making your oc not suck (this title is a joke do not panic)

it's been a minute since I discussed some art advice, here are the things that I feel like make a character design shine ^^

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[LavenderTowne]

also btw the title is just a goof, I'm trying to meme it up a little because this is my 10000th tutorial hehe

[clarawilliams]

Damn, Lavender isn’t sugar coating anymore, “Making your oc not suck” OKAY LOL

[drama_queen]

The harsh title with Haley’s soft, beautiful voice is hilarious
Edit: misspell

[LimegreenSnowstorm]

On the subject of history, PLEEEEASE give your OCs parents! Even if they’re dead, *someone* raised them

[ambermationss]

At first I thought that maybe having splashes of paint on a character who likes to paint might seem a bit cliche, but then I remembered that every time I left art class, I'd be covered in it lol

[Emma_The_Hppin_Hligan]

Ngl in retrospective, the fact that people got SO heated about this video on twitter is kinda funny to me. Like, i get the feeling that those people wouldn't last 5 seconds in an actual art school lol

[pressedrose]

For writers, something that helps for me is to give my characters habits. Maybe they say “uh” a lot, or they wrinkle their nose when they’re offended, or they laugh when they’re uncomfortable. It’s esp helpful in roleplays when I want to add more expression to the thing I’m writing.

[melitopiia]

Another thing to consider, add imperfections with purpose! Don't just add them randomly, make them affect the character's self-esteem or have it say something about their personality or circumstances! It adds some great extra depth.
Using LavenderTowne's character as an example, maybe she's self-conscious about her eyebrow scar, or she's clumsy! Or maybe the scar visualizes the permanent brain damage she has to deal with on her journey to become an entomologist

[starstickermars]

Dang Haley isn’t playing around, she just said our OCs suck and we’re just agreeing and watching her fix our mistakes lmao-

[janleven]

"Don't go into to much detail" that made me go into a whole thought process of what ice cream flavor each of my characters in my story would love

[paperface.]

I have an OC that I used this template on and she turned out rather well! She's a ghost who's scared of the dark, desperately wants to be scary, but has a huge crush on the person she's haunting and is self conscious about her hair.

[asamabry]

when i make my ocs, i usually base their personalities on the relationships they have with other characters. different people act and do different things with ppl they are more and less comfortable with.

[FloatyyBrain]

“Also things like scars and injuries can really build out their stories!”

Half of my OCS missing a limb or more: *Don’t give her ideas, please.*

[kingryuuka]

I have this theory that the era of art YouTube where grown men would bully children for their “marry sues” ruined how a whole generation of how people look at their oc’s for a while if not still.
Like no, giving your character crazy hair and angle wings doesn’t mean it’s a marry sue, maybe they just like extremely extra fashion, or where they come from that’s normal. Oc’s are all about the story you give them through how you design them and how you draw them, and of course, how you write them. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself this 7 years ago. Making a fun interesting design doesn’t make the design bad, if anything it makes the design so much better.

[febblepebble]

Adding more options to the "imperfections" categories, scars aren't only from injuries! they could be surgery scars, or illness scars, or even stretch marks! A character may have lots of freckles because they spend a lot of time outside, or have weird tan lines, or have faded hair dye and showing roots. Maybe they need glasses but don't like wearing them and are constantly running into things because they can't see. Maybe they have trouble reading and therefore listen to audiobooks, or have sensitive ears or eyes and wear noise-cancelling headphones or sunglasses.
There's so many different options aside from the common 'scar across an eyebrow', just think about different people you know or think about yourself and the little quirks that come from particular habits or struggles, and how this can be shown visually/behaviourally

[starsnatcher]

timestamps because this video is actually really helpful :D
0:24 - give them more verbs (what do they like to do besides their main thing? giving them 2-3 more hobbies makes them feel more like a real person!)
1:49 - give them a history (what were they like in the past? how does it affect them now?)
3:54 - give them imperfections (it makes them less generic and more real and specific)
5:46 - what do they like and dislike? (don't go too overboard!)
7:36 - putting the advice to the test!!

[SomeAcademicValdiationRequired]

I have autism with sensory issues and I genuinely LOVE yours soft voice it’s so calming and just makes my brain buzz with the happy feeling

[KIBEE]

dude idk why but this video actually made me love myself a little bit more. i’m currently having a little struggle about finding who i am but this made me think about the fact that you can see little parts of myself on my appearance. i have holes in almost all my clothes from chewing, my hair is in an awkward state of long and short where it kinda looks like a mullet. My hair is also unkept and messy most of the time. none of my outfits are put together because i don’t have time in the morning to make myself look nice. my headphones are old and falling apart, the top part is taped with scotch tape to keep it together. I have bad posture from laying in bed all day.

idk it made me feel kinda happy to look at myself as if i were a character 😓

[VictoriaMeira]

Poor girlie has gotten so used to getting criticized for everything that shy can't write a joke-y title without a disclaimer in the title itself

[tabithanel]

10:03 I love that Haley's version of college-rebellionism isn't smoking or doing dr^gs, but finally being aloud to watch horror movies