactly I visualize it in my head (both when it comes to writing and art), so that really to me is incredible that you and everyone else that has posted about having an OC, that you were able to make them into something you’re happy with not to mention for even attempting to do it .

i'll be honest, most of mine kind of just. spawned in, for lack of a better term. claire is the only one i really remember consciously making, and it was a long time ago. i must've been fourteen or so and had a raging crush on a fictional character, but i didn't want to write a self-insert because the thought of writing about myself or using my name made me uncomfortable, so i made claire sarah as a character to ship her with. over time, i started adding some of my own characters, which is when very early versions of lisa and tyler came about. they were really one-note and walking archetypes/stereotypes, but the groundwork for their current iterations was there. this was also around the time that claire got her current name. then i lost interest in the show/character and replaced them with an original one in abby and started world-building for the group. they were still in the same setting of crime-drama/thriller because that's just a genre of show i've always liked due to the formula, and i wanted to be a detective around that age lmao.

i started writing some original short stories and scenarios with them, which is when i added some other characters like chris and morgan to fill out the usual formula of that genre/setting, and shortly after that i started getting ideas for a book level plot with them. they've all changed drastically since they were first made, even the slightly more recent characters like chris. like i said, they were all quite one note and stereotypical at inception, including claire, but i think they're much better written and developed now. more like real people. the relationships are also a lot different to the ones i used to have them paired in lmao.

i suppose this doesn't Quite explain how i came up with them. it was sort of just that when i needed a character, i suddenly just had a full name, basic appearance and archetype in mind, and they developed over time the more i wrote them. (claire is the only one who had a drastic name change. abby's surname changed, too, but that was literally it.) they don't have very complicated designs in the first place either because they're based in a real world setting. i genuinely couldn't tell you how i came up with a lot of the character details, it's sort of just instinctual? like i just know that tyler would have two moms or that abby would play softball or that claire enjoys sleeping etc.

Thank you for sharing . That’s really interesting; I think that really makes sense how you created them and their further development. I love your ideas and their designs are really cute .

 

[skarmoury]

I think very generally I just make my own characters based on what I want to see! Like my angel OCs, they stemmed from me daydreaming about what a cool Vtuber character would look like… I tried imagining a character that could change shape, form, and personality in some way other than simply changing clothes and hairstyle, and lo and behold my angel OCs were born from the idea c: I was also heavily inspired by the biblically accurate angel designs, but I wanted to be as simple as possible too because I hate drawing complicated characters. My early iteration was just a single character that could change their hair, open and close their multiple eyes, and bring out or hide their angel wings (hence the angel & normal form). Eventually I just decided to split them into two separate characters who are now Ami and Annchi c:

Spoiler: Angels

I’d also love to talk about my splatoon OCs Wiper & Nau! I love shipping characters, but I used to have trouble making couples work for me in the long term. I used to design one character at a time, and very often I make a second character whose only purpose is to be shipped with my (more favorite) first character. And it sucks because I end up not really liking my second character in the end. :c Anyway last year with the inspiration of Splatoon idols I thought, it would be nice if I designed two characters at once so I don’t end up being completely biased to one of them! So I drew Nau and Wiper consecutively and made ideas with both of them in mind, and from there branched out to each individual characters. I really wanted to nail the idol-like closeness like Splatoon idols, but also make them interesting individually. ^^ I’m really really happy with how I’m building them so far, plus yes I ship them!! I found it funny that I can actually just… project all my favorite fanfic tropes at them because well. They are my characters They are sapphics in a slow burn romance story, mutually pining but very bad at feelings

Spoiler: i love this art i did of them

theyre wearing each other’s necklaces i feel so happy adding that lil detail. stupid losers not knowing they are in love with each other tsk tsk

 

[Dunquixote]

I think very generally I just make my own characters based on what I want to see! Like my angel OCs, they stemmed from me daydreaming about what a cool Vtuber character would look like… I tried imagining a character that could change shape, form, and personality in some way other than simply changing clothes and hairstyle, and lo and behold my angel OCs were born from the idea c: I was also heavily inspired by the biblically accurate angel designs, but I wanted to be as simple as possible too because I hate drawing complicated characters. My early iteration was just a single character that could change their hair, open and close their multiple eyes, and bring out or hide their angel wings (hence the angel & normal form). Eventually I just decided to split them into two separate characters who are now Ami and Annchi c:

Spoiler: Angels

View attachment 613887

I’d also love to talk about my splatoon OCs Wiper & Nau! I love shipping characters, but I used to have trouble making couples work for me in the long term. I used to design one character at a time, and very often I make a second character whose only purpose is to be shipped with my (more favorite) first character. And it sucks because I end up not really liking my second character in the end. :c Anyway last year with the inspiration of Splatoon idols I thought, it would be nice if I designed two characters at once so I don’t end up being completely biased to one of them! So I drew Nau and Wiper consecutively and made ideas with both of them in mind, and from there branched out to each individual characters. I really wanted to nail the idol-like closeness like Splatoon idols, but also make them interesting individually. ^^ I’m really really happy with how I’m building them so far, plus yes I ship them!! I found it funny that I can actually just… project all my favorite fanfic tropes at them because well. They are my characters They are sapphics in a slow burn romance story, mutually pining but very bad at feelings

Spoiler: i love this art i did of them

View attachment 613888

theyre wearing each other’s necklaces i feel so happy adding that lil detail. stupid losers not knowing they are in love with each other tsk tsk

So cute! I love your ideas and that is so cool how your designs for both your angels and splatoon characters were inspired. That is such a cute idea of making two characters at once to ship with each other!

Thank you for sharing, Skar ; your artwork is so adorable and gorgeous too . Love the little Splatoon rock band . I’d definitely would buy tickets to go to their concert!

 

[daringred_]

Thank you for sharing . That’s really interesting; I think that really makes sense how you created them and their further development. I love your ideas and their designs are really cute .

i think the reason ocs don't require much active thought/planning for me is probably because i did a lot of roleplaying online between at least ages 10-15, and i would make new characters for most roleplays and subsequently just come up with the details and short bios on the fly. (i think i have an archived thing somewhere listing all my old rp ocs' names and full on bios and infographics for some.) so now character creation comes fairly naturally/easily to me when i want one, but i probably won't make another for a long time because i like the ocs i have!

 

[Giddy]

Like a lot of others have said, it really depends on said character, plot, imagination etc etc. A lot of my characters come from random ideas, character personallities, or character design.

My character, Ark's look just appeared into my head, the way he was in a tight suit, smoking, the emotion I got from him, gave me the idea for his character, and how it will change through the story is what is more important.
But, Constance was different. I used to use a site called dreamselfy where I could create any sorta avatars with many different clothing etc, I then created Constance, and what I gave her kinda grew her personlity from the ground up. I have her a frog cape, and she loves frogs.
Her character in design and personlity changed throughout making her. in dreamselfy I had her have a tail, and I decided nah she doesn't need a tail. At first Constance's emotions were different than they are now. I was going to make her 'unlock' emotions since she is not human, but I decided against it, instead she is just not as knowledgable on emotions and they will grow the more she explores humanity and their morality.

Other characters from seperate stories, like Celia and Wynona, I wanted to make characters that allowed certain audiences to be relatable and can look up on. One who is mute and the other who is an amputee; but these do not make their personalities. They still love life, and push themselves; and both are strong individuals you wouldn't mess with.

And then there's this lil guy

Can't find the original drawing of him. I can't remember if the drawing came first or the story idea; but I do mainly focus on the story idea before the character design. A character that could easily counter the story depending on the plot. But I can imagine him being so kind to anything he sees when they venture in the story I have given them.

Because you can easily make a character design and/or personlity that fits well with the plot or setting, but it's even funner to make one that is so different.
I like making sure characters work well within a story idea before the design. For instance, in Ark & Constance's story, there is a character called Dyta. Constance is very bubbily, kind and no unstandering of human kind becaise she leaves the moment her job is done. Dyta is the opposite, snarkily, goes against their rules but she is also jealous of how far Constance has come and does her best to cause problems for both Ark and Constance. I never had a proper idea of her design.

Ive been making more story ideas and characters that don't even focus on the character design.
Once I have something that connects the character to the story, the more the caracter develops and it is so fun to find new things that give them a character.

 

[VernalLapin]

The OCs I’m currently most focused on are redesigns of miis I made as a kid. I figured I had all these character designs and ideas lying around, so I might as well recycle them and give them real names (a lot of them were keysmashes and random words).

I also have made quite a few OCs based on different aspects of myself, like a pipe dream i have, emotions about graduating high school, and a crush i had on a tv character from 70s New York.

 

[Kitsuragi]

Some of my ocs are modeled after my life in some way. One is the "me" I came up with when I was 10 and had an active imagination and wanted magic powers and stuff (lol) and the other one I pair her with was my previous "ideal boyfriend." Now they're more separated from the original idea than ever and are kinda their own thing. For some of my other ocs, they're inspired by media or things I like.

One OC I made was also another self insert but I changed her personality and appearance a bit so we only have some similarities. I literally made her so I could do canon X oc as i didn't wanna self ship.

 

[Neb]

I created my OC Estelle's design by simply messing around on one of those Picrew character creators and thinking of what I found the cutest. Those features being pink hair, bobcuts, and glasses. I gave her red eyes to contrast with her pink hair. Her background is somewhat based on my own, but I changed many details to make her more original.

 

[QueenCobra]

I’m a writer, so technically I have a million OCs lol.

Ticualtzincoatl is probably my favorite. I came up with her because I wanted to write a fantasy story with Aztec mythology in it. I drew on a previous “half-snake” character I made, (as in, human waist up, snake waist down, but with lidless eyes, forked tongue, etc.) And considering snakes were sacred to them, I felt it worked.

I wanted to do something horror-related with her, but in different eras— so one story is in modern times (her as a “cryptid”), one during the Spanish Conquest, and one near the beginning of Aztec civilization.

She is the half-mortal daughter of the god Quetzalcoatl and a human woman.
Her name is a combo of the girl name Ticualtzin (“you are beautiful”) and coatl (“meaning serpent”).