Everyone has to start out from somewhere. No one can suddenly thought-up an original character design on the spot. In fact, I noticed that many original characters were based or inspired from other people's characters, or they originated as fan characters before the creators then make them completely original. (For example, someone may create a fan character based from one of the Pokemon species, but then later eventually make them original species, no longer connected to the Pokemon franchise anymore.) Fidget, the nimbat from the game Dust: An Elysian Tail, appeared to be hugely inspired by Foxglove, a one-off character from the Disney animated series, Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers. (It's no secret that Dean "Noogy" Dodrill is a huge fan of Foxglove; I've seen Noogy's website before around 14 years ago, and many of the pics he had drawn then are Foxglove fanarts.)

Myself, believe it or not, my fursona Marwan originally started out as a Terriermon expy, with a little bit of Gatomon (that long-tail bit) thrown in. This original design, minus the long tail, can be seen with my alternate fursona, Lobes; in fact, Marwan and Lobes were originally one and the same character until I start splitting them apart, forking the design as two separate characters, with Marwan focused more on long tails, while Lobes focused more on overly long floppy ears. Hence why Lobes is also my fursona, though I never actually used him for RPing; just acknowledging that he's my fursona, that's all.

So, how does your character originate? What inspired your character designs? And yes, even if your character is a fan character. =P I don't think it's shameful to admit how your characters came to be the way they are now, and where their big inspiration came from. I'm just fascinated with the origins of these characters.