Richard (simply just called Rick by others) is a smaller boy who has a cheery and energetic disposition, and much like Leon (whom he greatly admires), he also has a knack for getting himself into trouble just to entertain others. However, unlike his idol, Rick is generally bad at taking care of himself and often ends up getting himself hurt in the process; he is clumsy and careless and tends to get ahead of himself too fast. Rick is also considered rather simple and naive as he believes almost anything he hears, but at the same time he also does have a more mature side to him: he is good at admitting his own mistakes when it really comes down to it, and he also wants to owe up to his mistakes, making him surprisingly responsible in that aspect. Rick is, however, also known to be a bit of a people pleaser, and his own insecurities typical for a boy his age often make him unable to stand by his own vague morals.
Originally concept Rick was a small-sized thug with anger issues, fast hands and even faster tongue, and he was notorious for carrying a knife with him secretly from the teachers. But considering I myself am a guy on the smaller size, I thought "angry short guy with a knife" was kind of a boring and a little hurtful stereotype, and I know I'm kind of bored with them by now, so I wanted something different and more fitting for the setting and #aesthetic.
Proto-Rick in turn was a very stereotypical younger male character from shoujo: kind, very sensitive and emotional, but ultimately also very naive and always the butt of the joke. He was considerably more angry back then too and definitely had that "short and angry Hagio character" thing going on with him (similar to Frol and Erich), and at that time I considered it acceptable because Sinfonia was supposed to be a joke and extremely stereotypical in that aspect. But as I developed it further, I understood Rick has to be changed both in his looks and personality if I want to make him something more than just a carbon copy of what already exists.
Rick still remains as naive and somewhat emotional, but I toned down his fiery temperament considerably and made him show less range of feelings: he is fast to cry, get worried and nervous, but he isn't open with all his other feelings most of the time. I also made him much less witty: he can be blunt because he doesn't know how to filter his thoughts very well (yet as he is used to being able to voice his thoughts openly), but he is not particularly good with words nor does he do well in any sort of battle of wits.Rick is also very insecure about himself, both because of his size (which others often make fun of or at least remind Rick of it in a not-so-nice manner) and also because he is young and is still trying to figure himself out. As such a has kind of taken Leon as his idol of sort and he often imitates him both in good and bad because he wants to be like Leon. He is both a big brother and a mentor image to Rick, even though Leon isn't actually a very responsible guy himself.
Unlike concept Rick and proto-Rick, this Rick isn't a very dominating person and he often ends up hiding behind others, not because he is scared but because he simply doesn't know what to do, and kind of relies on others to make big decisions. He is young and unsure of himself and sometimes even trusts others to make his decisions for him.
But compared to Leon, by the way, Rick is much more accepting and willing to change his way of thinking. In that aspect he is actually more mature than Leon is, and it's easier for Rick to accept and admit when he messes up. He is also not much of a leader type and prefers following orders, even if he also does have a knack for rebelling and getting into detention once in a while after doing something dangerous and stupid.
I like to think Leon and Rick are treated both as problem students of sort but also everyone kind of loves them for that too. They're those kids the teachers all like and sometimes their shenanigans are actually quite funny and wild, but they have no choice but to give them detention.
Original Rick was brunette with brown eyes, but then I changed him to blond and then eventually to this vague blond-brown mix. His hair colour is actually a mix of his proto colours and Leon's current hair colour. In my head he also used to have kind of rounder cheeks and more child-like appearance with constantly reddish cheeks, but now he looks more like a small lion, haha.
Also fun fact: Rick originally had the same kind of hairstyle as Claude now has (they still have the same kind of hair swirl in their front locks) but when he realized he and Claude had the same haircut he got his hair cut the next time they went downtown.
Another fun fact: Rick is 140cm and I was actually shorter than him when I was his age; I was around 135cm (give or take 2cm) when I started 7th grade at the age of 13. I really like giving my stories at least one obligatory short male character because I grew up feeling ashamed and disgusting for being (and still being) this short :') I feel embarrassed being self indulgent like this but at the same time it's like... if I'm not going to give me the representation I want then nobody will