#i remember people telling me they thought like scapolite and whoever else were canon characters so for me that's mission accomplished

[gemkids]

sorry if this is rude but do you have any advice for designing gems??

oh no you’re fine, people ask me this all the time ! warning for long post bc pictures ! i think these are the most important things to consider when designing gems:

shapes - the general gist is that circles = friendly, squares = stable, triangles = dynamic. this goes for pretty much everything like body shape, face, hair, & clothing , and is supposed to tell you about a character without having to actually say it.

colour - of course we know gems can come in different colours that are actually appropriate for their gem types but we also know that those colours can actually tell you what diamond they serve under, which diamonds made them, and what type of job they might have - “According to Rebecca Sugar, blue Gems like Sapphire are created with diplomatic skills.[19] And later in the Ultimate Crossover Fundraiser that blue Gems can be introspective and a little judgmental.[20] She also states that orange Gems are leaner on the active side as they take action.[21]”

also, values can draw attention to important areas like jasper’s light eyes

clothing - incredibly important; like shapes, they can tell you a lot about a character as well as the way they think & their role in the show. cotton candy garnet is something entirely new, CYM garnet is more than the two of them; CG peridot takes elements from pearl amethyst & garnet but still makes it her own because she’s proud to be a crystal gem!!!

purpose - homeworld gems are created for a reason & will dress for the part. it’s kinda unrealistic to have a warrior wearing skirts and such on a battlefield bc they’d get tripped up in all that loose fabric right? and pearls resemble their owners in some way (not copying their looks exactly! many forget this) & have sheer clothing details, meant to be fancy and look pretty, etc. but typically rebels will dress the way they want to because thats how it is, baybeeeee

by no means is this a definitive “this is what you SHOULD do” , just that taking cues from canon examples help me best, but feel free to experiment around with different things, especially when you make non-canon gem types