- Things to do with your OCs! -

You've made it this far, so why not hear me yap some more? I have a lot of characters and sometimes I don't feel like drawing them lol, so these are just some fun activities that require little to no drawing I wanted to share!

And while you're here, why not take my OC QUIZ, heh

No 1 Make character profiles for them! If you enjoy coding, I recommend using Toyhouse! The site uses HTML so there's a lot of customization options there and various F2U code templates! You do need an invitation code to make an account but finding some on Reddit or Twitter is pretty easy. Other character profile/storing sites that don't require code are CharacterHub and Unvale. These have much simpler layouts and templates where you can just type in your OC's details.

No 2 Make merch and/or physical objects of them! Sites like Vograce allow to make items like keychains, standees, and buttons. You can also always make homemade items like stickers and buttons of your ocs too. And if you really want to go the extra mile, you can make 3D figures with them. One option is making them with clay. Another option is to sculpt them using a 3D program like Blender or Nomad Sculpt. With some practice and a few tutorials, you can 3D print your figures at the 3D printers from local libraries or workshops.

No 3 Put them in games, preferably that allow for customization and are story-based! Miitopia, Tomodachi Life, and the Sims are all great games for OCs. There's also games that focus more on customization like Ponytown or other dress-up games such as Style Savvy. For a free, more accessible option, you can use Picrews!

No 4 Make voice claims for them! They're pretty simple, find some voices that fit your characters, attach some images of your characters and make a video. I use Capcut for all my voice claim ideas. I personally like looking through TikTok to look for new VCs for my OC or Youtube if you already have a specific character voice or VA in mind.

No 5 Make playlists and/or assign songs to them! I feel like I'm the only artist that doesn't make Spotify playlists for their ocs lol. I just choose a couple songs that fit them and put them in their Toyhouse profile or page. But using either Spotify or Youtube is an easy way to make organized playlists for all your OCs.

No 6 Assign fun stuff to them! Instead of continuing to write their trauma and sad backstories, assign them little things that give them more personality. Stuff like their favorite color, food, drink, etc. You can also give them little quirks and habits, which I find helps humanize OCs more. You can also assign scents and a perfume to your OC through sites such as Fragrantica. And if you're currently obssesed with a video game, like me, you can assign them what character they would main from that game! Idk I just think this is a fun way of 'humanizing' your characters a little, making them feel a bit more real, but it's also a fun way to give them a bit more depth.

No 7 Use silly websites! You can make fun gifs with websites like the petpet generator, heart locket gif maker, or Picmix for Blingee-like gifs. There's also Wonder of Wonder Art and Sketch Meta to make your ocs get jiggy. These can make for fun pagedolls or icons images.

No 8 Animate them, specifically by tweening! This does require some drawing, but you can also use old drawings of your ocs and animate that. Animating by tweening is not too difficult. Plus, there are a lot of tutorials! Just separate a drawing into parts and use an app to animate. A free and simple app to use is Alight Motion. There's also Live2D, Spine, and ToonSquid. These programs are more advanced but they give better animations in my opinion. They have free trials but also cost some money to get the full version.

No 9 Use silly meme templates! Searching OC meme template on Pinterest has a lot of these. They're mostly alignment based, I think it's pretty fun to fill these out. It makes you think more about a different side of your OCs you maybe hadn't explored yet.

No 10 Make a website for them - Basically what I'm doing right now! Some options are Neocities and Nekoweb. Coding has a bit of a steep learning curve but you can use templates and various free resources (such as W3schools) to get started. The best thing about coding a site is you can personalize it as much as you want. You can make each page unique, add fun little games, or add animations to make it pop some more! There's also drag-and-drop website builders. These are a lot easier to learn and use but tend to offer less cutomization. Some examples are Google sites, Carrd, and Strawpage.

No 11 Make a game, novel, webcomic, or animations with them! The most time consuming option, actually telling your OC's story. You don't have to create your entire story if you're not ready, you can just make little side stories that can still characterize your OCs. You can make little comics or animatics about smaller scenarios. The medium you choose really depends on how you want to tell your story, but I personally think writing a novel or making a game are good starting options. I think making a game is a great starting option. Game making and coding is a bit intimidating but there are various workarounds to simplify the process! A great game idea to make for your ocs is a visual novel. You can use Renpy, RPG Maker, and even Google Slides or Canva to make one, and they barely use any coding! You also don't have to draw that much for a visual novel game. It's usually just character sprites, backgrounds, CGs, and sometimes UI. There are other types of games you can make but visual novels are simple and can allow you to express a lot about your characters in a really fun way!

No 12 Make a quiz with them! You can do something like a 'which of my ocs are you', like I did recently lol. These are just fun to make, and do sort of help you develop your ocs further based on the questions and responses you make.

No 13 Make edits with your ocs! This can be video edits or picture edits. PicMix is a great site for making pretty little Blingee image gifs for your characters. You can use these as icons or pfps, or just have them around for fun. You can also make video edits with your characters. I personally am not too familiar with this, but you can search on TikTok for some inspiration or trends. Edits also kinda overlap with animation memes, so you can try making those too, although they do require some drawing. But this can be a very fun and simple way of showcasing your characters!