Invitation to talk about OCs

[tazz]

Thanks to this forum I just learnt about the concept of original characters (OCs). I'm interested to know more.

@★ImaginativelyCute★ you mentioned this I think... and referred to selling and distributing them. How does that work?

Any good links to written works involving OCs?

 

[WiffingWaffles]

Thanks to this forum I just learnt about the concept of original characters (OCs). I'm interested to know more.

@★ImaginativelyCute★ you mentioned this I think... and referred to selling and distributing them. How does that work?

Any good links to written works involving OCs?

by the way this is worded, I'm assuming you mean to Insert your OC's in an already existing universe?

 

[tazz]

I don't have any OCs. I have no experience at all. "OC" is a term I only just heard, and I'm intrigued. I don't really know anything about them. I googled a bit. But don't really understand.

Your reference to being able to sell them confused me. How do you do that? What exactly is sold? Do you mean like writing and selling an original novel that is set in an existing universe but has your own OCs in it?

I was hoping you could describe what an OC is and how you personally create one, and what your involvement is. I'm interested and thought others might be too so I didn't want to send a private message, but I didn't want to hijack some other thread either - so I started this one.

 

[WiffingWaffles]

Hey, well... this is going to be a LONG subject, I'll discuss more of this after my nap and work. I go to work at 3.
I'll clarify this tomorrow.

(i would post my art here to give a difference, but i cannot as i am scared of people taking it and running the art through AI generators.)

I'd be more than happy to do this.

 

[tazz]

Cool. Whenever you have time. And write as much or as little as you want of course. And anyone else who's into this can chip in too. Looking forward to it.

 

[WiffingWaffles]

Cool. Whenever you have time. And write as much or as little as you want of course. And anyone else who's into this can chip in too. Looking forward to it.

BTW here's a helpful bit - OC can mean 2 things. 1. OC (original Character) or 2. OC (Original Creation) - [Such as Fan-art, parody, etc]

 

[AdamG]

Just to chime in, I'm at least interested in hearing about this from @★ImaginativelyCute★ as I've done some original writing and artwork. Neither is something I can do much, but when I do I enjoy it. I've found out I'm better at editing other works (writing) for flow and clarity, and restructuring for flow, etc. Like in a peer group for writing kind of way. But getting the first draft down (even with an idea) is difficult for me.

 

[Misery]

This is one of those subjects where you're going to get all sorts of answers depending on who you're talking to. And it's something that some people can get really into, while others dont take much interest in it or outright just dont like the concept.

I've never engaged with the idea too much myself, and only very recently decided to actually take a stab at making an original character of my own, which resulted in the images in these two threads:

https://www.autismforums.com/threads/my-best-bit-of-art-so-far.43021/
https://www.autismforums.com/thread...en-working-on-would-love-some-feedback.44141/
They're both the same character though the style seems a bit different sorta because it turns out I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm just winging it here...

Right now though, that's as far as it goes. I drew two pics of her and named her Iris, and that's all I've done so far. No personality or traits or background or anything like that... just those two pics. So that's my own personal example.

Usually most people who make OCs seem to enjoy going into those aspects, and I might do so myself, but it was hard enough getting this far, I dunno how I'd be at actually fleshing out a character beyond the appearance. Never been much of a writer. Probably.

And of course for some people, a given character might only exist as text, with no picture.

That's sorta my limited grasp of the concept at this point. I dont actually engage with the online art community like, at all, so my knowledge is limited.

 

[WiffingWaffles]

This is one of those subjects where you're going to get all sorts of answers depending on who you're talking to. And it's something that some people can get really into, while others dont take much interest in it or outright just dont like the concept.

I've never engaged with the idea too much myself, and only very recently decided to actually take a stab at making an original character of my own, which resulted in the images in these two threads:

https://www.autismforums.com/threads/my-best-bit-of-art-so-far.43021/
https://www.autismforums.com/thread...en-working-on-would-love-some-feedback.44141/
They're both the same character though the style seems a bit different sorta because it turns out I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm just winging it here...

Right now though, that's as far as it goes. I drew two pics of her and named her Iris, and that's all I've done so far. No personality or traits or background or anything like that... just those two pics. So that's my own personal example.

Usually most people who make OCs seem to enjoy going into those aspects, and I might do so myself, but it was hard enough getting this far, I dunno how I'd be at actually fleshing out a character beyond the appearance. Never been much of a writer. Probably.

And of course for some people, a given character might only exist as text, with no picture.

That's sorta my limited grasp of the concept at this point. I dont actually engage with the online art community like, at all, so my knowledge is limited.

I'll do my best to explain this as objectively as i can.

 

[WiffingWaffles]

This is one of those subjects where you're going to get all sorts of answers depending on who you're talking to. And it's something that some people can get really into, while others dont take much interest in it or outright just dont like the concept.

I've never engaged with the idea too much myself, and only very recently decided to actually take a stab at making an original character of my own, which resulted in the images in these two threads:

https://www.autismforums.com/threads/my-best-bit-of-art-so-far.43021/
https://www.autismforums.com/thread...en-working-on-would-love-some-feedback.44141/
They're both the same character though the style seems a bit different sorta because it turns out I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm just winging it here...

Right now though, that's as far as it goes. I drew two pics of her and named her Iris, and that's all I've done so far. No personality or traits or background or anything like that... just those two pics. So that's my own personal example.

Usually most people who make OCs seem to enjoy going into those aspects, and I might do so myself, but it was hard enough getting this far, I dunno how I'd be at actually fleshing out a character beyond the appearance. Never been much of a writer. Probably.

And of course for some people, a given character might only exist as text, with no picture.

That's sorta my limited grasp of the concept at this point. I dont actually engage with the online art community like, at all, so my knowledge is limited.

I'm guessing you don't because of how toxic it can be?
(especially) with AI art everywhere now, which has kicked pretty much any average artist out)

 

[AdamG]

@Misery I do like those drawings of your character by the way. Even if you feel there is no more you can do with it, at least know you made me smile at the drawings you've shared

 

[Misery]

I'm guessing you don't because of how toxic it can be?

Well, moreso because I have no idea what I'm doing and am not like, formally taught or anything. Like, I can wave my own limited selection of images around, I guess, but that only accomplishes so much, so I simply didnt bother. Also I have the confidence of wet tissue paper.

There is one big exception though, which is my fractal art. When it comes to digital, most of what I make are fractals. So I've got those here: https://www.deviantart.com/scrapfractals/gallery

Been doing those for two years now. But usually nobody really seems very interested in them, so the vast majority of the time, I keep them to myself. And the process by which fractal art is made is... confusing, so trying to get feedback is useless in any case. As it is, I usually forget that I even have that account there. I dont exactly go to DA much.

Beyond that though, I also moreso am just used to physical art. My primary thing I know how to do is brush lettering (and other types of lettering), and I've just got a giant confusing mess of a setup for art here in my weird room. The vast majority of the things I've made are all on paper.

Speaking of art rooms there's also this thread, if you find that sorta thing interesting:

Art tools and studios thread! Share photos or videos of your art stuff, also here's a video.

What I wish I could find though is actual formal in-person tutoring. But I live in the middle of nowhere, so that's not happening anytime soon (already looked). I find it harder to learn via the internet with something like this.

I do like those drawings of your character by the way. Even if you feel there is no more you can do with it, at least know you made me smile at the drawings you've shared

Oh, thanks, I'm glad you liked them.

I'd like to do more with her but heck if I know what. It's hard to come up with ideas. I've had the idea of putting her in a game, I'm learning game design stuff (Unreal Engine), but my goal is to make horror games... indie horror games... and putting her in those feels wrong, so she's not going in those.

It occurs to me suddenly that I'm already really attached to the character, arent I... Huh. Dont know what to think about that.

 

[AdamG]

@Misery I love your fractals. OMG And, my art tends to be rather strange. So ... I'll see if I can find an example. Ok, maybe my avatar. Take a piece of something and put something else. But I go much stranger than that.
.
My best digital pieces are so "piece of everything" that I forget what started it.

 

[AdamG]

ok, here on a quick search. Not my best, but ... the person who gave me the photo said I could distribute it if she were unrecognizable.
.
(and yes trust me, facial recognition wouldn't trigger, altered face shape )
.
.

 

[AdamG]

a couple more that I like. Not just showing off... but saying, if you incorporate fractals into drawings electronically, it can have a very different effect. And also showing off just a little
.

 

[Misery]

@Misery I love your fractals. OMG And, my art tends to be rather strange. So ... I'll see if I can find an example. Ok, maybe my avatar. Take a piece of something and put something else. But I go much stranger than that.
.
My best digital pieces are so "piece of everything" that I forget what started it.

Hey thanks, I'm glad you like those!

I dont know if you're interested at all in how they are made, but I remembered abruptly that I did a video showing it awhile back, a super sped-up workflow without commentary kinda thing. It's like 10 minutes long and wont make a whole lot of sense, just the process alone is weird, but maybe you might find it interesting, it is here:

I didnt end up actually doing anything with the resulting image of whatever the heck that was. It was just a quick one for the video. But that's how the 3D ones are made, at least. Sometimes. I've got like 12 or so different apps I use to make these. Usually they take hours to do and can involve more than one app to make just one image.


Also, your stuff is pretty cool, you should show it off more in the art section of the forum, set up a topic there. I bet people here would love to see a whole bunch of it if you're willing to show there.

How do you make those? Photoshop? How about Filter Forge, ever used that? That comes to mind when seeing those.

 

[tripleU]

I have created whole fictional video games with their own characters, named after a letter from any language in the world.

 

[AdamG]

Hey thanks, I'm glad you like those!

I dont know if you're interested at all in how they are made, but I remembered abruptly that I did a video showing it awhile back, a super sped-up workflow without commentary kinda thing. It's like 10 minutes long and wont make a whole lot of sense, just the process alone is weird, but maybe you might find it interesting, it is here:

I didnt end up actually doing anything with the resulting image of whatever the heck that was. It was just a quick one for the video. But that's how the 3D ones are made, at least. Sometimes. I've got like 12 or so different apps I use to make these. Usually they take hours to do and can involve more than one app to make just one image.


Also, your stuff is pretty cool, you should show it off more in the art section of the forum, set up a topic there. I bet people here would love to see a whole bunch of it if you're willing to show there.

How do you make those? Photoshop? How about Filter Forge, ever used that? That comes to mind when seeing those.

I am using Photoshop CS5. I won't do the cloud versions. If mine ever junks out, I'll just go with an Openware option.
.
I'll check out that video, what I do is variable color sampling, warping, and adjusting the ... well I've done coding, so basically how the GPU translates multiple channels of color, so ... layer property stuff? I just blend the colors using a few different algorithms until it looks right. And I compartmentalize each color sample into a different layer so I can use different blends on different objects.
.
So. Like my healing I am intuitive.
.
I guess my point is, you can do both. Sketch things and then blend in fractal designs. If it is a part of something, it draws the eye. And ... art is about confusion. Just .. confusion based in the real.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Oh I love the OC. I used to spend a lot of time there as a child and teenager. Dana Point, the strand, Crescent Bay, Huntington Beach...

I learned to swim in the ocean, in a little cove in Laguna. I could body surf before I could swim. Riding waves was a very important part of my family culture.

I know this thread is about something else... I'll see my way out now.

 

[Darkkin]

Not all ocs exist in a visual medium. Some begin life as words on a page. I have entire worlds that started this way.

With the AI generators the styles and formats work a lot like the different types of fonts and templates in writing software.

e.g. My hyenas, the Brass Pack

The Brass Pack: The Hyenas of Tenebrous Wold

Tipped in brass, enruffed by bronze—The matriarch, a queen, Copper, shone.
A pack of hunters, scavengers upon the maimed. Teeth made to shatter bone.
Legs banded in copper, ears of velvet smear—Lovely demons, the Brass Pack.
The gallumphing runners of the Golden Sands, denizens of Tenebrous Black.

Below is Tack, a hyena pup, a member of the Brass Pack. His description taken from the Brass Pack pieces. His white coat an indicator of his deafness. (Genetic mutation in cats and dogs, white coats and often blue eyes are an indicator of total deafness on the blue eyed side, generally a double recessive genotype.)