On self-inserts and Canon x OC ships

Poll results: Should I bring back my OC (or make a new one) and start uploading Canon x OC art again?

I don't care what you upload, just do whatever you want
44.44% 4 votes
Yes
33.33% 3 votes
Yes, but don't be one of those cringe self-shippers
11.11% 1 vote
No, self-insert OCs and canon x OC ships are cringe
11.11% 1 vote

Poll ended with 9 votes.

Starless
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
Lunar Champion - Led the charge of major battles for the New Lunar Republic, bringing swift and crushing defeat to the forces of the Solar Empire (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
King Sombra - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Crystal Empire!
Artist -
Non-Fungible Trixie -

Prog rock pony
It’s been almost two years since I joined Derpibooru under my original account (Manerg), and looking back, my old art was awful. If you said my old art was some of the worst art ever uploaded to Derpibooru, I would agree. I had most of it removed but you can still find it on some of the alt boorus.
I used to have an OC which looking back, was awful. His name was just my old username, he had no actual cutie mark (I did give him a noose at one point and a pair of drumsticks later on, but these were never shown as he wore a cloak most of the time). Unlike other self-inserts, he was a villain. While this did make my OC stand out, it’s also the worst thing about my character since I had made him way too heinous to the point to where even Chrysalis, Tirek, and The Storm King aren’t as bad. My OC’s story arc I had written (by uploading images of him) was so poorly done. I also couldn’t even come up with the right design as he underwent several changes. Overall, my OC was shit, but then again, aren’t all self-insert OC’s horrible?
I think self-inserts can be good, or at least much better than mine. Ever since I made this new account months ago or even before that, I had been on an off about whether I should start over again with a new OC or bring back my old one, but I never did since I keep going back and forth on whether it’s worth it or not (and I don’t think it is). I think out of the few people on here that do like my art, most of them only cared about my new solo Coloratura art and not anything with my OC in it (I say this because under my old account I had only 2 watchers and as of now I have 8).
Part of me hates canon x OC ships since our waifus obviously aren’t real and never will be, and even if they were, they wouldn’t give a shit. Initially I had drawn these just for fun until I had realized how awful some of these ships are, mostly because some bronies are so attached to their waifus (to the point to where they get upset over other canon x OC ships or whenever someone says anything bad about their waifu), and I had became worried I had turned into one of those perverted self-shippers, which really isn’t good. Perhaps if I had someone in real life I would have never done any of this, but any hope of me ever finding someone is gone and likely never coming back. I don’t think all canon x OC ships are bad (this one: >>2880037 is okay), but a lot of them, particularly the ones involving polygamy (which I almost considered doing recently), fetishes, out-of-character dialogue, canon x real life humans, or poorly drawn or stolen art are.
At first I was shipping myself with Twilight, then Octavia, neither of who I was happy with as I was more interested in Trixie at first (and I had initially avoided shipping myself with her to avoid drama with a certain user, but that doesn’t matter anymore and I have no problem with this now). Then after looking at some art and drawing shit which I never uploaded, I realized I had fallen in love with Coloratura and started shipping myself with her instead.
I kinda want to bring back my OC or make a new one and start uploading images of my OC x Coloratura (or Trixie, but probably the former since I’ve already drawn a lot of Coloratura shipping and POV art) again, but I also don’t think it’s worth doing this and I’ve lost interest in drawing (partially because it takes me so long to draw just one image, usually around 2-3 days whereas when I first started I could be done in less than an hour and upload multiple images each day, but my art did improve a lot so quality > quantity). Would anybody besides my closest friends even care to see yet another cringe self-shipper upload art of his self-insert?
Also, if you do want me to draw again and have any tips on how I could improve my OC (or make a new one), I would appreciate that.
Ciaran
ラ・ゼッタ - For supporting the site
Silly Pony - Celebrated the 13th anniversary of MLP:FIM, and 40 years of MLP!
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
Lunar Guardian - Earned a place among the ranks of the most loyal New Lunar Republic soldiers (April Fools 2023).
Crystal Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
Flower Trio - Helped others get their OC into the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Princess of Love - Extra special version for those who participated in the Canterlot Wedding 10th anniversary event by contributing art.
Tree of Harmony - Drew someone's OC for the 2022 Community Collab
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab

Senior Moderator
友情は魔法だ
Whatever fills you with the urge to do art, do art.
Sometimes art is for self and is healing. Sometimes art is for others. Sometimes art is just art.
If doing it makes you do more of it, then do it. Whatever it is.
Be an artist. Express yourself.
Whatever you do, someone will love it, someone will hate it.
But your art isn’t you. It’s just what you do.
So do it.
What you gotta ask yourself, is do you want to draw?
If you want to draw, then draw.
Also, if you do want me to draw again and have any tips on how I could improve my OC (or make a new one), I would appreciate that.
This is one of the most amazing drawings on the site. Simply, relaxed, impressionistic, slightly noir, a little Anime, a little representational.
Changing anything would make it not what it is.
Do a hundred more. You’ll find yourself in there somewhere along the way.
Roseluck
Roseluck - For supporting the site

I agree with Ciaran that you should draw if it makes you happy and/or you’re inspired. Especially that filters actually allow people to block out what they don’t want to see.
That said, I think one useful bit of advice is, “just because you made something, doesn’t mean you should upload it.” You’d still draw if there was no internet, after all (finding inspiration and references would likely be harder though).
And I mean that from your own point of view, not what others will think of it. Sometimes it’s better to keep something to yourself, because you feel it’s not good enough, because it’s too personal, because you don’t want to deal with the drama you know will follow, because you feel you’ll regret uploading it for whatever reason, etc…
There’s more than a few fanarts I’ve drawn that I’m happy to have drawn and to not have uploaded, for instance. I know that I’d have been unhappy if I’d done so. But there are also fanarts I’m happy to have shared.
The TL;DR of it would be to do what makes you happy, preferably with actually knowing what makes you happy and unhappy.
And in my experience, the biggest “cringe” (and closest thing to an actual problem) with self-inserts wasn’t the SI itself, but the people using them being terrible people. The kind who’d be terrible even without a SI…
Starless
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
Lunar Champion - Led the charge of major battles for the New Lunar Republic, bringing swift and crushing defeat to the forces of the Solar Empire (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
King Sombra - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Crystal Empire!
Artist -
Non-Fungible Trixie -

Prog rock pony
What you gotta ask yourself, is do you want to draw?
If you want to draw, then draw.
Part of me does want to keep drawing because there are lots of things I want to see but either haven’t been done or there’s no version with Coloratura, and seeing Coloratura (and this includes her x my OC) makes me feel goodk, but part of me also doesn’t want to draw since it’s usually very tedious for me and like I said, it takes a while (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), and none of this will matter because unless I’m still here in 10 years, I won’t care what I drew.
This is one of the most amazing drawings on the site. Simply, relaxed, impressionistic, slightly noir, a little Anime, a little representational.
Changing anything would make it not what it is.
Do a hundred more. You’ll find yourself in there somewhere along the way.
Yeah I did like drawing that because I got something done and it was something I wanted to see. I disagree about it being one of the most amazing drawings on this site. It’s not even one of my favorite images that I uploaded. That didn’t take very long and I could do more of those.
Especially that filters actually allow people to block out what they don’t want to see.
Yeah I should have thought about that two years ago when I wanted to ship myself with Trixie.
And I mean that from your own point of view, not what others will think of it. Sometimes it’s better to keep something to yourself, because you feel it’s not good enough, because it’s too personal, because you don’t want to deal with the drama you know will follow, because you feel you’ll regret uploading it for whatever reason, etc…
Believe me I have drawn a lot of art that I never uploaded, including self-ships with almost a dozen other ponies.
And in my experience, the biggest “cringe” (and closest thing to an actual problem) with self-inserts wasn’t the SI itself, but the people using them being terrible people.
This. Not just being terrible people, but being so attached to their waifus like I said. One reason I stopped is because I didn’t want to become like them. I felt like I was becoming too attached to Coloratura. I remember one of my friends got banned here not long ago for attacking someone for allegedly “bullying” his waifu because he couldn’t take an honest opinion and he still won’t let it go thinking he did nothing wrong.
I’m not nearly as terrible as I once was (not on here at least). Two years ago I spammed shit, uploaded low effort trolling/bait images, broke almost every single rule on Derpibooru, and based on what I had done before I made my first account, I should have been banned for life as soon as I made my account or at least the first time I had broken Derpibooru’s rules after that.
Roseluck
Roseluck - For supporting the site

Yeah I should have thought about that two years ago when I wanted to ship myself with Trixie.
Funnily enough, the self insert tag itself is extremely underused.
Thought some more on this. Moving on from the ‘you’ in the equation to the ‘others,’ as per the end of your first post.
There’s obviously lots of people who’ll want and like cute, shipping and/or friendship pictures regardless of whether it’s self-insert. Same for OCs in general. But the people interested in your SI specifically rather than an OC they like or the and/or I mentioned?
Yeah, there’s a good chance you’re already friends with most if not all of them. It’s up to you whether it’s worth it to upload those fanarts on Derpibooru or show it to them directly. Sadly can’t help you with that answer!
But if you fear it may/will change you for the worst (per your first post, again), I’d advise not to self-insert. Even if nothing happens, you’ll worry about it happening. That’ll sap the the fun out of drawing if nothing else.
Starless
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
Lunar Champion - Led the charge of major battles for the New Lunar Republic, bringing swift and crushing defeat to the forces of the Solar Empire (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
King Sombra - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Crystal Empire!
Artist -
Non-Fungible Trixie -

Prog rock pony
Yeah I should have thought about that two years ago when I wanted to ship myself with Trixie.
Funnily enough, the self insert tag itself is extremely underused.
It is, but a lot of canon x OC ships do have their own tags (“mantura” for Manerg x Coloratura). If I do ship myself with Trixie, it’ll be a threesome with Coloratura, and I don’t even want to do polygamy so it’s better not to.
There’s obviously lots of people who’ll want and like cute, shipping and/or friendship pictures regardless of whether it’s self-insert. Same for OCs in general. But the people interested in your SI specifically rather than an OC they like or the and/or I mentioned?
People interested in OCs in general. They don’t have to like my self-insert more than others.
Yeah, there’s a good chance you’re already friends with most if not all of them. It’s up to you whether it’s worth it to upload those fanarts on Derpibooru or show it to them directly. Sadly can’t help you with that answer!
It’s fine. Nobody can help me with this. I don’t want to draw anything unless I’m going to upload it here for anyone to see and not just my friends.
But if you fear it may/will change you for the worst (per your first post, again), I’d advise not to self-insert. Even if nothing happens, you’ll worry about it happening. That’ll sap the the fun out of drawing if nothing else.
I don’t think it’ll change me for the worst. It already has.
I’d like to start over with my self-insert since like I said my old self-insert was awful and I haven’t drawn him since I deleted my old account and made this one. Do you have any advice on how I can improve my self-insert or make a better one (and my old art is still on Ponybooru if for some reason you want to see my old art)?
Roseluck
Roseluck - For supporting the site

It is, but a lot of canon x OC ships do have their own tags (“mantura” for Manerg x Coloratura).
Yeah, but it’s better for those who don’t want to see self-inserts to need to blacklist only one tag rather than a horde of ship names and OCs that keeps growing every time someone new joins in.
I don’t think it’ll change me for the worst. It already has.
If that’s how you feel, I assume doubling down on it would keep making things/you worse as opposed to walking away. With that said…
Do you have any advice on how I can improve my self-insert or make a better one (and my old art is still on Ponybooru if for some reason you want to see my old art)?
No, sorry. I don’t actually do self-insert (despite my username) and I don’t have any experience with OCs since making my own characters doesn’t really interest me. There are probably dos and don’ts (especially the don’ts) about self-inserts out there but I don’t know them since I never was in that universe.
Starless
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
Lunar Champion - Led the charge of major battles for the New Lunar Republic, bringing swift and crushing defeat to the forces of the Solar Empire (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
King Sombra - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Crystal Empire!
Artist -
Non-Fungible Trixie -

Prog rock pony
I don’t think it’ll change me for the worst. It already has.
If that’s how you feel, I assume doubling down on it would keep making things/you worse as opposed to walking away. With that said…
It’s not just drawing OCs but being part of this fandom in general. I’d have to leave Derpibooru permanently which is very hard for me to do since I’ve become so attached to ponies in general and I have friends on here but don’t have any friends in real life.
No, sorry. I don’t actually do self-insert (despite my username) and I don’t have any experience with OCs since making my own characters doesn’t really interest me. There are probably dos and don’ts (especially the don’ts) about self-inserts out there but I don’t know them since I never was in that universe.
It’s alright. I can probably find do’s and don’ts somewhere but then again I’ve already looked but I’m not very creative and was never able to come up with a name for my character even after two years. Part of why I was interested to begin with is because I had become attached to Trixie for a while before joining Derpibooru and fantasized about being with her.
Soobel
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
Artist -

more amore best amore
I dont found any art of you what are bombarded with downvotes.
That remember me how i thought i celebrate 50th downvote of one of my pics with ragequit and dnp request but mods and buds insisted its not good idea.
Considering how fandom lost popularity and activity they had right. Every fan here are more valuable than they thought.
Starless
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
Lunar Champion - Led the charge of major battles for the New Lunar Republic, bringing swift and crushing defeat to the forces of the Solar Empire (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
King Sombra - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Crystal Empire!
Artist -
Non-Fungible Trixie -

Prog rock pony
as you don’t take your canon X OC pairing dead seriously
That was what I was worried about for a while since there are some bronies who do take their ships seriously and are so attached to their waifus. I’m not like that or I try not to. With all humility, I don’t recall ever attacking or even getting upset at (if I did get upset, I didn’t say anything and I remember that she’s just a fictional character) anyone for calling Coloratura their waifu or shipping themselves with her.
Starless
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
Lunar Champion - Led the charge of major battles for the New Lunar Republic, bringing swift and crushing defeat to the forces of the Solar Empire (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
King Sombra - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Crystal Empire!
Artist -
Non-Fungible Trixie -

Prog rock pony
I’ve thought about it and I will be creating more art in the future including canon x OC shipping images and images like >>2863103 (it’s not my favorite image I uploaded but it is my most upvoted). It may or may not be a while before I upload anything else but unless something changes I’m not done yet (and knowing me, I probably won’t be for a long time).
My last image of Pipp Petals isn’t as good as I had initially thought. It’s one of those where at first I feel like this is one of my best images but then I realize it isn’t (come to think about it, I did make her lips too small).
Starless
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
Lunar Champion - Led the charge of major battles for the New Lunar Republic, bringing swift and crushing defeat to the forces of the Solar Empire (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
King Sombra - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Crystal Empire!
Artist -
Non-Fungible Trixie -

Prog rock pony
Looking back, I’m starting to wish I hadn’t started self-shipping again and shouldn’t have uploaded those recent images of my ponysona with Pipp and Coloratura. I should just kill myself stop uploading since I don’t even enjoy drawing and all this has brought far more harm than good.
blue-case90
Cherry Blossom -
Lunar Supporter - Helped forge New Lunar Republic's freedom in the face of the Solar Empire's oppressive tyrannical regime (April Fools 2023).
Happy Derpy! - For site supporters
Bronze Supporter - Bronze Supporter

🌸🍜⛩️🇯🇵
Actually now I’m not on that anymore due to loss of interest and getting banned from r/waifuism because, quote-unquote, Mei is technically underage despite the fact that she should be 34 today, even though I was drawing us both in the same age and platonically.
Rather than fight about it, I decided to just move on to non-shipping pics.
In short: Draw what makes you feel happy unless it breaks a rule, no matter how G-rated it is.
Freedom of speech, amirite?
Interested in advertising on Derpibooru? Click here for information!
Ministry of Image - Fanfiction Printing

Help fund the $15 daily operational cost of Derpibooru - support us financially!

Syntax quick reference: **bold** *italic* ||hide text|| `code` __underline__ ~~strike~~ ^sup^ %sub%

Detailed syntax guide