Nice topic, though you may want to change the two dA links from their "browse" URLs to their actual image URLs. The "browse" URLs take me, and possibly others, to a "blocked domain".
Anyways. Though you two make good points, I would like to add something about creating "original" designs for OCs vs. for actual fancharacters. I'll use Troll's first reference as an example.
Let's take the photo and "literally" make it into a coat design:
Is this realistic? Well, techincally, yes, seeing as it was pulled directly from a photograph. Is it unique? You could say that. It certainly doesn't look like the "common" ones that Mighty pointed out. Would it work for an OC? Sure.
Would it work for a Balto fancharacter? No, no, no, no, NO!
Why, you ask? Simply because it is WAY too complex. Look at the Balto characters. ALL of them have relatively simple markings. No matter how no matter how many photographs you can back this design up with, it simply would not fit into the Balto universe. Your own universe, sure. But not the Balto one. (This is one of my pet peeves. XD)
HOWEVER, if you take the same reference photo and SIMPLIFY it greatly:
Would THIS work as a Balto fancharacter? Yeah! Is it still unique? Yeah! The markings are SIMILAR to those of the Balto characters, but they're not exactly the same. And that's completely OK! If you'll look, you'll notice that ALL the markings of Balto characters are similar, depending on the breed/species. For example, looking at
markings only,
the dogs,
the wolves. Not necessarily exactly the same, but very, very similar. Many simple markings get repeated over and over again in different combinations. Even
Jenna and Steele, when you ignore the Steele's eyepatches, have nearly
identical markings.
I've said this before and I'll say it again. It's not just the markings that make these characters unique--it's also their build! REMEMBER to incorporate that in your character designs! (And that goes for both OCs AND fancharacters!) And don't just mooch it off of another character's, either (another pet peeve of mine: seeing in a character's bio "Build: [insert official character here]". No, no, no, no, no! That's the same thing as simply recoloring a character with the same markings! It's yet another thing that makes me REALLY detest rendering.) If you're not good at drawing, then that's fine! Just DESCRIBE the character's intended build in the bio (but not using the name of official characters. When I say "describe the build", I mean really DESCRIBE it using things like "tall", "muscular", "skinny", "thickset", "short", "frail", "lanky", etc.)
Now, do you
have to use only markings that can be found in the movie? Not necessarily. Like Mighty and Troll said, by all means, do some research on your species! Look through MULTIPLE pictures of MULTIPLE individuals and try to pick out markings seem to appear, or maybe not-so-often. Just keep it simple. My character
Samuel, for example, has a facial pattern that's not exactly seen in the movies, but I think that just about anyone would say that yes, his design would fit into the canon universe. Same goes for DarkViver's
Hayate, LionLover22's
Maito, Rebelness's
Weiss, Mighty's
BlackBurn, etc.
Summed up:
1.) Complex =/= unique.
2.) Fancharacters' designs should fit in with those of the canon characters of whatever fandom they're from.
3.) There's a heck of a whole lot more to a character design than the markings.
4.) Research is key--both of the real animal and, if you're making a fancharacter, of a fandom's official characters' designs.
Hopefully that helps a bit. :)
