Tips on Picking an Aesthetic for Your OC's Design!
Aesthetics! If you’ve read some of my past blogs, you’ve probably heard me talk about them a bunch. I love aesthetics and I think they can be a great addition to a design! Before we continue though, if you need some ideas for specific kinds of characters, check out one of these other articles!
The articles above also have some lists with different aesthetics in them! Now that we have that out of the way…Let’s continue talking about aesthetics!
What is an aesthetic?
First off…What exactly is an aesthetic? Originally, the word itself referred to beauty or art, and it’s still often used that way! More recently however, aesthetics became a sort of categorization of different styles, to put it simply. (Especially on social media!) It can refer to music, cultures, room decor, fashion, and more! For our purposes, we’ll be using the term to refer to fashion styles you could use for your OCs! You might be familiar with some aesthetics already, and you might recognize the names of popular ones such as…
- Fairy Core
- Mushroom Core
- Dark Academia
- Sweet Lolita
- Victorian Goth
- Y2K
Aesthetics can be helpful for figuring out your OC’s design. Picking one can be useful for finding references, or creating moodboards for your character! It’s also important to do your research when it comes to aesthetics. An aesthetic isn’t just about the fashion itself. Each type has a different history surrounding it and a different thing it could represent! Some aesthetics are also focused around heavier topics, so it's important to keep that in mind as well.
Incorporating an aesthetic into your OC’s look can be a great starting point for their design, or help their outfit look more cohesive! Not every character needs an aesthetic though, and it’s okay if their design doesn’t fit into a specific type. An aesthetic can just be a fun thing to incorporate into a character design! So how do you pick an aesthetic for an OC’s design? Let’s talk about it!
What’s the setting of your OC’s world?
One thing you’ll want to think about is the setting of your OC’s world. There’s lots of aesthetics based around certain time periods, but there’s also plenty of aesthetics that wouldn’t fit in a specific time period! It might be a bit odd to see a character with a modern aesthetic in a mediaeval world, or vice versa! (...Unless the character’s a time traveler!)
Since aesthetics often have a specific theme to them, different types could fit better in certain settings! A character in a Victorian-inspired setting might have a Victorian Goth aesthetic, or a character in a sci-fi setting might have a cyberpunk one! To help you brainstorm, here’s some questions you could answer about your OC!
- What time period does the story take place?
- What kind of area does the OC live in?
- What’s the weather there like?
- Would their culture influence the kinds of aesthetics they might, or might not, wear?
- Is the story meant to be more inspired, or more historically accurate?
Answering the questions above could help give you an idea as to what aesthetics might work better for your character and their story…and what aesthetics might not work as well! You could also just take inspiration from aesthetics for a design, and not have the whole design centered around an aesthetic!
If you need help with developing the setting of your world, my co-writer has an article on world building development questions right here!
What kind of personality does your OC have?
Next, you’ll want to consider your OC’s unique personality and their interests. There’s many aesthetics with subcategories to them that have a different look from the main aesthetic! For example, you may have heard of lolita fashion! The first thing that might come to your mind is pastel frilly dresses with cutesy animals or food designs…This is the subcategory Sweet Lolita! There’s also Classic Lolita, Gothic Lolita, and many others! Each style fits under the Lolita category, but each has aspects that make it unique from the other kinds.
There’s also aesthetics with similar themes to other aesthetics, but have different themes or motifs that separate them. Different characters might prefer different aesthetic looks than other characters! Some aesthetics might be more focused on practicality or comfort, while others might be more extravagant! You’ll want to think about how your character’s personality or what they like might influence the aesthetic they have. If you’re not sure what might work best, here’s some questions to get you thinking!
- What’s your OC’s personality like?
- Do they prefer pastels, or more dark colors?
- Do they have an interest in animals and nature?
- Do they like studying and reading?
- Do they like fantasy and mythology?
- Do they prefer extravagance, or practicality?
- Do they like frilly clothing and bows?
- Do they like belts and lots of accessories?
- Do they like a specific kind of music?
- Do they have any specific hobbies?
The questions above can help you get an idea for the kind of character you’re creating and what kinds of aesthetics might fit them! You can always create your own questions too that you can answer for your OCs!
If you need some more things to think about for developing your OC’s, try this article on strengths and weaknesses for OCs here!
What job or role does your character have?
Another thing you could consider when you pick an aesthetic for a character is the job, or role, they have! Some jobs or schools may require a uniform or certain way of dressing. A character might have an aesthetic based on that! Different aesthetics often focus on different types of clothes, whether it be fancy dresses or a nice suit! Since some aesthetics are centered around specific activities, that could also be a way to factor an aesthetic into a design!
You’ll want to consider how a career might impact the attire of your OC. For example, a student might dress with an Academia aesthetic! The job or role could also tie into the setting. Say our student character has been sent to a mysterious academy out in the middle of a dark forest. The Dark Academia aesthetic might work well for their design! If you’re not too sure where to start with thinking about your OC’s job or role and how it could affect the aesthetic they might have, here’s some questions to consider!
- Does the OC have a specific job?
- Do they go to a specific school or academy?
- Does their job place or school require a uniform?
- Does their type of work require a specific type of clothing?
- Does the setting affect their job?
The job your OC has could be an important part of choosing an aesthetic for your OC’s design! The questions above are just a few that could help you figure out how a job could impact a character design.
If your OC doesn’t have a job or role just yet, and you need some ideas for how to pick one for them, there’s an article about the topic here!
How to incorporate an aesthetic into a pre-existing OC’s design!
If you have a pre-existing character, you can choose an aesthetic based on that as well! Adding a specific type of aesthetic doesn’t have to mean a complete redesign of your OC. Your character might have design elements that already match a specific type of aesthetic! It might be a specific motif, or the style of clothing they wear. Use what you already have to decide on an aesthetic!
Giving a character an aesthetic isn’t always necessary, but it could help you enhance their design! There might be details on an OC design that you really like and want to add more of. Taking inspiration from aesthetics and the motifs or accessories from those might be useful! If you need some ideas, here’s a few to get your creativity flowing!
- Does your character have floral themes in their design? Fairy Core might be fun for them!
- What about mushroom motifs? There’s always Mushroom Core!
- Lots of belts and modern clothes? Maybe Cyberpunk!
- What about layered clothing and earthy tones? Perhaps Mori Kei would work!
- Darker colors and fancier clothes? Try Romantic Goth!
- Lots of ruffles and dessert motifs? You could try Sweet Lolita!
The aesthetics mentioned in this article are just a few different ones you could try. There are many, many more aesthetics out there! It can be fun to give a pre-existing OC an aesthetic to enhance their outfit!
For more on updating older character designs, there’s an article with tips on reviving old OCs here!
OC’s with cool aesthetics from the awesome users on Unvale!
If you need inspiration from the cool OC’s on Unvale, there’s plenty you can find! Here’s a few awesome characters with specific aesthetics!
- Splautism’s cool OC Evanora, with a Fairy core aesthetic!
- Rory’s cool OC Dolly, with a Lolita aesthetic!
- Valo’s cool OC Malice, with a goth aesthetic!
- ZafraZaleska’s cool OC Trish, with a cyberpunk aesthetic!
Be sure to show the characters above some love! If there’s any specific kinds of characters that you’re looking for, you could always try looking through different tags as well. For example, the goth and cyberpunk tags have lots of different OCs you could check out! Have fun exploring different characters, and have fun creating!