Drat's Chara Creation Guide~

Hola EV! Tis Drathe here. I found an old, very old character creation guide I made a longgg time ago, and decided to put it out there for any who might be wanting help on character design :D
Have at it!
I decided to create this to help improve the standards of character art on EV. I'm not sure if anyone will actually listen, but hopefully a few people can learn from this. ♥
A few dos and don'ts on character design that I've picked up on. Not saying I myself follow all the rules, (Even though I should. *Smacks self*) but many of these things should be taken into consideration.
By no means consider this the end all guide... I am still learning myself, and you don't have to listen to everything I say. But some of it might be helpful to you. :)
Hopefully a few aspiring character artists can learn from this. :)


Character Dos


Do make your character unique. Give the character a theme, such as lava or glass or even other animals! Many other things out in nature already have great designs. Giving your character a theme will improve the overall idea of your character greatly.

Do your research. Research, research, research. Especially if you're a natural design artist, I cannot stress this point enough. Look at the different types of markings, patterns, and coat colors that are out there. Open up a million tabs of bay horses on your computer to get a feel of how a bay’s coat is colored, if that's what it takes. Even if you're not a natural artist, it always helps to do research on a particular subject! If the theme of your character is lava, then look up pictures of lava and study how it looks like!

THIS is a handy little simulation that could help you with natural horse colors.


Do use your own lines. People love to see different lines then what are already out there, and it shows your creativity as well. and If you really can't draw, then it's okay to use free lines, but just remember that you'll never get any better at them if you don't practice...

Do use color palettes! Especially if you're not going with a theme. There are some random palette generators on the web that you can use as a color scheme for your character, if you're ever stuck.
In fact, there's one right HERE

Do Change it up a bit... You don't always have to stick with a plain old horse body. Stick a couple of horns on the head, maybe give it a couple of accessories, bows, jewels, all these things make your character stand out, and ultimately will attract more buyers.

Do put lots of love into creating your character ♥ Effort shows! The more time and love you put into making a character or design, the more people will want to buy it. (However this can lead to you hoarding every design you make SO BE CAREFUL IT’S A SLIPPERY SLOPE ;-;)

Do browse through pictures of other designs, animals, and characters to become inspired! When you can't think of any ideas or are in a rut, I've found it often helps to see what other people can come up with to give you a jolt of creativity :D
NEVER DIRECTLY COPY DESIGNS. This is called plagiarism.

Do look at tutorials on Deviantart! There are many character design guides that are far more helpful than mine.


Character Don'ts

DON'T EVER EVER EVER copy another design. EVER. It's considered stealing. This doesn't seem like a problem on EV, let's keep it that way. :3

Don’t use the brightest colors available! Big no no. If you have to use them, use them sparingly. An eye, tail tips, small parts that won't blind potential buyers. The best idea is to use muted colors, and give one part of your character a bright color.*
*This applies to rainbow characters as well.

Don't make your character over complicated!* Since the main point of your character will be to be redrawn, (on EV at least) it may be a pain for other artists to draw it and may end up refusing the character.
*I am guilty of this. >.>

Don’t pick a color, bucket fill, and leave it at that. Nooooo. Never do this. If you find yourself doing that, go and look at a few of the "Dos" above.

Don't use too many colors. Please. Using varying shades and hues of the same color is GREAT. Dark green, light green, mint green, forest green, ect. Using accenting colors, red and green, purple and yellow, blue to orange. Using colors next to each other on the color wheel, red and yellow, purple and blue, also good. DON'T slap a million random colors together without a reason.

Don't pump out a bunch of characters with designs you only half tried on, and expect people to buy them. Like I said, effort shows, and the less effort you put into characters, making them and selling them, the more it will seem like you're doing it solely for the money, and people tend to be turned off by that.

Don't be afraid to ask other players for feedback on your characters!


Disclaimer:
1)I am by no means an expert on this. These are simply tips that could help improve budding character designers.
2)This is more oriented towards fantasy designs than natural... If anybody has ideas on what to add for either of those, feel free to mention them. I suck at natural designs >_<