characters- where/how to start?

[-PieOne-]

yo!

 

so.. ive been practicing letters for the most part and now i wanna start with characters.

But i dont know where or how to start.

I can do like basic cartoon network-ish characters, but i want that graffiti feel to them.

 

any tips or ideas how to start evolving towards it?

 

should i copy/bite stuff from other ppls work? not something i feel like doin.

As it is now i got some small projects/work that i gotta do for a homie and he wants a character aswell.

And i could google the type of character he wants and just copy/bite parts of it and change it a bit so its not exactly like the original, but as i wrote, doin this doesnt feel alright at all.

And especially not to him, because he is gonna use my "design" as a logo for his fighting/training clothes (he is a top muay thai fighter in my country)

So IF he choose to use my design, its gonna be kinda "public" if u know what i mean.

 

all help is thankfull!