When we want to design an outfit, there are several aspects we can consider trying. It's important to explore variations to find the perfect model!

Since I studied Scenography at the University, I have experience designing clothes and costumes for all kinds of theatrical productions. Let's look at some resources we can use to create any type of clothing and accessories for our characters, even if they are not intended for a stage!!

 

First, I'll talk about some general considerations, and then some guidelines to start designing. Keep in mind that almost everything I'll say later also serves as a guideline for character design!!.

 

(By the way, I also want to mention that the photos and drawings in this tutorial are my own, they do not come from the internet!)

 

First General Considerations

• A character's appearance can be used to EMPHASIZE a specific aspect of the character; for example, if a character had an ability that depended on their head/face, this concept could be supported by using elements that enlarge the size or importance of the head... or perhaps one could also think of kings' crowns, which identify them instantly!

 

• Think about the HIERARCHY of the elements you include in your design. The most dominant characteristic (by size, complexity, material, style, etc.) depends on your own tastes and objectives! What characteristic do you want to be most noticeable, and how can the other elements of the outfit accompany it?

In this example for the character of The Queen of the Night, from Wolfgang Mozart's opera “The Magic Flute,” I first needed to clearly show what character she was (based on the concepts “Queen” and “Night”); but I also subtly wanted to emphasize her influence and her need for control over her daughter, associating this character with a huge spiderweb.

 

• Think about the USES AND OBJECTIVES of the outfit you are designing. Who uses it (an office worker, a king, an animal, someone rich, poor, clumsy, elegant, etc.)? What is it used for (party, work, costume, camouflage, defense, magic, etc.)?

 

• Balance full SPACES with empty ones. This applies to texture, number of elements, sizes, and colors.

 

• Unless we are talking solely about fashion, it is very difficult to separate clothing from the CHARACTER who wears it. A better result is obtained if the design accompanies the character's personality and style! In this example, could the character wear any other type of garment and still be the same?

 

About the Moodboard or Reference Board.

The ideal and first step is to gather all the information you can about the topic or reference element for the design. Create a folder, Pinterest board, panel with magazine clippings, or whatever you need to keep all the references you might need in view. Collect images of body shapes or clothing, textures, colors, flowers, plants, characters... everything that helps you stylistically define the design you are going to create. Also, make small drawn studies to the side of the elements you need to keep most in mind or that help you understand the shapes before applying them to the final character or pose. For example:

This reference board serves to help you EXTRACT the characteristics you most want to convey to the design, as developed in the next point:

 

About References:

When working with references, the important thing is to “EXTRACT” the main characteristics of what we are referencing to apply them to the design. Considering these aspects helps to know how much of the reference is needed for the other person to understand what is being referenced. In many cases, only a part of something helps to interpret the whole thing; in such a way that you don't need to see the whole thing to know it's there... for example, if you want to draw thinking of tigers, probably its characteristic fur is enough to associate the character with that animal, without needing to add more information. Even the distribution and tone of colors can help to see the reference!

 

These characteristics can be very general, which is why the role of the outfit designer is to create clothing that conveys a clear message but is also original or unique to that character.

Notice in these examples how the points referring to the original animal can be reduced and simplified.

 

One way to easily study balance within a design is through the triangle formed between Utility; Fidelity or Closeness to reference; and Aesthetics.

Keeping this in mind helps us design by considering how accurate, functional, or how fanciful we want the design to be.

 

Let's study an example with this triangular scheme, which has “Aesthetics”* at the top point, “Reference” at the left point, and “Utility” at the right point. In this case, the triggering concept will be Armors.

Normally, what measures their utility is how invulnerable they are to an attack, although this also depends on the design objectives. If the artist wants to draw a stealthy fighter, metal armor would make them noisy and clumsy, which would make it useless. Think about this before designing!! What will this outfit be used for? Who wears it? In what context?

• (Of course, the concept of “aesthetics” is totally subjective and cultural. These studies are based on my taste and are not a rule)

 

 

In this case, the reference is a historical element. So, we can say that “Closeness to Reference” speaks of its fidelity to the real object and its uses. Notice how in the example on the far right, the armor leaves the most vulnerable parts of the body exposed to an attack!

 

However, the reference doesn't have to come from an existing garment or style.

Let's observe and study examples with an animal and a fruit!

 

Tiger:

 

Pear:

 

In these examples, we can see how closeness to the reference takes on a very different meaning than with armor! When accuracy can become an impediment for the character, that's where you need to be most attentive to capture the important points of the reference and convey them with more subtlety in a less obvious and more comfortable design for the character.

 

About Balance

Balance in a design is very important, although it mostly depends on your own taste and objectives for that outfit. When I talk about balance, I refer to the equilibrium of design elements by size, quantity, complexity, position, and material.

 

Size, position, and quantity can generally be verified more easily by viewing the design in a small size (no more than 5cm in height) to more clearly see the silhouette and weight of the outfit's elements. In this example, I tried to design outfits based on soft and circular shapes. Of course, the choice of where to emphasize is a matter of your taste or objectives!

 

Furthermore, the same design can change completely just by modifying the size of its elements!!

 

Consider that the largest or most detailed part will probably be the most striking; although a specific part can also be highlighted by contrast, so that if the whole outfit is very voluminous or detailed but a plain or non-voluminous part is left, it will be seen first (and vice versa!) (See the example of The Queen of the Night above, in her version with the wide dress, the skirt is so heavy that attention goes straight to her torso).

 

I also want to highlight the balance regarding the chosen materials and style. An artist can choose many elements and mix them into a single outfit, but it will only work correctly if those elements are balanced within the design. Too much mixing leads to disorder and makes the interpretation of the design difficult. Let's look at an example combining the stereotypical elements of Native Americans (like feather ornaments), a traditional Japanese kimono, European armor, and robot parts.

 

 

1) In the first sketch, the main drawback is that the elements are not integrated with each other. Furthermore, some are barely visible. The goal then is to achieve an integration that shows all the elements we want to display.

 

2) In the second sketch, the elements are a bit more integrated; I combined the feathers with the robotic part of the character. In turn, the armor part can easily be combined with the robotic part. The kimono has not yet been fully integrated.

 

3) In this case, I minimized the tribal and European armor elements to include them directly within the robot part. This simplification and reduction of elements also makes the figure easier to read.

 

However, all these elements I was using are very difficult to combine, and it's very true that sometimes it's better to KEEP IT SIMPLE. Choosing only two fundamental elements, and perhaps a third for details, is enough to achieve an original design and it won't be so difficult to integrate its elements.

And even MORE IMPORTANT: if an element or set of elements from the same theme can be completely removed from your design, and the design still WORKS well; it means those elements were not NECESSARY!

 

An easy example of this could be the concept “Punk Mermaid.” Here, the trick was to adapt the Punk aesthetic to a character that lives underwater. What materials would she use? And also, for the mermaid part, what fish best corresponds to the Punk aesthetic? This type of question is where the crossover between outfit design and character design is most evident.

 

About Color

Color is one of the first elements we perceive and has a great deal of SIGNIFICANCE in itself. When looking for references, it is vital that you select the colors that best represent the thing or concept you are using as a reference. Always keep in mind that each culture has a collective imaginary that gives meaning to colors in particular ways, and trying to change these established rules can be very risky. For example, if you wanted to design something based on Fire, even if there are fires of very diverse colors (even green!), it is more likely to be understood faster if orange or bluish colors are used, because we already have this concept incorporated with those characteristics.

In this case, although the image is the same, fire can be interpreted in the one on the left, but by changing the color, the one on the right could be more interpreted as poison.

 

On the other hand, build a COLOR STRUCTURE that helps you think of a coherent hierarchy of tones. The ideal is to create reduced color palettes and establish them according to their predominance.

Look for a dominant color, a subordinate one, and one for accents or details. The dominant color is the one found in the greatest quantity in an image and in some way “frames” or puts the other colors in context; the subordinate color is found to a lesser extent than the dominant but greater than the accent; the accent is the color found in the smallest proportion that helps to mark important points or details of the image, indicating a path.

 

Each of these color categories can be composed of several similar tones; the trick is that they don't stray too far from each other to maintain harmony.

 

When you are looking at reference images, choose and apply colors based on this scheme. For example:

 

Now that we know what and how to look for references, let's see how to use them!

 

From Flowers and Plants

Here, the most important thing is to consider the shape of the petals and leaves, textures, patterns, and colors. Remember to do several tests to better choose how “plant-like” you want the outfit to look, and also consider what type of character is wearing it: elegant, fairy, flower seller? Let's look at some examples!

From Animals

Here, the most important thing is to consider the elements that make a certain animal that animal and not just any similar one. What parts are the most representative? For example, if we want to draw a character based on a moth, the type of antennae, the texture and location of its “fur,” the shape and size of its wings and eyes will be the most representative elements that differentiate it, for example, from a butterfly. Remember also the tiger example from above!

From Existing Styles (fashions, pictorial styles, architecture, etc.)

Here too, it is essential to note what the main characteristics of each style or historical period are... what colors are used? what types of shapes? what themes are reflected in that work?

For example, if one wanted to base an outfit on one of Mondrian's iconic paintings, straight lines, primary colors, smooth texture would be used...

 

 

If you want to create an outfit for a specific era, you must thoroughly study the cut of the clothes, the types of fabrics, the accessories... The following example is a design I made for the opera “La Traviata,” based on Alexandre Dumas's book “The Lady of the Camellias” from 1848. For this, I had to thoroughly study the clothes and hairstyles of that era to faithfully represent a young high-society woman of that time, and I also linked it to the flower mentioned in the book (Camellias). And be careful with taking references from series or movies! Many times, creative licenses are taken that are quite far from accuracy.

 

From Simple Shapes

If designing from a more defined reference isn't your thing, you can start directly by experimenting with simple geometric shapes. Combinations of one or more of these shapes make the resulting outfit simple but easy to read, while it's also difficult for it to turn out disharmonious.

 

From a Feeling (pointy, dangerous, kind, sweet, joyful, tough, etc.)

In this case, the important thing is to identify what shapes, colors, and materials are generally associated with each feeling or trait. Look for references of characters or real people that you associate with the feeling you want to convey with your design.

 

For example, if you want to give the impression that the character is elegant, generally fur collars, hats, formal and well-tailored clothing, cleanliness, subtle accessories, etc., are associated. References for this could be Cruella de Vil (Disney's 101 Dalmatians), Beth from “The Queen's Gambit” (Netflix series), White Diamond (Steven Universe), or Miranda Priestly (movie “The Devil Wears Prada”). In this variety of very different characters, the question you should ask yourselves is: What characteristics are repeated in all of them and convey elegance?

 

In this example, I also reinforced the idea of the character's elegance with an oval frame, which is often associated with historical portraits of high society people.

 

From an Existing Character (description, adaptation to another style or body type)

This case is closer to character design, but be very careful not to steal another person's design! Respect others' creations! Whenever you are inspired by others, GIVE CREDIT.

The idea in this case is to draw inspiration from another character and use their characteristics to create your own design as a tribute. There are different triggers in this section; let's study some examples:

 

A) Based on written description: in this case, the designer's job is to interpret that description and convey it in their style. As an example, I have theatrical sketches of the character Papageno, from Wolfgang Mozart's opera “The Magic Flute.” This character is described as a bird-man, simple, comical, romantic, and kind-natured.

 

B) Adaptation of an already designed character to a body, style, or era different from the original. In this case, I used the iconic elements of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character) to characterize (i.e., disguise or give the appearance of) a mermaid. Remember that in these cases, the character's gestures and posture are also very important!

 

C) Adaptation of a character from one species to another species! For example, when artists make human versions of Pokémon, or even human versions of flags! In this example, I show you an adaptation of the characteristics of the Pokémon Sylveon to the girl's clothing.

 

From the Points You Want to Highlight in the Pose

Despite all I've said, often my drawing starts as just a pose, and then I must focus on the type of clothing that best accompanies it. At this point, it's very important to identify which elements of the pose we don't want to lose when hidden by the outfit, while also considering what type of clothing would best favor the sense of posture or movement. (I marked with orange the lines I was most interested in maintaining and reinforcing with the clothes.) It's very useful to consider the silhouette so that the clothes don't interfere with reading the pose.

If you notice, each costume test respects the silhouette of the lines I marked in orange on the base drawing.

 

From a Concept

The word “concept” is a bit broad, but I refer to when a concrete and defined idea is taken to start designing. An idea that also says a lot about the character, especially when talking about their interests and occupations.

For example, the following design is created from the concept “Ninja Cat.” This already gives me a guideline for the type of clothing and abilities the character will have, as well as guidelines for their body design. Based on this, I researched traditional ninja outfits and applied that to the character design I had in mind. Additionally, in this case, the outfit complements their body shape.

 

The best approach in these cases is to make several sketches to help with decision-making. In this other case, my initial concept was “Fox wizard whose outfit has bows and ruffles.”

 

I HIGHLY recommend drawing the body of the character you are creating as a mannequin to perform several outfit design tests! These tests gave me enough variety to achieve a design that combines several elements from different proposals and leads to the following result:

 

About the Design Process

So, let's review what we've seen so far and look at how and when to apply each concept. This is the method that has proven most useful and efficient for me. Remember that this also applies to character and creature design in general!! I'm going to show you one of my university projects as an example of the complete process.

 

1) Define the source of inspiration (photos, drawings, poses, characters, etc.). In this case, the first starting point was the work of the 19th-century artist: William Morris. This artist worked extensively with wallpapers and upholstery that primarily combined flowers and fruits. I wanted to incorporate fantastic animals into this formula.

 

2) Select the most representative or interesting aspects from that reference for you (shapes, colors, details, textures, etc.). The result of my research led me to produce this fabric pattern, using the spots to find figures. This canvas served as inspiration and basis for the outfit and character design.

3) Create several small sketches combining the elements from the previous point in different ways. The ideal is to make a minimum of 3 versions to have options to choose from. You can take the opportunity to design very different characters, or different outfits for the same character!

4) Select the sketch you like best and enlarge it; or choose and combine the elements you like best from the sketches to create a new, larger, and more detailed one. In this case, after selecting the elements I wanted from the original reference, I focused on drawing different types of characters.

5) Perform several color tests on the design you have chosen. I took my preferred sketch and very quickly conducted color tests, wanting to convey nature and mystery at the same time, and also taking advantage of the colors of the original fabric (The photo is not very high quality, but I used black, green, red, and violet ink).

6) And after all that, we are ready to create the final drawing, with well-defined elements! I made two versions as Concept Art for the character. I abandoned the pose that perfectly shows the garment's shape, and focused on showing the character's movements while wearing it.

• Drawing made from a complete sketch:

 

 

• Drawing made from the combination of sketches:

Useful Clip Studio Tools for Designing and Drawing Outfits.

1) 3D Models: Don't forget that this is available! Before drawing the final pose, which can be very confusing, we can save time by designing outfits with Clip Studio's pre-designed 3D models. Follow the numbered steps below to locate the 3D models included in the program. To incorporate them into the canvas, click on the chosen model and drag it to the canvas.

Remember also that you can modify the shapes and proportions of these models even until they look like fantasy characters! To make these modifications, you must select the “Adjust the body shape and size of the 3D figure in detail” icon that appears further to the right in the 3D model modification icon bar.

This constitutes the perfect mannequin for designing without worrying yet about posture or proportions! And, of course, it also serves as a mannequin for the character's posture itself… If you need more details on how to modify, apply, and save these changes with more precision, you can see it much more developed in my Tutorial “Fantasy Character Design,” available on my Clip Studio profile!

Results like these and much more extreme ones can also be achieved!:

 

2) Pre-designed brushes: chains, ruffles, bows.

Clip Studio has many of these types of brushes already built-in by default. However, these brushes have a stiff and artificial look that is difficult to integrate with a more personal drawing style. I recommend using them to draw more easily without losing, for example, the size relationship between one chain link and another. Of course, don't forget that you can download other types of brushes from Assets, such as for making zippers or bows!

 

3) Fabric patterns: Clip Studio has several built-in designs, very useful for adding variety to clothes without going crazy with geometry! Many beautiful patterns for clothes are also available in Assets! You can check out the “Asset Brushes for Fabric, Backgrounds, and Watercolor” Tutorial available on my profile to see my favorite pattern packs! However, what I want to highlight right now is that each pattern is inserted into the image as a flat plane, without wrinkles or deformations. I think that accompanying the wrinkles and position of the clothes with the pattern is important to give more realism and a sense of volume. I recently discovered a way to help achieve this! With the area you want to modify selected, go to the “Edit” menu and look for the “Transform” option, then “Mesh Transformation.” This can be done on selections of any size!

Keep in mind that working by selecting smaller areas gives greater control and realism.

*Remember that you can create your own patterns and brushes to your liking!!

Acknowledgments and Contact:

And these are some (many) considerations that can help design more varied and versatile outfits!

Thank you for reading, and I hope it has been useful!!

Don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if this information, or if you have any criticism or suggestions that help me improve.

 

If you like my work, you can find me on my social media:

Instagram: @barbara_brutti_ilustraciones

Furaffinity: @barbara_brutti

Deviantart: @Attaroa

 

And I also have a Patreon, where you can support me and see my work processes for just 1 dollar!

https://www.patreon.com/barbarabruttiilustraciones

 

I also want to thank the friends who helped me correct everything!

Malvina, on Instagram @malvilustra

Nevan, on Furaffinity @Nevan12

Owlieta, on Instagram @owlieta