How do you make your sims? What inspires you?

I will usually start with something I want for the Sim, whether it is a career I want to try out, an occult state, a new pack that I want to explore, or a tiny bit of backstory (such as "grew up rich but now trying to make it on their own").

Then it is time to get into CAS. I do tend to button-mash the randomize button in CAS just like @NRowe to get a base and then work from there. As I work, a more detailed backstory usually develops.

Some of my more recent Sims I created was a household of three roommates. I started it because I wanted to play a vampire. I was trying to go a very traditional route of what he looked like, but that was extremely uninspiring, so I ended up using one piece of clothing to create his whole personality and backstory around, and that piece of clothing happened to be a red pirate outfit from Get to Work. So everything after that fell into place pretty quickly: long black hair, long beard, pirate hat, lots of red and black clothes. Backstory-wise, I decided that he was a pirate captain from around the 1700s who got turned into a vampire by another pirate captain, and he has just been lurking around under the radar since then.

His two roommates--since the pirate captain is such an over-the-top concept, I knew I needed to make them pretty unusual as well so that they wouldn't just fade into the background. I decided that since the vampire was unemployed (so I wouldn't have to worry about him burning up in the sun), one roommate would have an active career and the other would be in a traditional career. I decided that the one with the active career would be an Actor since I haven't played one of those for a while, and in CAS he ended up with a floppy purple hat, which I turned green, and from there he ended up with longish brown hair, a little beard, and green and brown clothes that made him look like one of Robin Hood's merry men. The third roommate, to be visually distinct from the others, I decided to make a blond guy with white clothes, and that color made me decide to make him an astronaut.

Other Sims--I have a girl who is the 8th generation from her family, and she aged up to teenager just when Cottage Living came out, so she ended up with some 1920's-ish outfits to take advantage of the hat that came with that pack (I think it is the same hat that Crumplebottom wears). But she's also a mermaid, so she has a couple of tiny details that hint of that (a necklace in formal clothes, a skirt in her party outfit).

Another guy was the third generation of a different family, and I wanted to attempt the celebrity levels again, so even as a kid, I had him interested in music. As a teenager, he went for a pop-star look and personality, so I think he's one of the only male Sims I've had with dark eyeliner. He liked suits and slacks/buttoned-up shirts combos, but typically went for sparkly or unusual prints.

This is such a fun question, @annaliese39 .

My inspirations vary. Sometimes I begin with a story, and my daughter (who LOVES CAS) and I create a Sim to fit the story. Other times, the Sim comes first, and then a story takes shape around the Sim.

Two or three of our Sims have become favorites whom we regularly cast as "leads" in our saves. The favorites who don't get the "lead" in a given save are always placed in houses, so they're part of the story. These favorites have families, and once they have families, we create lore for them.

The rest of our cast come from all kinds of places. Some are based on fictional characters we enjoy. A few have been based on real people; if they're alive, we'll change their names. We have an ever-growing collection of Sims, and we let MCCC tap them when the game needs baristas, mixologists, vendors, etc.

"Ciralinde;c-18173095" wrote:

"Nate_Whiplash1;c-18173088" wrote:

I don't really get too attached to sims anymore, because I realized that aside from minor differences due to traits, sims are pretty much all the same

What about the contextual differences, like relationships, environments and events? Would you say these help to make your sims feel different at least a little bit?

My sims participate in none of that

My inspirations for creating Sims can be pretty random.
One inspiration I have was recreating Sims I created in Sims 2 for Sims 4, so I can technically play with them again on a different format.
Also, I tend to base some of my Sims on my favorite series, and will make multiple versions of them in the same file. For example, I have a harry Potter save file, and have the canon versions of the main characters, but I may throw in a version where Lily and James are still alive and raise Harry.
I also have a Frozen save file, where I plan to the next generations to slowly move into another series I like through generations.
I also like to mix it up with Sims I create and Sims I downloaded.
Things in my game are similar, but still different enough. None of my families are exactly the same, and my motivations for them change as well.

I'm another one who's a storyteller. That does play a big part in how I create my sims. As I'm choosing which sim to work with and picking out and creating outfits I'm building their backstory and thinking about where they fit into the bigger story I'm going to be putting them in. Both of those things play a big part in the choices I make as I'm creating their looks, traits, and aspirations. I'm constantly asking myself questions and playing out past scenarios as I'm creating them.

In terms of looks unless I am making a real life celebrity they all come from my head. As a story teller I've always loved inventing characters so I envision them in my head. I was thrilled once I discovered cc because it really breaks through all of the CAS limitations and let's me get creative.
I like for my main sims to feel uniquely my own.
Just for fun I have also created sims based on pictures of people. I sit the photo next to my PC screen and try to see how accurate I can get it.
I give the sim a small backstory and let the rest of their story unfold through playing with them. Their story and personality sort of grows on it's own if you stick with the same sims long enough.
Hard to say what makes me attached to them.
My most beloved sims are loved because they are characters from a story I'm writing in real life.
A few others were with me since I started ts4 so I feel connected to those pool of sims. Otherwise, it's hard to say. There are families I've played with for a while and just wasn't feeling ? and others that I just feel attached and connected to lol. Kind of like real life people I guess haha.
I think if you make likable sims and play them for a long while with interesting backstories, goals, and personalities you may get attached to them.?

I don't really play with premades because I prefer to use all of my own sims but I do make background characters to help play out my stories. I don't do too much lore just because I can't keep up with it all lol ?

I honestly create very few Sims from scratch. But if I do....the storyteller in me creates the backstory and lore. & since I have created very few Sims...I'm always super invested in their lives. For example, when Jungle Adventure came out, I created a backstory for my Sim, Kamila Salas, who was just finding out she was adopted & that she was originally born in Selvadorada. She traveled their to learn her heritage, find out what happened to her parents, her family etc. (which allowed me to explore that pack). But her story just grew, and grew and grew as I played. & now I have several generations of her family. & she's just one of my super iconic Sims that I've been playing forever, so that attachment will always be there.

Other Sims I create, are usually for a challenge, such as Not So Berry or a Legacy Challenge. I usually get attached to the Sims that are born in-game or the heirs.

I typically don't really have an idea of how I want my Sims to look. & I don't think I've played a premade family since 2014 when Sims first launched.

I'll ususally start with a name and go from there. Mash the random button a few times and then adjust the Sim's appearance like an enthusiastic plastic surgeon with a new set of scalpels.
Sometimes I might have a specific direction I want to aim for, like certain physical characteristics. But more often than not, I will just adjust whatever the dice throws at me.

When I do attempt to make a copy of a celebrity or person IRL, I'll have some pictures of that person open in a window on my other monitor (using a dual screen setup is really handy for that sort of thing).
My next project is to have a set of four dudes based on the Banana Splits, that old 1970's puppet / variety / cartoon series. Making someone look like an elephant will be challenging.

EDIT: I just want to echo what @Sha2520032003 said up above, I haven't played a pre-made Sims family at all in the Sims 4. (Logging in to that vampire NPC household and ordering 20 garlic bulbs to scatter around their house doesn't count).

Random genetics challenge is a good way to create unique sims or just looking at picture references of people on google

Not me, but my daughter-in-law did this one time when she didn't know how she wanted her sim to look. So she did the randomizer 3 times for everything on the sim (nose, eyes, mouth, and so on). Whatever landed on the third try was what she chose.