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Questions about the design of my character Ophira.
4 years ago
General
Okay so a little preface to all this.
I have a slew of original characters (OC's) in my gallery. Some that are actually original, as in not directly based on a specific existing character. And of course I have many OC's based on specific things, be they Pokemon, Mario enemies, Legend of Zelda enemies or a variety of other creatures and things from videos, cartoons or whatever.
My dumb little issue is I am not particularly fond of having so many OC's based on things from other sources, games, cartoons and etc.. I like having actually "ORIGINAL" characters as I can say "yeah that is a character of my design and I like it.
So with all that said some of you may be aware of my OC Ophira:
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/42575223/
She is obviously a Vessel from Hollow Knight. My issue here is that, she is yet another character based on a thing from a video game and not really original.
Now obviously the way I designed her she's not really much of a Vessel aside from the skull/helmet since she has the standard hourglass figure I design a lot of my characters with, and even the footless legs are a design feature I use in several of my OC's as I like that.
So I guess the ultimate question here is, IF I were to alter her design would there be anything you could think of that could make her less of a Vessel and something more original? Now obviously I don't want to scrap her entirely as I like her too much. I guess it's just that tiny little thought in the back of my head that she isn't entirely original, at least in the sense that she is mostly based on Vessels from Hollow Knight.
So any ideas would be nice, though I am not entirely sure I will change her, I am just curious is all. And I know it's not that much of a deal since MANY people have nothing but unoriginal characters and there is no shame in that. I guess I just care a little more about Ophira that I want something more with her. I dunno, I'm weird.
I have a slew of original characters (OC's) in my gallery. Some that are actually original, as in not directly based on a specific existing character. And of course I have many OC's based on specific things, be they Pokemon, Mario enemies, Legend of Zelda enemies or a variety of other creatures and things from videos, cartoons or whatever.
My dumb little issue is I am not particularly fond of having so many OC's based on things from other sources, games, cartoons and etc.. I like having actually "ORIGINAL" characters as I can say "yeah that is a character of my design and I like it.
So with all that said some of you may be aware of my OC Ophira:
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/42575223/
She is obviously a Vessel from Hollow Knight. My issue here is that, she is yet another character based on a thing from a video game and not really original.
Now obviously the way I designed her she's not really much of a Vessel aside from the skull/helmet since she has the standard hourglass figure I design a lot of my characters with, and even the footless legs are a design feature I use in several of my OC's as I like that.
So I guess the ultimate question here is, IF I were to alter her design would there be anything you could think of that could make her less of a Vessel and something more original? Now obviously I don't want to scrap her entirely as I like her too much. I guess it's just that tiny little thought in the back of my head that she isn't entirely original, at least in the sense that she is mostly based on Vessels from Hollow Knight.
So any ideas would be nice, though I am not entirely sure I will change her, I am just curious is all. And I know it's not that much of a deal since MANY people have nothing but unoriginal characters and there is no shame in that. I guess I just care a little more about Ophira that I want something more with her. I dunno, I'm weird.
I hope that's enough to get you going. If it's any consoltation, I've stopped making the association between Ophira and Hollow Knight a long time ago. You've made a point to distance her from the actual lore of the game so much and the design seems so outside of the games context that I really only see Ophira. If you keep building that character structure, I imagine the only thing you'd really need to change is what she calls herself. Would Vessel be too close to Hollow Knight?
I was also considering getting rid of this "spines" on her arms and legs as I am not sure they add much.
Oh yes and I know that. At first she may have been connected but as time has gone on she has become so far from the events of the game she is her own thing. That is one thing I am proud of with her as a character.
Minor changes to what she is wouldn't be too hard. It's just a shame all the "empty" words are used in things. Void, Hollows and things like that. =P
But yeah, you're really clever with that kind of stuff. If I may, I'd recommend a piece a bit more stylized? I know you're not usually up for more than just pinups, and that's fine, but I think you could really play into the shadow aspect of her character by making something that's got a more refined color palette, and is considerably darker in terms of shading.
Well I have considered having her fight some planet sized creature and punching it as it's trying to punch her.
Same for images of her when she was corrupt.
As for ideas in design, think about species which feel the way you want her to be like, like similar animals or bugs, and think about the things those have that vessels don't have.
Another thing you can do is to go on google images and look up "人外 キャラ" to see non-human character designs. Or search an animal or bug followed by "character design".
Well I don't think I need her to be like an insect. I have an odd liking odd solid black creatures, like the Parasol Beauty from Kingdom Hearts 3 and Liddell as seen in my icon. So I like the angle of her being a shadowy black creature.
Your plains of existence project(s) show you can craft stuff with a lot of detail. And I would encourage you to attempt to use your brainpower for inhabitants of these plains.
Even if you think she's fine as she is and don't go through with this change, I would still recommend this experiment: I want to know what your mind would populate this universe with besides the occasional Astronomical Hyper flexing their junk.
I for example have a character that was made from scratch,using ideas that i like to make a species that was well received.
If you want to change an existing on, you should look at the character design you have now and modify it to a good level AND the more important part: character design gimmick thatll stand out from the crowd
I guess a vaguely tribal aesthetic is what I was thinking.