It definitely feels like a consent-basis type thing to me, since I think some people can take it as some form of impostor, despite doing your best to make it different from the original. Then of course there's those who think its a little more flattering, or just feel ambivalent overall towards the idea.

IDK where I sit in that honestly, like if i were to see a character that looks similar to mine but have had no communication about it then I feel like its a little awkward? But it doesn't get to me that much. But if someone were to come to me and ask about doing that, I'd at least think about it and prolly just ask how they'd go about it.

I've seen a character that has a lot of features that my old sona did that also feels like it was constructed better than my own. Which tbf, my sona used a few generic details, so it wouldn't be that hard to accidentally recreate a chunk of them but I think that was part of me losing interest in the character I had. I can DM the two if you'd like to see.

Granted, I'm sure its a little weird to suddenly have someone come up and ask if parts of their character(s) could be used as inspiration

Sure, DM me your goofy goobers, for I am curious :3

To me I'd say it depends on intent, there's a non-zero chance someone could do it accidentally especially in the case of pokemon characters someone likes a certain pokemon. But that line does get blurry when you try looking at lore of others' characters as a way to inspire yours.

In the scenario you described another thing that I would look at is who the person is who is taking inspiration for my characters. in this hypothetical scenario my reaction would depend on who this person is with their online behavior playing a huge role in whether or not I would tolerate them doing that.

Hmm I feel like this could be a loaded question as many people handle this kind of situation quite differently from each other. There's many a person who could be fine with it but there's probably the same amount that wouldn't but I can be both ways depending on the situation.

I feel like those who would more than likely would have issues are those who already have established characters and do not want anything specific to ruin their image or give people assumptions of them. They're probably likely the types to potentially do closed species stuff and try not to have any one just making an oc based from anything they have. In this day and age I believe their been a growing number of individuals who don't take too kindly to it due to art theft/character theft being quite common.

I wouldn't know personally but I'd have to agree with one of the comments before this, as it really is based on intent of the individual who drew inspiration or not from another character and I would just try to talk it out and find an equilibrium of what could be done about it.

I see! As stated, 90% of my characters all have origins of being based off of other people's OCs, or franchise characters more unncommonly. I love doing it, but a part of me have awlways felt kinda guilty about it for some reason. I'm admittedly too afraid to directly poke the original owners about them. To be fair, I only base my characters off of the design of their inspirations while their lore and stuff are completely different or partly inspired. I won't stop what I'm doing, I love my craft too much.

Yeah I get ya, I mean there isn't too much shame in inspiration from other things I mean I think people could just take a look around and honestly see that most of things that were created in art are just essentially just the objects that we see in everyday life or like something from different media and the like.

The way you describe designing your OCs basically just sounds like the process of art in general. I think the more novice and or persnickety people get hung up on "true originality" as if it's something sacred or even truly achievable, when it isn't. There's a reason the phrase "steal like an artist" exists. We cannot create something without incorporating elements of things we have experienced with our senses to some capacity, and so by design, we are always drawing inspiration from something. I consider originality the process of how far you take something from it's origin point. A lot of my OCs draw inspo from several places including franchises I care about.

That said, I think a younger me would be a lot more apt to get upset were I to find design similarities between my characters and others. To be fair I've had a couple instances of actual character theft, so I had some valid reasons for potential crashout over it back then. I've had people's designs inspire me to make ocs of species myself, and I'll be honest, undiagnosed autism, but I can get really fixated on exacts to the point where any substitute just isn't enough. I don't like copying others if I can help it though, so that would usually lead me to see about purchasing or obtaining the character outright as opposed to making a copy or inspiration.

The points others have made about intent and consent are valid. Most people seem to have a good enough head to see if someone isn't just being a jerk and means well. I think as I've gotten older I've started to care less about stuff like that because it's not worth getting mad about. I can show the receipts and timestamps of who made what first in my case, so I'm not afraid of my stuff being stolen anymore. I've even considered offering slightly altered clone adopts of some of my own characters as an option in the future but been too busy to do it.

I myself recently sorted things out with a former friend about a version of their OC that I was given to work with, but apparently someone alerted them with concern I'd stolen the character outright so some clarity had to be made. It often seems like followers of people care more to look for that than the creators themselves. I almost always found out of things secondhand. I think that openness to collaborate with those inspired by your ocs to help them make them more distinct is admirable.

Goodness, your situation mirrors mine almost exactly! From the autism to knowing that there's no originality and adhering to the "steal like an artist" creed to even attempting to purchase desired characters in the past... That part usually just get really awkward... I don't think I've ever experienced character theft.

I personally love to inspire others. It's one of my greatest joys as an artist, probably because I want to give back in some way. Aaaand I do have a silly personal vendetta against the "carbon copy furries" trend, and I want to show people that more interesting designs and writing are possible.