I'm assuming this is referencing character designs. I've seen a lot of anxiety around the visual aspects of character designs being too similar, but I personally don't worry over it. I keep in mind that nothing is completely original, and making character designs and specifically personal OCs, means doing so with confidence and fully catering to myself in what I want the design/character to be.

I think what helps me make unique designs is: I love to push unique features, especially facial features and silhouettes - accessories, hair, mobility aids and body modifications, shape language, even down to smaller details like scars, tattoos, piercings, which lend themself to fully fleshing out a character visually as well as who they are (like why do they have those features). I also am the type to lean into fantasy biology and have created many species for my headworlds (and by extension fanworlds), which many of my main characters are a part of, so that lends to making designs that are more unique to my tastes and style.

I tend to mull over a character's design in my mind for awhile before committing to the designing process. I like to know at least a good base of what I wanna do for a character, so I visualize and rotate their concept for days if not weeks or months. Usually this is most of the "drafting" work and keeps me from getting stuck when actually drawing them. If I AM looking for visual references to start from or to help with the designing process, I like to compile image boards on Pinterest for my characters to get a feel for them... this especially helps flesh them out after I've designed them.

But, if I have a character design in mind that I'm pulling inspiration from (such as I liked the concept, aesthetic or even specific markings), I do NOT pull up the design to reference. That's the easiest way to prevent "copying" someone else's character design, I think... I do like to pull up the design afterward or when I'm mostly through the designing process to ensure that they don't look too similar. In my opinion, if the designs can be mistaken for each other, then that's close enough to "copying" to be a personal issue.

This is all my creative process for personal OCs. For adopts I often start with a visual inspiration from Unsplash (I fave images to use as insp and in moodboards) or am struck with inspiration otherwise, and mess around with the design until I get something I like enough to consider finished/sellable. Not as interesting a process in my opinion, I don't put as much time and love into designing characters for sale, otherwise I'd wanna keep them all.

Hope this was at all enlightening!

the first one that comes to mind is Mob Psycho 100, the animation and colors in it really inspires me artistically and totally changed my "for fun" art style and approach to sketchbooking. Not to mention the positive impact it had on my psyche with its story and characters. I have real brainrot for the show and its effects have definitely wormed its way into my art and life.

Dungeon Meshi is another recent inspiration, especially regarding fantasy biology and environmental design. I like to expand upon existing worlds and ideas with my own creations, which is why I make/brainstorm a lot of fan content in my spare time. Other huge inspirations for worldbuilding and creature design specifically, include Pokemon (especially Mystery Dungeon - and I feel that Pokemon has contributed a lot to my art style overall), Digimon, Minecraft, and Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

I don't create music, but the music in all of these media definitely lend to inspiring me and my art... I love listening to their soundtracks.

I'm a bit picky with receiving gift art, it makes me anxious, however I get this question a lot and I'm trying to be more open with my characters in general, so I've compiled a tag on my toyhouse of characters who I'm currently comfortable with people drawing: https://toyhou.se/Dracononite/characters/folder:all/tags:1/tagged:OK%20TO%20DRAW

Characters in this tag may change, I'm admittedly sensitive about my characters' features or personalities being wrong in art so this is a group of ocs that: I'm looking for more art of, have accurate references and art to pull from, have design notes or personality descriptors in their profile to use (if needed), and/or have already gotten a lot of art which has helped me be comfortable with them being drawn in lots of different ways.

Honestly, the most safe go-to character for gift art will be my main sona Clover! If you draw any of my characters, please look through their profile / art for references and notes on their design and personality. I sort galleries with most accurate art at the top. I really appreciate when art that I receive is in-character - and am okay with answering questions about any ocs you wanna draw

oooh I've already thought about this quite a bit! my sonas are pretty much all part of my headworlds so I've thought about where they'd live. I have quite a few so I'll just include my mains and some secondary sonas.

Clover (main sona) - one-story townhouse in desert suburbia, sliding glass door to a grassy fenced-in backyard with a little garden, marble-top bar separating the kitchen and living room has quite a few potted succulents in colorful pots. Lots of fun little pops of retro and rainbow colors. They'd have shelves full of their Pokemon collection and consoles to play games. Yoga mat + weights for working out too. and their bedroom is dim and cozy with a big quilted loft bed and a big desk for work/gaming/streaming. and their comfort stuffed animals, fairy lights, etc

Raven (halloween sona / glitched clone of Clover) - apartment in autumn town, Halloween meets gamer decor. Blacks and dark greys, hanging Halloween decorations, lots of posters of alt & rock bands, cryptozoology and UFO stuff. their ADHD and sensory issues get the best of them so it's dim-lit and messy, they're also the type for beanbags and have a big flatscreen for gaming

Maximilian (alt main sona) - old-timey but nice apartment in a cozy town! lots of browns and sepia tones, probably have a nice fabric armchair and lots of books. big windows with thick draping curtains, vintage decor, a writing nook with a typewriter

Coffee - a small hut on a tall rock spire over the ocean, connected to the mainland by a wooden bridge. they spend most of their time away from home so it's mostly a storage for their art supplies, canvases, trinkets etc. probably have some cute flags, garlands and windchimes hanging outside

Rainbow - lighthouse cabin with pre-modern retro feel. lots of open space, tables for mail and stationary, lots of natural light, couch, rainbows painted on the walls, vivid circle rugs. their kitchen cabinets are definitely painted in colorblocks, maybe some kitschy stuff in there

I'm mostly self-taught with anatomy specifically, I've never taken anatomy/figure-drawing classes but I feel I could benefit from them. It's mostly been practicing for years, training my eye enough to look at my art and see what I need/want to improve, and learning how I like to stylize anatomy. There are so many great anatomy drawing resources out there, doing studies, drawing from life, pulling techniques from artists you like, can all help. Just keep at it!

realism isn't the end goal for everything, draw anatomy how you like, I've seen lots of unique stylizations of bodies (both human and anthro) which I am inspired by, including: drawing hands large and blocky, drawing thighs/legs long and with big feet (often paired with some awesome perspective work which I also need to work on), different ways to stylize inner ears...

also it's very good to keep in mind that anatomy isn't the same across the board, exaggerate proportions for uniqueness and silhouette, make features large/small/crooked (my personal fave with this is noses/snouts), draw tummies differently (fat lays differently even on ppl who are the same weight), stretch and thin areas, long vs. short faces.... I'm definitely still working on pushing the unique features in characters myself

this is all just me drabbling on of course. and thank you for the high praise! I love character designing and I'm glad that what I make can inspire others

I don't go for any particular color palette (I admire artists who do) but just lean into colors that make my brain happy. Which usually means warmer colors as opposed to cool colors. Muted colors are cozy but I love vivid colors that as well especially as accents or background colors (helps make a character's silhouette pop). I like warm yellow-greens as opposed to blue-greens or turquoise, wine opposed to violet, etc so will often tweak colors to be warmer.

For coloring lineart I also tend to take the color of the lined area and make it darker, more saturated and hue-shift it (usually warmer color but cooler in some cases). Overall I try to balance the values of my art so that it's readable - I like to think I have a good eye for balancing values but sometimes when I'm feeling particularly unsure I'll make the art b&w to check. And for commissions I try to balance colors I like with colors that fit the character/theme, so that everyone's happy!

Some small color methods I like using in my art: mid grey-yellow to emulate a "warm blue", warm mustard as green, changing pure-white to off-white (often a light yellow but sometimes grey or cool blue depending on overall color palette) and pure-black to off-black (dark grey/blue/green), warming all greens/yellows, shifting yellow-browns to orange/red-browns, shifting purple-pink to red-pink...

Sure! Keep in mind I print with a manufacturer (Stickerapp) so I don't know anything about printing from home - paper stock/lamination/print/cricut/etc... But here are some tips:

• 300 DPI ALWAYS. Keep your canvas large, you can always shrink designs to fit the dimensions you want but you can't enlarge them without loss of quality
• Checking CMYK colors before print is helpful. Clip Studio Paint can, and it's all I use it for. View -> Color Profile -> Preview Settings. I set "profile for preview" to Japan Color 2001 Coated, "rendering intent" to perceptual, and "library" to Microsoft. Then you can see what colors might need editing as well as tonal shift to get the result you want.
• In general, keep your colors light. That dark blue next to the black WILL look like the same color.
• Making very similar colors the same can make the design more cohesive, pop more, have a graphic feel and be easier to edit
• I keep one sticker of every design I make so I can reference its size, colors and finish for editing future reprints
• Storage is important.... I don't have enough storage for my stickers and prints, just one small desk shelf and a box full of my stickers in plastic bags. But I recommend getting lots of desk drawers if you can so your stickers don't curve

I've really been hyperfocusing on worldbuilding my PMD region lately so this is really the perfect question to ask me right now.... (are u one of my server friends lol)

AS FOR THE ANSWER: I'm gonna be realistic and say that I'd probably take up a community job such as a painter for shops/team bases/news articles/mail designs, etc! it's the most like what I do now, and I probably wouldn't be a flying type or athletic Pokemon that could deliver mail, climb mountains, etc. I can see myself being a grass type so perhaps I'd be an agriculturalist as a hobby, or contribute to community gardens.

I love the idea of exploring but would probably prefer not doing so in dungeons cause I'm the type to complain at every inconvenience and avoid dangerous situations or places rather than delve into them. But maybe I'd get to explore with a team sometime haha, I'd be an escort mission for funsies. Or perhaps I'd enjoy traveling just to map areas outside of dungeons and paint the landscape!