I design the characters first. I just sketch out different designs and pick what I like the most. Then I build their story. I've never thought about doing it the opposite way.
I've had both happen.
Characters have popped up in my head, and they sit around until I come up with a story for them.
Other times I think of a story premise first, and then design characters for that world and plot.
I usually come up with their story and personality first. On rare occasions I'll have a design in mind first and I build a personality and story around their design.
I feel like depending on what you start with first completely sets how the story is going to feel. My previous comic it was more centered around the lore of the world and the story itself. I had the story and character roles, and I developed characters to fit those roles, so that's entirely what they were. The characters now looking back to it feel secondary to me. I still like, developed them, but they were just so intertwined with important events in the story that it felt to me like the story motivated the characters, not the other way around. I also have a problem of world building and becoming lore obsessed that the story may become boring or hard to get into for just casual reading. We're introduced to a number of characters before being introduced to them as characters.
The comic I focus on now is extremely character focused. I first created it by just playing with the concept of two specific characters, designed them, and then made the story around them. It's a different experience, but I still have some elements of (overly complicated) world building in it, but it's not necessary to know EVERYTHING to understand the characters.
Though like, when you have your main set of characters and story, eventually you'll get both characters you need to make for the story, and characters that just kind of pop up on their own and completely change the story, and for me, for the better.
Also just a side note, I have a hard time just having oc's that don't get fitted into a story. I GOTTA have a story, even if I never share it.
(sorry this is lengthy i got excited ;n; )
Strangely enough... it depends. Sometimes, I imagine the story first and later have to come up with the design. In that case it becomes much more difficult for me to imagine how I would like the character to be, though.
In other cases (like the manga I'm creating rn), I take the designs from older drawings and try to imagine the story. In this case, the work becomes much much easier 
.
It's kind of complicated for me.
I'd say "character first" but on the other hand it's really hard for me to come up with characters that are not tied in my mind to any story, just existing in a vacuum. Also many of the characters I use the most are recycled versions of my much older characters, created for completely different stories, so that further complicates it. 
It's really kind of a chicken vs. egg situation.
Usually it tends to go like this, for main characters at least (but even so, there are exceptions):
very vague general story idea --> character concept and basic design --> a slightly more detailed story concept --> more detailed concept for the character, fleshing out the design --> actually developing the story, tweaking the character alongside it.
It's less complex for supporting characters: these are usually created later, to fill specific roles that the story requires.
I'd say my process is the same in terms of the vague story idea then the character concept, detailing of the story, etc.
I usually think of a story idea and then design the characters afterwards, though I've had it happen a few times where I design a character and then just really want to use them for something. Though I usually have a really hard time thinking of stories if I already have characters first.
My creating is mainly based from trying to answer questions. I think it's mostly story first because the questions are basically story pitches? But sometimes the plot can't really be a full plot without the characters being more developed first? It's hard to know where the line is drawn!
I agree with you in terms of not being able to fully develop a coherent plot without having developed characters first.
I develop a concept and world then I create characters and then I create a plot. It's what I did with my current story.
I usually design a character first and then somehow try to fit them into the story somehow, the only exceptions would be family members of that character
I have never thought of this before, but now that the question has been asked and I'm compelled to answer it, I realize that I create characters first and then create a story and world around them. This is especially true for my comic "Paw Print Promise" where I was compelled to create a wolf and fox character and then made a story about them. I'm not sure if I have ever done it the other way around xD It's interesting.
Characters first so then the story flows around them and they don't get forced into situations or dialogues that are awkward.
I always design characters first tbh, I tend to try to make standalone ocs and then things spiral out of control as I develop them more.
A lot of my work tends to be character-driven so I used to be more prone to starting with the characters first for a lot of my early comics.
Lately, I feel like I don’t really get ideas for stories or get ideas for characters in a vacuum. I feel like they sorta spring from the same well and develop alongside each other and I think its cus my brainstorming process is to usually just start working on thumbnails so right off the bat I start with an idea and kicking around character designs.
I generally have a very loose concept, design a character first and usually a backstory sort of manifests while I draw that character. Sometimes it doesn't or it takes a while. Sometimes it doesn't manifest at all, and I end up scrapping the character altogether.
The story comes to mind first, and my characters come to life with the world-building. I actually feel like I pattern my protagonists to fit whichever type of scenario I'm creating. And I've been told by fellow authors that I'm more focused on story progression rather than character growth in my old novels... XD Although I've certainly gone the other route with Level Up Hero. My lead character was born first before the story, and his arc is what drives my story forward now.
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