i'm not saying i've never struggled to design a character, but i AM saying that i don't know if i've ever struggled as much as i have with [REDACTED OC NAME].
typically for me, when it comes to making a character it goes something like this: design wise, there's a period of finding my footing up front, but then it's like some random drawing CLICKS, and from there it's just a matter of honing in/refining! in terms of writing, i'll have had a vague idea upfront, and once that drawing that 'click' occurs, i flesh out the character as i hone in/refine... and beyond.
so. [REDACTED OC NAME]. lol.
he's for a story i haven't posted about yet, my goal right now is to make it in comic form after i finish visage of sweet love, so i'm redacting his name and being secretive about the story because i'd like for it to be a surprise when i do start making it (teehee) i hope it's not annoying!
but yeah i Technically started making this story the beginning of 2022, but it was extremely passively in the background. like i'm talking "maybe one extremely messy character exploration page a month" passive. but! i had that "random drawing that clicks" moment with one of the main characters at the end of december of 2022..... and basically right after that i did my first drawing of [REDACTED OC NAME] (who's also a main character). since then, his design has changed extremely minimally.
any time that could count as a his design having a "click" moment has been underscored by it not fitting into his arc/place in the story. which COULD be the reason i'm struggling! i came up with his story more upfront than i typically do, and that's meant that his design needs to rigidly fit a few story things, and every design i come up with seems to fit one of those needs well - while ignoring the others.
i was just figuring it was just taking awhile, but with the other main character having already gone through that hone in/refine stage for the most part, and also my interest in this story increasing... i've spent more time and energy into trying to figure his design out. but the click still hasn't happened.
i'm not particularly feeling bad over this though. there's a few options i know are on the table (i owe that to my best friend lexi for hearing me out on all this and making me feel like there are options), and i'm thankful to not have a hard deadline or anything.
to be clear, i'm not sharing because i'm looking for advice. i'm sharing because it's made me curious what other people go through in this way. i'd love to hear about if any of you have had a hard time designing a character before, and how you went about getting through it!
Splatoon 3's grand festival ended, I was on team Present (which accounted for more than half the player base was apparently!) congrats to Team Past on their win!
Part 1 of this journal: omg what will nintendo EPD team no. 5 do next?
My dilemma is that my two favorite game series are Animal Crossing and Splatoon, and both are done by the same production company... which means that when one is getting work done on it's flowers (a new game, updates, etc), the other is laying dormant.
My biased ass is hoping for Animal Crossing next.
Firstly because I didn't like Splatoon 2 as much as Splatoon for WiiU or Splatoon 3... and I relate the idea of "the dev team jumping directly from 3, to work on 4 - which will be on Nintendo's new console" closely with how Splatoon 2's dev cycle happened.
Secondly because the cycle being two Splatoons, then one Animal Crossing is downer to me. Yes because I like Animal Crossing and that means big gaps, but also because I like when games aren't "junk food" where there just needs to be constant new things to remain relevant. I don't want a game to only exist for two years and then be deemed "irrelevant" and have the masses scream they need a new game lol. I'm cool sitting with Splatoon 3 for awhile.
Thirdly: Splatoon 2's release being close to Splatoon for WiiU made sense because like 7 people had the WiiU (one of them being me) and so it makes sense Nintendo would want to attract people to their new console with a game that was previously (presumably) less accessible to them. Also it was obviously only the second entry, so they had learned a lot making the first game, and wanted to show it off on a new canvas (although idk what they were thinking designing some of the specials in S2).
So uh anyways. Yeah I hope they do Animal Crossing. But needless to say: if Splatoon 4 does get announced as the team's next project. I'll accept it and be excited for it lol. I love Splatoon so much, I guess you could say I'm just very content with Splatoon right now, so I don't feel like I NEED a new game.
In comparison, I'm scared of having 2018/2019 a second time (which were years I was so direly obsessed with Animal Crossing [specifically waiting for New Horizons] that it was most of what I thought about. but. not in the fun way) if we don't get a new Animal Crossing til 2028 or something.... but uh. I'll manage. I'm more growner up.
Part 2 of this journal: teehee I hope I finish making something with my Inkling at some point.
My bestie and I have occasionally chittered back and fourth about our splatoon player characters over the years, and the consensus has been that her characters are different in each game, meanwhile mine is the same character who's just gotten older. I haven't finished a drawing of my Inkling in some time. I've done plenty of doodles, but nothing I'd share publically. I hope that changes at some point, because the story I've come up with for my inkling is fun to me. And that is:
In Splatoon for WiiU, she has anger issues. Like MAJOR anger issues (I imagine she roughhouses the enemy team, like grabbing them and dunking their head in the "wrong ink" swirlie style, etc), she fs gets her fair share of reprimanding and whatnot. I don't think it bugs her until some teammates she thought were friends stop playing with her, which is a wake up call.
So when Splatoon 2 comes around, she's 2 years older, and she's mellowed out.... maybe... TOO mellow (repressing her actual emotions). When Chaos V. Order comes around she of course goes with order... and when chaos wins I imagine she lets out her rage for the first time in awhile LMAO. Both at the results (her team losing), but also at what feels like a betrayal (everyone telling her to be less chaotic, but then chaos wins).
So by Splatoon 3, she's four years older than she was at the start of Splatoon 2, and she's found more of a balance. She's not repressing her anger so far that it's negative, but she's not letting it out in unproductive ways. I imagine her as being like - cheerful and perhaps a little petty. Her initial rage came from a passion for the sport, so the more healthy form of her letting it out manifests as her being like "teehee! (kicks feet) sorry i splatted u 5 times in a row" LMAO.
She obviously also changes her looks game to game (you can see this on my site, though I haven't updated the Splatoon 3 page in some time)... and I haven't named her! I hope too sometime (it'll probably be something with "bot" or something idk. I say that because back in Splatoon for WiiU days, my display name was "Annabot" and the "bot" part is the one not relating to myself, but instead to something ELSE. so it makes sense that would be a part of her). She also lives in Inkopolis (living close to Inkopolis plaza), in Splatoon 3 when the splatlands are a happening spot, she ends up crashing on her friends's couches often lol.
There's also the ways she intertwines with my besties player characters, but y'know. Base stuff, I gotta get to sleep! I just wanted to get this all off my chest before I went to bed and twitter's character limit wasn't having it.
OK BYEEEEEEEEEEE <3