Describe your character creation process.

Okay, let's see here.

First, I need to have a show, anime, or another fandom that I am not only deeply involved with, but I can imagine some kind of story that makes sense with the canon storyline. If the OC doesn't make any sense in the canon or I'm simply not invested in the show, I won't make an OC.

For example, I love Grey's Anatomy...but will I ever make an OC? No, because there's no place for her in the canon that would make sense.

Second, I choose their role and how they impact the story. For example, when I decided to make Diaval a full-fledged character instead of a pet bird (no pun intended), I immediately thought "Who is this guy gonna be and how will he impact the story?" The answer, of course, was that he's in the Foot Clan, he'll have a history with the turtles that will be unearthed over time, and he eventually becomes close to Destiny.

Third, I pick out personality and a name. When I created Paresse Masquée, for example, I knew that I wanted her to be slow-speaking, lethargic, and rather lazy since her alter-ego is a sloth. And so on. Personality is something that I've gotten a lot better at XD

For choosing names, ethnicity/heritage comes first, then I usually go with finding names that have personal meaning within the context of the story. I do this because myself, being named Hope, I carry myself differently. I have trained myself to have a more positive outlook because how ironic would it be if someone named Hope didn't have any hope? Thus, I want my characters to have names that show either a part of who they are or represent them.

For example, Sarina means "princess" and "one who laughs". Starts out ironic, grows to suit her.

Zilla is more blatant. Her name means "shadow". Duh.

Fourth is appearance. Since I can't draw, I usually figure out appearance in my head and if I want to visualize, I use rinmaru.games avatar creators. It helps me figure out hairstyles too.

For example, here's a couple I did of Chizue (One Punch Man OC) the other day.

Their appearance is loosely based on their personality, but...only slightly. It's hard to explain the appearance part because there's a lot of factors that I go by. Who is their love interest? What are they like? Do I want them to look the way they act or should they be the character that flips your expectations?

Diaval's a tall, lanky dude with a snaggletooth, a scar over his pink-red eyes, and white hair who rarely smiles and prefers to speak in mumbled sentences and grunts. To make him more dimensional, I give him little quirks like his love of spicy food, tea, and how he has a soft spot for animals and that he's a total klutz.

That's another thing. I always give my characters a few quirks or a "fun fact", something that makes them unique. Examples; Diaval loves chilli flakes in his tea because he can't taste it otherwise. Dakota prefers shades like white and grey over colours. Dean is a closeted anime nerd. Mitch's favourite pizza is feta and fried chicken with parmesan cheese and sprinkles. The list goes on.

Once that's all done, I keep going back and editing them as I figure out the story that I want them to be in. It takes me a while to figure them out, usually, but I'm getting better XD