My FC choices have gone through three big phases: Filling Gaps, Average Vault Hunter, and now I'm in my Future Canvas arc.
To start, I knew my art was bad, so I leaned into the highly customizable nature of it as a positive trade-off: simple portraits to git gud, with one or two specific traits to help fill out census gaps or underrepresented factions/races. Things like elves with darker-toned skin, an overly enthusiastic dwarven lass, or a Just a Dude with a specific scar. Straightforward, just unlikely to exist in that combination.
After that, I became more comfortable with the basics and wanted to try out newer and weirder things, almost specifically just because I could - I was also playing on more scifi boards than feudal fantasy at this time, so my pointy ears and twirling horns were traded in for cybernetic eyes and mechanical hands. I didn't draw as many portraits here, but they were definitely more over-the-top as I got into the visual storytelling side of it, often adding a detail just to see how it'd look and thinking up a back-justification to keep it later. Still wouldn't call anything from this era good, mind, but it was invaluable experimentation all the same.
I've almost circled back to the first phase recently, where it's more "plain" people who just have a couple identifying traits and room to grow. I'm more interested in the change over time now, where instead of giving my characters a scar and backfilling a reason for it, I'm going to give other people a reason to give mine one and work towards it.
.... Also, the only FC I have ever used in my entire life is Tristan from that one Fate series I still haven't seen and never will, and only then because I keep trying to write against this manipulative, self-centered flirty archetype, but it never sticks. So screw it, I am the egomaniacal Wanted Ad boyfriend now Still planning to draw something One Day™ and silently switch it outyou know, one daymaybethis century
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