OC Design Tips: Part 1?

Told myself I'd never really stoop to doing something like this but eh, why not? I'm bored, and as an artist I certainly do have some things I can complain about. You can skip to just showing me a pic of your OC and telling me the basic info (no books please), or if you're designing an OC maybe just read through this and see if it helps you out any. This will be based off of the MLP verse obviously because of the site that we are on but I can totally judge sparkle dogs and other things privately. Picking a race for your character really depends on what you intend on doing with said character and honestly a little bit of thinking about their personality and history beforehand, I will admit I have changed the races of my OCs in the past simply because I decided I no longer felt they lined up or it wouldn't help with their occupations or whatnot. While I will not make any personal calls on what types of personalities I feel are fitting, because there are obvious exceptions, you should at least aim for something that you feel makes sense to you. Earth Ponies - Very, very underappreciated race if you ask me, but I've been seeing a lot more of them lately. These are usually considered physically the strongest, and even more durable than the other races of ponies. I see a great number of artists with these as their OCs these days in earth tones, about equal to the ones I see with pegasi OCs but it is generally the least used race because of a lack of abilities. Unicorns - These tend to be associated with higher class and intelligence (see Canterlot), but that definitely doesn't mean that has to be the case (See Snips and Snails).They're not very hardy, and are often drawn to be very dainty by some artists with their styles, some especially going out of their way to alter the style for unicorns. If you're not careful, you may even end up with an image having cloven hooves and the traditional tail if you don't specify otherwise and get charged an additional fee on top of that. Pegasi - Normally considered the fastest and lightest, and going with it least sturdy of the ponies. Pegasi, in order to manage to fly with the wings they have, would have to have just about hollow bones and weigh a very little amount. It's something to consider, as Rainbow Dash, Daring Do (A.K. Yearling), and Bulk Biceps are obvious exceptions, though that is going off of the show and would be very unrealistic as far as anatomy is concerned. One great thing though is that ponies have been seen using their wings as sort of hands in the series so this could be your best alternative to a unicorn if you want them to hold anything. Bear in mind though that artists who will draw your OC may have floating wing syndrome (wings between shoulder blade? Nej, wings in the middle of the back) and some will charge extra for wings as there's a good amount of work put into them. If you want a unique OC, however, you will definitely opt for something different. Polls in the past have shown that pegasi are the most popular as far as the main three races are concerned. If you are an artist, I highly advise against using a pegasus OC as your main simply because it won't be memorable with the massive numbers of artists who choose the same race. Wings are pretty, lots of nice poses and things too, but if you're someone seeking to stand out maybe avoid this race? Even a good number of entertainers in the fandom have pegasus OCs, so it is something to consider. Alicorns - How about no? I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm not saying your idea is a bad idea, but even for royalty we have seen other types of ponies than alicorns. Take the ponies from Saddle Arabia and Prince Blueblood as examples, now come back to me and tell me that your OC has to be an alicorn. Everyone thought it was ridiculous when Cadence had an alicorn baby pop out, some of us still can't even take that seriously despite her mother being an alicorn. I can guarantee you, it will not go over well with other people, you will be judged, and artists (myself included actually) WILL charge you extra to draw them. It's not because they're a bad OC, it's because it's an unoriginal idea, and because alicorns are supposed to be rare. Regular Changelings - Unless you're role playing with a bunch of friends or trying to have a survival role play or just an art character, a changeling is not for you. They may have the ability to fly and some basic magic skills including shapeshifting into other ponies, HOWEVER, they would not do well singled out and alone. We may see Chrissy do things alone without an invasion right next to her, but she quite clearly had an invasion at the ready. Changelings are meant to be bugs, so on top of that there's things like molting and their fragile bodies but they could make for a fun experience. I do not recommend, under any circumstances, a non-reformed changeling that acts like a reformed one. It's not original and got annoying at some point. If you choose to make a changeling OC, just make sure you're aware that it is almost guaranteed you will be charged extra. Reformed Changelings - I really do not like these guys, but they aren't... terrible. There hasn't been much seen in canon so far on their behavior and how they act but much of the same advice above applies to these as well. From my observations so far, they only transform into natural animals in nature, not so much of identity thieves now but that's all I've seen. Bat Ponies - Ridiculously common but pretty cute actually. A lot of the same things for pegasi applies here (including the popularity part), but also there are other things at hand here such as asking yourself if they have more bat-like abilities and features or if they are a pony with bat wings on them? I'd recommend thinking all of this through beforehand, there's no right or wrong way to do it but be aware that some people are just going to roll their eyes and this type of pony is ridiculously easy to turn into some type of edgelord... Griffins - Do you like the idea of a character that can fly? Do you like the idea of a character that has some cat like traits? If so, try getting a birb for an OC. Canonically speaking, there is a good bit of things we can assume about their culture, values and what their personalities might be, so maybe do a little bit of research before jumping straight in, BUT I feel these are a great breather from all of the pegasi everywhere. Just be aware that some artists will flat out tell you no or charge extra. Hippogriffs - Heeey, you here because you want a thing more unique than a griffin or are you here for the movie? If you want something more unique than a griffin maybe look into another race. IF you're here for the movie, I am sure you already have about the same amount of information regarding them as I do! The one thing to remember though is that there are upcoming episodes (next season), that will probably give you more insight into their culture and things. Seaponies / Merponies / Sirens / Fish Inspired Ponies - I love these, I do! I even have a Marina plushie (Everfree Northwest character) in my room, but these are clearly not characters for everyone and they can make getting commissions a hassle. You'll have so much fun starting off and then come up with questions like "Do they dry out?", "How would they move around on land?", or... if you're the weird type of person, "Where do the babies come from?" (I guess that would be their spawn? I guess the question would then be if they reproduce like seahorses, betta fish, or salmon?) If you watched the movie though and want a character based off of what it showed, you already know the answer to this. Dragons - There's not much I can say about them that works in a general statement since there are a ton of different ones in the show. They range from Spike sized to mountain sized, weak like Spike to very strong and fit, unable to fly like Spike to able to fly, etc You totally will get charged more than usual though or told no because it's not a pony at all. Original Species - Use at your own risk, do all of your research and things beforehand and be warned that you're probably going to get charged a little to a lot extra. I'm not going to go out of my way to explain complementary colors and crap, but I will give some basic tips regarding color. Gradients - Do not use gradients if you want to get art made of this character by anyone else unless you're willing to pay the price of a gradient. This being where one color fades into another, a sudden change is okay, but gradients are a pain in the ass for most. Traditional artists will dislike you, digital artists usually won't fuss so much but lord help you if you ever get a plushie made of this character. That becomes the plushie plus the cost of airbrushing the gradient on using fabric dye, and I sure do hope the fading part happens to be a darker color than the shade of fabric they're using or ouch. I can also tell you from personal experience you'll get told no or have solid colors sent anyways so maybe only if you're the only one doing art of them? Neon colors - If your OC isn't in entertainment of some type, I highly recommend not using neon colors. Pastels and other light colors are fine, but neons can mess up art pieces and things as far as shading/lighting goes as well as take away from the mood of it in some cases. It's a lot harder to feel sad for a neon pink character crying in the rain than it is to feel sad for a pale pink one. This simply deals with how colors in art pieces set the mood. Grey colors - IlovetheseOCs, BUT they are extremely common now. Coloring them all grey will no longer make your character original, sorry. That's the only thing I have to say. Shades of Black - Do you like shading/lighting details? Maybe avoid the black colors then as some more inexperienced people can not handle the shading or lighting for them and people will definitely use those weird light lines on them. Bad Wing(s) - Can be pretty interesting I guess, seeing as how characters now use them as both hands and for travel but admittedly not original. Might make for some funny situations as far as role play and other interactions are concerned but that's about it. Broken Horn(s) - Doesn't matter what you do, this will always be seen as edgy. If you really want to see how these would work anyways, according to canon, you should watch the My Little Pony movie. Blindness - Not very original, but unique opportunities and experiences. Just be aware that you could inadvertently offend someone and that their day to day interactions would really be unusual. On top of that, some research best go into this so you can also decide what type of blindness your character has in case of situations where vision correction is suggested. It would also help a lot more with anyone who wishes to do art for your character. I, for one, can tell you that a cataract looks very different from other types of blindness. Heterochromia - I do not recommend this, sure it happens and all but it's not very common. You do not have to choose a solid color for your character though! You can choose a gradient of colors like red to orange (Applebloom) or green to yellow with no big deal. Symbol(s) in Eye(s) - We get it! Your inner weeb came out after rewatching Death Note or Kuroshitsuji for the 50th time, but this is generally considered cringy in OC designs. One thing I totally have to say though? Haven't seen many "wingding" eye gleam shapes all that often. Stripes - If your OC is not a zebra, zhorse, z-donk, quagga, or some other form of early equus I'd say skip the stripes. Horns aside from Unicorn Horns - Generally considered a bad addition but it can look nice in the right place and context.