>>96771912
I see, for me my process can produce wildly different but satisfactory results from my initial idea. For instance, Pic related was my initial inspiration for a character in a Lancer campaign and went through several iterations before ending up as the final result below.
She started out as a fairly generic female pilot who, due to material shortages, had the legs of her mech replaced with tank treads. I began to develop her background more as a "gray towner" and, using setting notes as an influence, thought that it would make her a bit more wild, mystical or atavistic in nature. I later dropped the tread leg thing and leaned more into her mysticism. Traits of previous iterations did carry on over though. She ended up being a mix of Alyx Vance and The Oracle of Delphi though more introverted bordering on socially awkward.
Name: Mina Kano
Callsign: Stray
Mech name: Polecat
Backstory: A 2nd Gen Colonist. Born the old fashioned way in a Graytown. Shortly after reports of gray settlements and towns being demolished by unknown attackers began filtering into Evergreen, Mina Kano walked in wearing her characteristic face paint. What drove her into the cockpit is anyone's guess. What is known is that she is a committed pilot who takes to her tasks with what others describe as a religious passion. She paints her mech with animistic features and esoteric symbols whose meaning are known only by the more atavistic natives of Evergreen.
Her character portrait was Marie Locke from Brigador.
I do sometimes stick with single ideas like you and then let the character grow as the campaign progresses. I recently played a Savage World game where I played a pilot named Benny "two sticks" with his only distinct feature starting out was that he always wore a bomber jacket. He later grew into a character that liked to play at being a hot shot pilot but that was to cover the fact that he was also a massive coward on par with Shaggy from Scooby-Doo.
