having ocs for this series can be very fun, as you get to customize them to your liking. you can pick their pelt color, length, texture, eye color, relationships, strengths, weaknesses... anything you'd like! but it can be difficult at times figuring out what exactly you want your oc to look like or to act like. i hope this little guide can help you!
if you want an easy place to design your oc, the clangen pixel cat maker is a very, very good website! some other websites that work are curious cat creatoralso avalible on the google play appstore](https://www.dolldivine.com/curious-cat-creator), cat maker on itch.io, warrior cat creator and felidaze's cat creator! something else i'd highly reccomend are free to use bases for creative freedom with where you want your patterns to sit and the specific colors you want!
1. pelt colors
i have been in this fandom long enough to stop caring about having my cats look realistic. i am all for unrealistic pelt colors and patterns, it adds more diversity! however, if you want to stay realistic, my best reccomendation for finding pelt color inspiraton is pinterest! pinterest is a gold mine when it comes to pictures of cats.
color palettes are also your best friend. palettes i would steer towards if you want a more realistic looking oc are earthy toned palettes! browns, whites, grays, blacks, and oranges are all very common among cats!
something else that is your best friend is looking at all the types of coats a cat can have! there are many different types of coats that are among cats besides the classic tabby and the solid colors. there are many types of tabby cats, too! if you want a place to find all types of pelt designs with visuals, i very highly reccomend the clangen wiki pelt section! it shows some colors you might want to make your oc, along with different pelt patterns, white patches, vitiligo, and points!
but at the end of the day.. do whatever! i have 4 pink warriors ocs!
2. pelt length
how fluffy is too fluffy? personally, i love my fluffy cats, but it does get to a point where your ocs begin to all look the same! pelt length variation is a good thing to have, as it can add some personality to your cat, and also help with their background!
the way i see it is that long-furred fluffy cats usually come from somewhere cold, someplace that requires all that fluff. they could be from a colder climate in the world, or live in mountains! short-furred cats could come from somewhere that usually isn't as cold compared to fluffy ones, so they don't need all that fluff! or they can come from a place where it's hot, so they need a short coat to cool off quicker. short-furred cats could be from plains, moors, or tropical regions!
however, nothing said above is required, but it could help if you're designing a clan.
3. pelt texture
i have no real advice for this, i love seeing all different types of textures with warriors ocs! and don't be afraid to give your ocs fur hair, and hairstyles to go along with it! i love seeing braids, buns, locs, and more on peoples ocs.
if you are going for fur that looks like locs however, i'd highly reccomend looking at dog breeds with corded coats! some breeds that can have corded coats are poodles and havanese! the american kennel club has a page about dog breeds that can have corded coats, along with tips on how to begin cording and bathing for them, which can be useful for your ocs lore and roleplays!
4. eye colors
some eye colors are more common among certain coat colors than others. however, don't let that stop you!
if you want a realistic warriors oc, i'd reccomend following along.
eye and coat colors go hand in hand(or paw in paw). there are eye colors that are far more common for certain coat colors than others. an example is blue eyes going with white coats! it's very common. a small fun fact for those with white fur and blue eyes, 70% of you are deaf in the real world! and for those with one blue eye and white fur, its only 40%.
from what i've seen and studied, cats with darker fur are more likely to have yellow or orange eyes, and those with multiple fur colors, like calicos and torties, typically have green or a very muddy yellow/golden!
there can be exceptions to this, but it's just what i've noticed.
5. age
figuring out your ocs age can be very important if you want them to be a clan cat! if you are confused about the aging system, check out the terminology section!
aging is determined by months in warriors, each month being called a moon.
if you want your oc to be a kit, they have to be between zero to five moons!
for apprentices, it can vary, but the typical timeline is between six and twelve moons for warrior apprentices. some cats in the series have been apprenticed early, below six moons, and some have been apprenticed late, above six moons. having your oc be apprenticed early or late can give an insight to their personality, skills, or the clans condition!
for medicine cat apprentices, their apprenticeship is far longer. i do not have an exact moon duration, but i personally put it between six and twenty four moons. medicine cat apprentices recieve their full name when their mentor thinks they're ready, but it does NOT mean they're a full medicine cat. there is more information about medicine cat apprentices in the basic information about clans and hiearchy section.
warriors are typically between twelve and eighty to ninety moons! warriors are full grown cats, and their age can help with how easily they can carry out their duties, how respected they are by others, and how experienced they are! if you want your oc to be a mentor, i've found that having them aged around twenty moons or above is good, but they can be below that!
medicine cats follow the same rules as warriors, but a lot of medicine cats with their full names are usually above twenty four moons, and they can live as long as they want carrying out their duties until they die or choose to retire.
deputies are usually older warriors, but they have to be at LEAST sixteen moons old if you are following the "must have been a mentor" rule, as most apprenticeships take 6 moons. i personally like to make my deputy ocs at least thirty moons. they can be as old as one hundred moons sometimes!
leaders can be just about any moon above 16, and can live for a long while due to their nine lives. the longest living leader in the series lived to be 189 moons, which is 15, almost 16, years old!
elders are... elderly! i like to put elders between one hundred and fifteen to.. however old! however, not all elders are elders because of old age. sometimes a cat is made an elder due to a serious injury or illness that pervents them from carrying out their duties.
6. strengths, weaknesses, and personality
this is what makes your oc your oc. i think these are the most important qualities of an oc, so you should focus a bit more on these compared to looks and age!
your ocs strengths and weaknesses can reflect how they act and where they live! if an oc is good at fishing, swimming, and combat in the water, and they're bad at hunting land prey and land combat, where do you think that oc would live? if an oc is good at scaling trees, would there be a lot of trees where they live?
like said in the basic information about clans and roles section, a leaders personality and values are reflected onto their clan. but that doesn't have to apply to your oc! a better way i figure out my ocs personalities is based off their color palette! one of my ocs, rosecall, has a bright pink color palette, with cream, blue, and green being the accents! with bright colors, you might think the oc will be bubbly and outgoing, not afraid to speak their mind. that isn't the case for rosecall! his personality is laid back, and he's a big gossip. i took the blue(a color associated with calmness) and green(a color associated with envy/two facedness) from his palette and made those his main personality traits. if you are interested in doing something like that, two good websites are color meanings and canva.
another tip for your oc's personality can be songs! using songs can be a very helpful thing to imagine your oc's personality and helping with their backstory! there's no specific genre of song that's required for this, it can be any song you like :3
basic information about clans and roles | terminology | video summaries, be warned of spoilers | information about the fandom | where to read the series | content warnings for the series. if you are interested in reading the series, i'd highly reccomend checking this section out. | main page