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What is an Original Character?
There are various meanings of an Original Character and below are some of the definitions and its sources from the internet.
- An original character is a character created that does not come from an existing copyright. In other words, it is a new fictional character. This term was originally used in fanfiction to refer to a brand-new character who was unofficially introduced in a story (accdg. to flipnote.fandom.com).
- An original character, or "OC", is a fictional person or creature created by someone not affiliated with a company. Such a character can exist as an image or in text; and be part of an original story, comic, or an animated series, but also be an addition to existing media, which would then qualify it as a fancharacter (accdg. to originalcharacters.fandom.com).
- A fictional character in a fanwork who is the creation of the fanwork's author/artist rather than a part of the official canon (accdg. to yourdictionary.com).
- Original Characters or OCs are the characters in a fanwork that are not in the source media, but have been created by the fanwork's author (fanlore.org).
Below are examples of illustrated original characters. Most artworks are created by Jil Yago, the creator of this website.
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Creating an Original Character
Creating an original character can be difficult at first, but as long as you have ideas which served as an inspiration either from a canon series or real life friends, it will not be much of a problem when you are starting to draw them. When it comes to looking up at references, make sure to NEVER copy the exact details of your reference. Otherwise, tracing a reference is not drawing or copying, it is considered stealing and you could even get branded as an art thief.
Remember to only use references as ideas and inspiration for your work.
Remember to only use references as ideas and inspiration for your work.
Below are examples of art references that can be used to improved or help you gain ideas for your Original Character.
You could even search for more references online. May it be sketches or a real life person portraying your desired appearance or pose of your Original Character as long as you got the idea you are looking for. Improvisation is the key.