7 Tips for Designing a Sona

some ideas for designing a character that you'll have attachment to..

[neep]

when I find a helpful video that isn’t very popular I feel like I’ve solved the YouTube mystery

[thesolardude]

The ad was timed perfectly “you can have a flexible character and give it some TAKIS INTENSE NACHO” lol

[Cylidae]

Qwizz: I never get bored of drawing him
Also Qwizz: I didn't feel like drawing new stills

[SelcouthChaos]

Time stamps

O:44 1. less is more
2:28 2. redesign over remake
3:31 3. do more with the character than drawing it
4:58 4. design the character with yourself in mind
5:29 5. you can have more than one character
6:11 6. accessories make a big difference
7:06 7. colours are important

[ghosti]

"These are tips, they aren't rules" is such a helpful sentiment. This guide is great, I love how it focuses on enjoying your designs and such, many guides about character making are written like rule lists with the creator's preference in mind and I think it's so important especially for newer artists to discover their own likes and characters.

[cervidae]

since i'm a system, i've always struggled with making my own sona even though i/we've really wanted to try our hand at designing one. what one alter finds fun design wise another alter will disagree with and want something completely different, so we'll probably go down the multiple 'sona route 😂 this was a really well laid out video, and i loved seeing your characters + a bit of the process you go through to make/draw them! thank you for posting this, its really motivated me to sit down and try character designing again 👏

[splitfox]

0:19 HOLY SHIT YOU COMMISSIONED ME BEFOREE THE LITTLE MINT AND BROWN AND CREAM CREATURE IN THE TOP LEFT!!!, Uou were like Lethalu or smth at the time?, , .??? Omg no way!!!!, !! I made a fullbody for you on deviantart I think for a ridiculously low amount of points lol but honestly no way! Thank you so so much for these vids, they’ve been so fab

[voseybeans]

i agree with a lot of the points brought up here! i find its also helpful if you want a character you'll enjoy drawing to think of traits you just enjoy drawing and try to create something with those traits that is harmonious. you might end up with several characters that you connect to. i think this is why so many people have multiple sonas. cuz its hard to show so many different, sometimes even contrasting parts of yourself in one character so you make a bunch. characters are also fun to explore yourself with :) but yeah! great video ash/gen

[freakonaIeash]

Hey just wanted to say that I love this video a lot, found it like yesterday and it has already helped out a lot. Most tutorials like this _exclusively_ focus on things like memorability and branding, but this goes way more in depth on how to actually Enjoy drawing the character and how to get attached to it, which is like, exactly what I needed this whole time. This is also helping me with just making OCs again in general. So thank you for this ^^ Wonderful video

[untrustfool]

the colour one! the colours of are actually my favourite part of my sona, because basically they're divided into putting all the cold colours into their base design, and all the warm colours into their fashion, and i just think it's super neat how i can draw my character with literally two colours and it'd work

[RandomTomatoMusic]

I resonate with point 5 so much. I have seven fleshed-out characters in total (my main being a 4'3" kobold with shadow and fire magic... may or may not be half-posessed), all representing some facet of my own personality, so it's very hard to get burnt out with any one character because I have so many that I'm comfortable with.

Another thing I'd like to add to point 3 - if you have the time, interest, and decent enough creative-writing skills, maybe try your hand at roleplaying! RP can be a great way to get yourself in the mindset of your character, so you can develop and fine-tune their personality. Bonus points if you end up in an ongoing, lore-based RP—you get to introduce your sona(s) and their lore to an already vast universe, further expanding upon the potential to make these characters truly your own.

[Nyankitty]

“Came to them by accident”
Susie, my main main OC (out of 3 main OC’s) is a random character I designed for a singular drawing I made when I was eight, EIGHT.
My 2 other mains (made later) weren’t even supposed to be part of the same stories! One was from an edgy character group thing and one was a Gacha Life character, but eventually I drew them together and it just stuck

I think what’s interesting is that I tried replacing one, 5 different times, and eventually I just stuck with the same character I made originally just redesigned to be less edgy.

[CakedPie]

this is a great video. im currently designing multiple mascots for myself, and sometimes hearing stuff like this really helps!
i've been a long time viewer of yours (since when Stello was your main sona, ) and im glad to watch more of your videos! (theyre intertaining and informative)

my friend said that when you make a design you will know when it'll be your sona/mascot. And it's true! (like you mentioned in 8:10 ) my current mascot came to be, when i made a base design from a melanie martinez song 'cake'.

TL;DR :: great video love it very useful

[solaristhecatccsys]

its very amusing to see this video appear like a day or so after our system host made us a systemsona for a minecraft skin. will probably remake it a bit with these tips in mind :D
very nice video btw!

[kit_raccoon_boi]

For me the sweet spot is when i figure out how to make them distinct and recognizable (at least among my friends) with as little detail as possible (literally. I drew them as a pet rock and my friends still guessed the oc right) and when drawing them comes naturally enough that i can doodle them in class on the borders of my paper without thinking about it too much :)

[honeycloves-]

This is actually the most helpful sona designing tips video i've seen ever
I'm still firmly attached to my current sona w/ no intention of changing her but now I'm inspired to draw her in some new outfits ^^

[nidgithm]

i always struggled with making a sona because i don't know myself very well. i didn't really know what to make, and anything I tried didn't feel like "me". in the end i just gave up on making a sona thats like me, and instead tried to approach it as making a mascot character that has some things in common with me, and that worked for me

[BobiiTheDutchAngel]

I agree to all of these points, and a suggestion that is strange but personally works for me, is listening to music. Specifically music that matches the mood of the character.

[dulipvoid]

Omg.. i'm in a qwizz vid!!! BUT I LOVED ALL THE TIPS IN HERE very cool very cool

[jaspersoceans]

This makes me want to draw a new oc now