Late night fun fact/thought
I never said the reason as to why I create OCs. Well, the answer is this:
As a child I was always creating stories and apparently fanfiction without even realising it was even fanfiction, I didn't even know what fanfiction was until I was 13.
But I was always drawing something, and it was always various characters from movies or shows that I was deathly obsessed with, ones I can remember are Octonauts from when I was small, the Smurfs, My Little Pony Equestria Girls (which is actually why my drawing style is the way it is), just to name a few.
However after a friend of mine said I should design Tony the Mushroom Slayer on Gacha Club back in 2022, that's when it really clicked for me. I was using Gacha Club for a ton of character designs, but that was just about it.
My characters have changed a lot with me since I started creating OCs in 2022, and the reason for this is because a lot of them represent something from my own personality. I'm sure many other people here relate when it comes to OC making, maybe, maybe not?
South Park OC Priscilla Murgatroyd represents self-hatred.
Indigo represents protection.
Bethany represents emotional self-defense.
Clover Mary Sue Boyd represents both protection and emotional self-defense, as well as closed off.
Ozzie represents obsession.
Sawyer also represents obsession but she mainly represents giddiness and immaturity.
Laoise represents anger and a little bit of self-hatred.
Gwen represents moodiness.
Aubrey represents joy, immaturity and especially guilty pleasures.
Monsters at Work OC Maddie represents panic and stress.
Peggy represents freedom and expression.
All of them actually represent a bit of expression.
A lot of them also have musical elements to them.
Those that I didn't list may not possess any particular traits of my personality, but they contain characteristics of people, other characters or things that I really like and have helped shape my personality.
The point is that I find OCs a really great way of expressing myself and getting my feelings and personality down onto paper or at least separate it out and make those small chunks their own slightly dramatised person each, where they also somewhat help me to understand myself a little better.
Maybe some of you have the same experience when it comes to creating characters or maybe it's completely different compared to mine.