User blog comment:BurningHype/Common Ideas and Creativity Guide/@comment-24490414-20150107085457

BLESS THEE HYPE. I SHALL PUT MY INPUT IN SOME OF WHAT YOU HAVE SAID (and perhaps provide extra tips if you don't mind).

Casual Clothing: Even casual clothing has to reflect on the OC's personality. In fact EVERYTHING they wear reflects their personality and overall character. What are they most comfortable wearing? What can you tell about your OC just from their simplest choice of clothing and accessories? If the OC had an upperclass-esque upbringing, perhaps their casual outfit is still considered "dressy" accoding to their peers just by wearing a buttoned blouse and/or slacks/skirt. Would they still be able to fight in their casual clothes on the chance that a sudden Grimm horde pops up from the ground and starts attacking downtown with no time to change?

Tonfas and Katanas: Oh dear god katanas. Of course it's not necessarily a bad thing for your OC to have a katana or even a tonfa. There are plenty more swords out there than a katana that may actually better fit your OC's fighting style. And even with Japanese-specific swords, there's a bit of variety: wakizashi, tanto, chokuto to name a few. It never hurts to research well about the types of weaponry used in combat and definitely be openminded to the possiblity of an unconventional weapon should it fit the OC. (P.S. HELLO HYPE I BELIEVE I SEE MY YO-YOS GETTING A MENTION THERE. <3)

Brooding and Tragic Backstory (also overlaps with War-Ready Teens): If you DO decide on having a tragic backstory, your OC shouldn't be completely defined by it. I'll put in one OC of mine, Terra Baker, as an example (he's also my only OC who actually has a backstory that's considered tragic). His parents were killed by the White Fang and he and his brother have grown up poor. Of course, this influences how he thinks and acts around people but to an extent. He's far from being the incessantly broody type because it's not like he's thinking about his past 100% of the time. He has his hobbies, interests, relationships with others, traits''. He's not his backstory.''

Color: A useful thing to know when creating a color scheme is Color Theory and especially Color Harmony. The latter gives the basics in choosing colors that match and work well together and here's this tool to help decide on color schemes. Obviously, it's not perfect but it's good reference.

.... Well that took a while to get this finished. :L