Head-on confrontation 💢

Someone somewhere sometime asked me if I had a Spectre design.

ooh uhhhhhhhh honestly i'm not 100% sure how to answer that LOL i typically just go with the flow

though if you really want me to go into deeper depth i can try ??

basically when i want to make a design i already have a few ideas in my head like maybe character archetype or general theming. for instance my oc Buoy's entire deal was combining dogs and sailors together while also being really cute

i thought a more light-hearted approach would suit him since well . that's his entire deal . since the beach influence as beaches are often associated with the summer time and having fun :) and then an aquatic aesthetic would tie in everything together so it'll be cohesive

i also try to do a lot of wordplay? like how "sea dogs" is a slang term designating old sailors who have been at sea for a very long time.

you can see this in a few of my other designs such as my mafioso (forsaken), being a literal loan shark, and my hyperlaser having some elements alluding to lynxes because he is lynx-eyed

other things i consider is how the character would carry themselves. are they active? do they care about how they look? how clumsy are they? how intimidating are they? do they think of themselves seriously?

like for my banhammer design he is completely covered up in armour to protect themselves, treats themselves very seriously and is pretty damn scary, so their design features a lot of spikes and sharper shapes. scythe, on the other hand, is much more relaxed and confident in herself, but shows it off in a way different to banhammer. bh shows it via his bravado and demeanour, while i think scythe is much much more obvious about it and basically shows herself off (i.e. the open shirt, confident smirk)

same thing goes for what kind of vibe i think they should have. you can contradict this with their personality for fun too!! like for sword i think would give off very "heroic and brave" vibes, but that completely shatters the moment he starts talking because he is so naïve and earnest. rocket, in turn, comes off as much friendlier and more clumsy than sword, but in reality carries himself with more maturity (???? not sure how to convey this but yk what i mean)

now for implementing inspirations,

it mostly just boils down to what i think would look cool on them HAHAHA or what little things i can sneak in to wink at the person who notices.

like icedagger already has a whole "winter" aesthetic going on so i just implemented it to his jacket and made it look like a snow angel. subtle things like that are best i think. same goes for my chance design having a lot of gambling/card game/dice elements implemented because 1. its awesome and 2. i thought the original iteration was rather plain

you can convey this however you want, but i found that sneaking it in through the shape/silhouette via clothes or body is most efficient

i DO try to keep the inspirations to maybe 2-3, 4 MAX. too many little secrets and you get the viewer lost. character design is a form of STORYTELLING, and if you can't get your message across on the first or maybe even the second go, then i think it's best to cut out a few concepts. a first-time viewer of your work should be able to understand WHO and WHAT your character IS on a surface level when looking at the design. you can work on the little intricacies later, but first and foremost you need to understand just WHO this character is before designing them