Draw your OC [Original Character] like this
September 4, 2019 8:13 PM Subscribe
"Draw your OC like this", an epic twitter thread of fun and varied drawings that keeps on giving and is pretty damn entertaining.
It's literally in the title of the post.
posted by hippybear at 10:28 PM on September 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 10:28 PM on September 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
Yes but it literally makes no sense to someone not immersed in the world of anime/fan art. I read the definition in urban dictionary and I still really don’t get it:
A character in a major franchise created by a fan of something, and self inserted into that franchise usually via art and fanfics.posted by Atom Eyes at 11:09 PM on September 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
Usually due to the fact that the designs end up being so close to the source media, they end up looking almost like the original, and a ton of OCs are just traces/recolors of offical artwork for the source franchise.
Many of them also happen to be Mary Sues with self insert fanfics and copy/paste backstories.
Original characters are better defined in the context of fanart. There's drawing characters in already-existing IPs -- like drawing Bugs Bunny -- and then there's the characters you design and create yourself. Many artists (the ones I follow, anyway) have reoccurring original characters they like to draw for their personal art.
Re: the thread, I absolutely love that Bugs meme, and it was fun seeing everyone's style and take on it. Thank you for sharing!
posted by lesser weasel at 1:59 AM on September 5, 2019
Re: the thread, I absolutely love that Bugs meme, and it was fun seeing everyone's style and take on it. Thank you for sharing!
posted by lesser weasel at 1:59 AM on September 5, 2019
This is clearly the best one. Not sure who that little guy is, but he's giving it his all.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:48 AM on September 5, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Rock Steady at 4:48 AM on September 5, 2019 [2 favorites]
Rock Steady is objectively correct
My heart is warmed in its entirety
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:34 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
My heart is warmed in its entirety
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:34 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
This made my day. I like being reminded of just how much creativity is out there in the world.
posted by Gneisskate at 6:21 AM on September 5, 2019
posted by Gneisskate at 6:21 AM on September 5, 2019
OCs are a newer term specifically created to differentiate shades of fanart. It goes a little something like this:
- You can draw an existing character from a creative work like Hermione from Harry Potter, this would be non-OC fanart.
- You can draw your own original character created to live in Harry Potter's universe. Maybe you just draw them, maybe you've written fanfic with them in it. This is OC fanart.
- You can draw your own original character created to live in your own created universe. This is OC art.
I've had my own character for the last 20 years who started out as a Sonic the Hedgehog fancharacter of all things. She now lives in her own original universe as an original character. It's weird to think of her as an OC since she's over a decade older than the terms but that is essentially what she is.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:52 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
- You can draw an existing character from a creative work like Hermione from Harry Potter, this would be non-OC fanart.
- You can draw your own original character created to live in Harry Potter's universe. Maybe you just draw them, maybe you've written fanfic with them in it. This is OC fanart.
- You can draw your own original character created to live in your own created universe. This is OC art.
I've had my own character for the last 20 years who started out as a Sonic the Hedgehog fancharacter of all things. She now lives in her own original universe as an original character. It's weird to think of her as an OC since she's over a decade older than the terms but that is essentially what she is.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:52 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
OC originally comes from fanfic, as far as I know. When you're writing fanfic for a given source material, any characters you make up on your own that don't come from that source material are OCs. A lot of OCs are just background (and you don't need to tell anyone that there are background OCs), but some are major players in the story or the focal point of/reason for the art.
If you're a fan writer or artist who moves in fan circles, the things you create are assumed to be based on existing characters, so people specify when they're writing about or drawing their own original characters in what is usually a fannish universe. Sometimes a fan creator gets heavily invested in an OC, to the point of creating multiple works about them, which are specifically followed by people who are fans of the OC.
There are also categories of "original fic" and "original art" used by fan creators, to indicate that nothing in the piece is related to an existing source.
posted by current resident at 8:27 AM on September 5, 2019
If you're a fan writer or artist who moves in fan circles, the things you create are assumed to be based on existing characters, so people specify when they're writing about or drawing their own original characters in what is usually a fannish universe. Sometimes a fan creator gets heavily invested in an OC, to the point of creating multiple works about them, which are specifically followed by people who are fans of the OC.
There are also categories of "original fic" and "original art" used by fan creators, to indicate that nothing in the piece is related to an existing source.
posted by current resident at 8:27 AM on September 5, 2019
Right. I think the term is also sort of illustrates that these characters aren't necessarily going to be featured in a professionally published work. Like that it's totally acceptable to just share them with online friends and draw them for fun and be highly emotionally invested in them, but you're not necessarily going to create a webcomic/novel/film/etc. about them. Like folks who make up conlangs just for fun or worldbuild just for fun.
posted by pelvicsorcery at 9:05 AM on September 6, 2019
posted by pelvicsorcery at 9:05 AM on September 6, 2019
I read the definition in urban dictionary and I still really don’t get it
You tried to get useful information from urban dictionary. That's your problem right there.
posted by Karmakaze at 10:31 AM on September 6, 2019
You tried to get useful information from urban dictionary. That's your problem right there.
posted by Karmakaze at 10:31 AM on September 6, 2019
« Older Listen to Wikipedia | Can't wait to see what Trent and Atticus wear to... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by lemonade at 10:25 PM on September 4, 2019