It usually starts as a role I need filled. The best friend, the rival, enemy. From there I go for a species, which usually I try to fit within those roles (for example, if a villain I’ll go for either a predator animal such as a fox or hawk) and then i usually try to go from there. If they’re meant to be in drawings with another character i try to color match or do the opposites so they look good. When creating a roommate for Lunaria, she was originally gonna be a possum due to being a rodent like Lunaria, but when Berry was put up for adoption, and i saw how compatible their color palettes were I couldn’t resist. :)