As a former Splatoon artist, I want to have a serious discussion about this; because I was one of the people that would go under this tweet. And before I start, NO, I do not agreee with how they worded this, but I do agree with some of their points. https://twitter.com/roy_1up_/status/1249547124246708228

For starters, back when I drew OCs, a literal majority of them were based off of clothes. One of them had “boba flavored ink” and a different colored tentacle, but other than that she was just an inkling with clothes from the game.

And then there was my “Agent 8” who is literally just a carbon copy with longer hair and a different color. When it comes to games with customization, it becomes hard to call something you make an OC; because in context of the game, anyone can make what you did.

When it applies to art though, you’re able to include differences, and that’s why people begin to consider their characters “OCs”. The thing is though, they aren’t exactly “original” because it’s based off of something that already exists. We say OC in lack of a better term.

For example, my Mii Brawler from Smash wouldn’t be considered an OC because I used the Mii maker to create her and Smash for the outfit, and I drew her for fun in my own style. TDLR, are they original? I personally don’t think so. But what we do with them in art can be original.

Hopefully this thread makes sense to everyone and I didn’t leave anything out; and if I offended you I sincerely apologize because that was not the goal of the thread. I wanted to talk about my experience with a subject like this in a serious and neutral matter.