#oc tutorial

(Ft. Von Lycaon)

I don’t think he got it. Skipped some parts too maybe..

As promised, I finally got enough content to do this ask some justice. I’ve really enjoyed working on this, this week, so if any of you guys ever have more requests like this or the music one I did a few weeks ago, I’m almost always down to give them a go.

Anyway, I don’t have to tell you all how many character design tuts there are out there on the internets today, with a lot of them much more comprehensive and detailed than this, but this is me and this is how I do things. Recommended supplements to this how-to guide include:

For beginners especially, the rules for how heads and bodies are generally composed on human beings... Go here.

For those of you who want to know some basics about drawing realistic humans, or more about human beings from an artist’s perspective... Go here.

Want some quick pointers on diversity in your humans? Go here.

Adding movement and dynamics to a character? Go here.

You want a little guy you can pose and work with on your computer machine? Check this one out!

{ My Process }

I love making ocs and I thought talking about my process could help people when it comes to developing theirs.

[Note: there are many ways of making an oc (original character) and this process might not work for everyone]

Where do I usually begin?

As a visual person and an artist, I typically come up with a design first. Having an image of the character gives me the basic feel for them- their aesthetic gives me the groundwork to develop the rest of the character.

I went ahead and made an example oc to better illustrate my process.

I started out with the species, which I was stuck on for a while. I thought a capybara oc would be cool, so I went with that. After that, I thought of two things capybaras are usually recognized for- laying in hot springs and attracting other animals. The list in pencil is pretty much the order of which I thought of things.

As for her name, I searched baby name websites and whatnot for things that fit her character.

This is still a relatively bare bones character- I could go on to give her an entire family, backstory, etc. but that's something that develops and changes over time. It'd be hard to replicate that in one night. Even ocs I've had for a while undergo changes and expand. The branches continue to grow the more I use them.

Some things I'd ask in order to develop Yadra more are:

What is her family like? Is there anyone in particular who she is closest to? What is her dynamic between each of her family members?

What made her want to own a spa? Is it a family business or did she make it on her own? What hardships might she have faced when it comes to her spa?

Where did she grow up? Where does she live now? Why did/didn't she move somewhere else?

There's a lot more I could consider, but I think you get my point. A lot of the ask memes on this blog are also good places to start if you already have the bare bones or a 3D character you want to dive deeper into. I'm personally a sucker for things having to do with interpersonal relationships, but there's a nearly infinite list of directions to take an OC.

For the face shape you could even choose a tesseract idfk

Example my friend made

Watch this, watch it and learn.

~Citrus