Something I've been pondering while whittling away on a story.

OCs usually have a 'canon' size, something their owners stick to with varying degrees of fidelity.

Some see the height on the reference sheet as sacred and cling to it for dear life. Others think those fancy numbers are a dare to go far higher or much lower than advertised. Others still have a fluid happy medium; its a character's general size in their day-to-day life until someone or something zaps em', If they haven't embiggened or shrank themselves first.

I fall in camp three three, personally? All my characters have heights I'm supposed to obey. Heck, their heights are posted in each of their profiles. But I rarely ever follow them for long.

When writing, I try to envision them interacting with the world at whatever size they're currently at. How hard the ground shakes and breaks with each step they take. How much difficulty (or lack thereof) they have with too-narrow streets. How bodies become thinner than individual strands of hair. How a tiny struggles to climb to the mountainous peak that is the ridge on the tip of your finger as they shrink smaller and smaller, squeaking to the heavens (your living room) and flailing their itty-bitty hands, trying and failing to get your attention. How it'd feel to be smaller than the dot at the end of this sentence.

When editing someone big or tall, especially during growth sequences, I always bump them up bigger and bigger each pass. A little more height. Teensy bit more muscle. More boob. More ass. More everything. Without fail.

I just can't help myself. :v


Tell me about one of your OCs. How tall or short are they? How big or small can they get? What's your 'comfortable limit' with them, if there is one? Do you follow their advertised height exactly, or do you flow with their ups and downs? If you're an author or an artist, do you (sub)consciously make your subjects larger or smaller come adjustment time?