Answer to a question from the user above

Probably this guy! I've had him for four and a half years (which means he's not my oldest character, but still one of my older ones) and he originally came to me in a dream. I'd had no thoughts about making a character like Crowley before it happened. From the dream, I got ideas for his design (both human and dragon), his personality, parts of his backstory and his hatred for his younger brother. I woke up and instantly had to draw him so I'd remember what he looked like. While drawing him, the name 'Crowley' came into my head and I knew that was what I had to call him. Since then, he's been my main character (if I can say I have one at all) and my most recognisable character - people often say they like him, which is cool. :)

There is actually a separate thread for this question, but: are there any particular traits/characteristics that you tend to avoid when making characters?

I avoid making characters who are slow and act as comic relief. I don't dislike them, not always anyway, but it just doesn't appeal to me. I think comic relief characters shouldn't rely on their lack of understanding to be funny though there are exceptions..

I tend to avoid romantic type OCs. I have a few, but even then, they don't come across as characters who are looking for their one true love. I don't dislike characters like that, but I just don't find them interesting or relatable unless they have a genuine reason for being that way.

Do you have a big project you're working on or planning? Like a comic, novel, game, or something else of that nature??

MMMMM YESSS A CHANCE TO GUSH LMAO.

That aside, I do have several projects that I’m working on, all of them can be seen here!
Most of my characters are from the same universe, which can also be seen here (though the main universe is Celestialieu)

The main project I’m working on is called City Lights, and it’s actually currently up for reading! It however isn’t done yet lmao. All of my projects are linked together since if you combine them, you’re gonna get the history of my OCs’ universe!

I’m never gonna stop working on my universe, it’s too dear for me to stop working on it; technically you can say that my universe is my big project haha!

Since my claim might take a while to type out, I’ll leave this here: What’s your favorite type of music to listen to? 

I tend to pick my music based on what I'm working on, most of the time! Like if I'm drawing a sad pic I'll stick to upsetting classical and whatnot and if I'm drawing a battle scene I'll listen to stuff with way faster tempo, and I generally have a really wide array of music genres I like to listen to! But like if I really gotta pick only one I'd say Finnish schlager, specifically waltz! There is just something so calming in the music from the 40s-80s like the older the better? I find myself relaxing & that sort of music usually goes perfectly together with my hashtag vintage aesthetic 

Have you ever used something that has happened to you as an inspiration to your character? 

Yes, I do very much tend to base my characters' experiences on my own. With Hong Yi for example, a pivotal moment in his life comes when he stumbles upon a picture book of deep sea marine animals: that exact book is one that I likewise stumbled upon in the school library one afternoon, which really captured my imagination in the short time I spent reading it, and the memory of which haunted me for years thereafter. Fen deciding to try his hand at drawing comics after becoming enamoured of a magical girl series comes once again from my own experience with the Pokemon franchise and Fruits Basket, both of which were the basis of the first fanart I ever did. Ruthenia's habit of landing in detention is entirely based on my own tendency to do so back in high school (I was a detention champ let me tell you); her daily routine including a stop at a milkshake stand is derived from how I used to stop by a bubble tea shop after school myself.

I could go on, really; I do this a lot. I think the habit stems from my view of art and writing as a way of revelling in the details of life, poignant in their seeming meaninglessness. :]

Among the characters you own, would you say you view and treat characters you designed yourself and the ones designed by others differently? Why or why not?

yes.

if this means ocs that other ppl made for me yes bc i tend to draw ones i designed more often.

idk why

like i feel like i have to be more careful with ones ppl made for me, like i cant change the design too much bc i know they envisioned the oc a certain way and i think it might be rude to change the design, and i feel like i have to be careful where i put them bc i didnt create them (if theyre a closed species i got offsite)

it might also be that when i design an oc i tend to also design lore and personalities for them too

Do u find that ur favorite characters u discover in movies/games/books/tv/etc tend to have similar traits to ocs that u design?

Oh my god, yes. YES. It's an endless cycle of pain. For example, quite a few of my characters have eyepatches/something weird with their eyes, right? (Axel, Steampunk Cyborg Darkky, Neon Toxin, King, Captain Emerson, Dr. Reds Mantel, Dragon Cockatiel, Frederick Leeford, Heart Thieving Darkky, Kalypso Kat, Moonrock, Note, Nutz 'n Boltz Darkky, Odeddo Astar, Pepper, Psychic, Rhydian, The Dreamer, Trickshot, and Umbra.)

Let me throw some of my favorite characters from some other media at you.

Badass with an eyepatch AND an awesome eye, my favorite anime character
He doesn't need his eyepatch but still badass with one
Sweet bb gorl (with an eyepatch)
He gets an eyepatch at some point
Smol boi with an eyepatch
They literally call him the "Eyepatch Ghoul" in the series
This kid

I have a billion more (like how I've blatantly recognized Kenri shares many traits with Kenpachi) but uhhhhhhhh I don't wanna take up a full page

So, do you have any plushies of your characters? Ever thought of making one?

i’ve always wanted to commission someone to make a plush of savannah since she was my first serious fursona. i’m not very interested in the furry/feral scene anymore, but sav is special enough to me that i would consider that. however, it’s not a priority at the moment since prices tend to be quite high in that area (for obvious reasons.) maybe sometime in the future, though!

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fictional characters or real people who have inspired your oc(s?)

i think fictional characters def inspire me more in terms of design, while real ppl inspire the personalities and convos! so its about an even match?

have you ever had an oc stolen? >:0c

i luckily have never had an OC stolen (that i'm aware of) but i have had art of my OCs reposted to places like instagram and it honestly sucks when that happens :/

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do ur dreams ever inspire ur OCs?

Sometimes! My boy Crowley came from a dream I had way back in February 2014. The inspiration for his little brother Lucifer also came from the same dream, and their shared backstory.

I don't have any other characters who came from dreams, but sometimes I get ideas for stories or worlds from them. I've also dreamed about existing characters before - Adder, Astrid, Naraka, Pazzia and Tenebrous, among some others, have all appeared in dreams at some point.

Do you create your own worlds/universes/countries for your characters? Or do they mostly exist on Earth or some AU of Earth?

Yess, I'm writing an origin story for my world and I'm writing comics and other stories about it! Not all my ocs belong to it though

What's your favourite kind of ice cream?

Chocolate Mint for sure, although Cookie Dough is great too.

 Do you have any characters who came to you in a dream? As in, a creature you dreamed of and later turned into an OC?

I do have creature characters that came to me in dreams, but they're so old I don't think any are on Toyhouse. Amber came to me in a dream, though, and 16 years later, she's still exactly the same character in personality and appearance. I think that's really cool; it's like she was meant to be. In the dream she was a sad girl in a bar, and it intrigued me to want to figure out her story.

If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money?

Depends on how much it was but I guess pay off my student loans... any debts. Definitely hire a financial advisor, and move to another country for a little bit to avoid folks asking me for money. Donate money to animal shelters

How did you discover your favorite band/artist?