Small Update Time!!
Another bump, but as I've said before to nobody in particular, I'll be periodically updating this thread with more little snippets of information on creating OC's and whatnot. And today's lesson is...
Siblings and Family Members
So you've got your character all made, you've got their backstory (which I'll go over in another lesson later) and their important information done. But you perhaps wanted to add to it, or perhaps you wanted to flesh them out more by giving their family a visual aid. Where do you go from here? Well that's what I'm here for!
Start by looking at real life, as it draws a nice parallel. We'll start with siblings.
Assuming that the siblings come from the same parents, and one wasn't adopted or something (*gasp*) you'll want to follow some very loose guidelines:
Unless they are identical twins, don't make them look exactly alike. Depending on the artstyle chosen this'll be easier or harder, but for the traditional vectored show style, it's easy to get lazy and just recolor your OC to make a sibling. Don't do this. Instead, give them similar characteristics, such as manes or tails, even eye color is a good linking characteristic. Here, I'll show a visual example:
Take Mr. Steel Vaults here...
And his brother, Anchors Aweigh.
Notice that, at first glance, it's easy to draw a parallel between them, as they use the same body type, but that's where the similarities end. Instead, the method I chose to give a subtle visual link between the two ponies is via their mane and tail. Anchors Aweigh has a spikier, windswept and unkempt mane/tail. Whereas Steel Vaults's mane and tail are smoother, there are still pieces of it that jut out, betraying his natural mane and tail style and giving hints that, were he not to take care and style his mane and tail, they would resemble Anchors's, say, if he had just woken up.
But this is just a very minor way of establishing a familial link, and I encourage you to get creative with your OCs! I would link other examples that weren't my own, but then I'd have to get permission from the creators and such, and I want these to go up as soon as possible so that I can help out the community.
Now, onto parents.
I will say up front that I have no visual examples of such, but it's a pretty good idea to work backwards when making parents (obviously). Keep in mind high school biology with dominant and recessive genes, and use those to give traits to the mother and father of your pony. In the case of the two brothers up there, I would end up giving the father the spikier, wilder hair (with some noted differences, perhaps it being longer) and green eyes, with a large, greenish body. The mother on the other hand (hoof?) would be given Anchors's golden eyes, and a blue-hued body color. "Why is the color important?" Some may be wondering. It has to do with the color theory I discussed in the first post of the thread, and while I may be wrong on how genes and color are passed down in-universe, I'd like to assume that it works the same as both color mixing and simply straight up passing down colors to descendants. Blue, as it stands, can be mixed with both green and red to make both coat colors of the two brothers. Don't ask me where the red came from. Anomalies happen! (And this is an imperfect pseudoscience.
If there are any questions, simply ask here in the thread, or PM me. I'm always around to help.
Go forth and create, and have a wonderful day!