Hyatt's angel and devil on the shoulder - ask box answers November 2023

The devil one is a little unhinged...

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That's a loaded one!

I usually start with a personality/story first, and design second - specially if they serve a purpose in a story or universe, like being a player character in a RPG or having connections to other existing characters.

A general grasp of their appearance will often come attached to the initial concept- but the contents of the character is what guides their design to me, so I usually know who they are first, and what they look like comes second.

Let's use Hikarin for an example!

If I don't have a concrete starting point (like "bright red skinned, black haired, fit and fiery but friendly looking assassin demon guy") I'll usually take inspiration from other characters from popular media that have a similar vibe to the concept I'm thinking of, play around with avatar makers like Picrew, and put together a pinterest board for outfit inspo.

(fun fact: I actually did have a concrete starting point of 'petit person with short pink hair and long bangs' cause the current Hikaru is a reboot of a much older OC.)

From there I should have enough materials for fleshing out their design; as of recently I start with their sillhouette to get a feel of their body shapes and mannerisms.

How can I translate what kind of person they are from a single look? Whether they're physically big or small - do they act big or small? Do they have a confident stance, or do they hide away? What about their clothing- do they wear revealing or form-fitting clothing? Baggy clothes that hide their shapes? Are they very particular about their style and for what purpose, or do they not care enough?

Once I have a solid sillhouette I start to flesh out the details, like their facial expression and surface elements that can tell us more about who they are!

At this step comes coloring for me, which is tbh the hardest part. I usually have one or two main colors for the character that represent them in some way, and work from there with additional complimentary or adjacent colors.

Unfortunately Hikarin's reference is still a wip so I don't have much to show from this step, but here's a quick look at a few OCs and their main colors...

Lastly but not less important, characters that remain "active" through the years change over time as I see fit! See Hikarin being an everlasting WIP ever since their conceptualization.

Hope this answer your question and gives some insight in my process! :)

Honestly their "canon" selves 😂😂😂😂 I keep promising myself I'll do more comics of their "canon"/regular selves but never get around it - I should make a tag for it at this point cause it's become rare amidst the amount of horny AUs (I do enjoy the horny AUs)!

Another setting I can name is a fantasy one that's been on my mind for quite a while now, where Hyatt is an oracle on the run and Zephyr is a rogue traveler who picked him up and scouts him through his journey. I really like the designs I have in mind for them. One day!