how 2 character design?

[dizzy]

disclaimer: this post is not a guide, but a question and active discussion

how the heck do people make such cool character designs???

I'm in the process of redesigning my persona, and it's like the 2nd or 3rd time i've tried redesigning her. adding some kind of lore or backstory definitely helped with a lot, but there's one thing i just cant get past. why are clothes so difficult to come up with?!?

I do wanna include variants and stuff (i already started making some), but im really struggling to figure out where to even start with deciding on a main outfit. any tips very very appreciated :D

[SquidDied]

Hello! In the past iv been a professional concept artist and one of my fave parts was always designing clothes and shoes for characters haha. The advice i have is to first of all start with what your character does (i know this is your persona, so think about what you do or would like to do) or what activities they get up to, i find that a good way to make an interesting and storied outfit is to incorporate unique aspects that allude to their interests or hobbies. Think about stuff like:
- what does my character do in this outfit?
- does the outfit lend itself to that particular activity, is it practical for that purpose?
- what do they like about the outfit, would they customize it?
- how long have they owned it, would it have signs of wear?
- what about their personality drew them toward this outfit in particular, can you express that in the design?

to illustrate my process for how i make character costumes, here is one i made a long time ago for an example:


The concept for them is that theyre into fashion, prefer to live stress free and enjoy themself but they also need medical attention frequently. As you can see i opted to blend their fashion sense with hospital inspired elements:
- the light blue jumpsuit evokes medical scrubs, but the slit shoulders and straps on it make it kind of impractical for that purpose which imply its more for fashion than practical use
- they keep a hospital tag on their wrist as an accessory
- medical adhesives/tape, perhaps where they had a catheter recently or maybe they just like the look.

Then i also wanted to both flavour their outfit with their chilled out vibe, but also incorperate some contrasting colours to make it interesting. most of their outfit is fairly plain so far so i took this opportunity to add some visually "noisier" elements:
- Brightly coloured rainbow designs on their shoes (this is a super easy way to add a lot of colour quickly btw) as well as clouds because they're pretty calming and fit naturally with the rest of the theme and colours
- the chunky socks also give off a cloud vibe for me
- Bubble/boba tea themed bag accessory, gives off chilled out vibes (or at least thats how i associate bubble tea haha) it also mirrors some colours/design elements from their shoes to balance out the overall design. if you look closely you can also see they carry some medication in their bag, which again reinforces the healthcare theme
- some cool fashionable glasses, kind of goes with he summer-y vibe they ended up with and also just for another opportunity to use that orange colour again

and finally, their wings and halo were already going to be part of the design but i took the chance to consider how they could complement this character in particular:
- their wings are cartoonish and soft with cute swirls
- their halo is cloud-like

Finally i just wanna go back to their bag, it is a highly unique item for this character and unmistakably belongs to them, you can see theyve even personalized it with some other little trinkets (capsule keychain, tamagotchi) so it definitely expresses a lot about them. take the time to consider not only what you character wears, but how they wear it. really i think the best question to ask yourself is "what does this outfit say about my character?"
, it doesnt have to be anywhere near as complex as what i have going on, you can think about this stuff to your own taste/comfort level, but i encourage you to give it a bit of thought at least. Even the cut of a shirt, some pin buttons on their bag or some jewellery can go a long way.

You say you want your character to have a few different outfits, depending on how different you want all of those to be you may have to do this process multiple times. I think its possible to get creative and see if you can spin the same design in slightly different ways to convey the same or similar message, this also has the benefit of giving your character's wardrobe a sense of cohesion.


Anyway, hope this helped a lil bit, if youd like i can give you some constructive criticism and tips on what you have so far, ur welcome to dm me about that, feel free to ask questions too

[internetant]

haii!! im not professional, but i have read some papers on character design and had experience designing characters myself a lot (you can look at my art in the profile!!), so maybe i could give some small advices. i also really agree with the commenter above, you really want to incorporate the story into the character design, but since they already told you a lot about it, i will pick a different subject!

i think one of the most important things to think about is shapes. shapes can come from body characteristics, but clothes can also give a bunch of shape to a character. think about next questions while incorporating shapes into the desing:

- where do you want the accent to be? from the top of my head, if i would to design a punk character, i would probably make accent on the hair (it can be big, huge, colorful, different shapes and stuff) or maybe boots to symbolise the power character holds
- what shape you want character to be associated with? in general, pointy, triangle-like characters are more likely to be fast, slick etc etc (think about.. sonic for example?), squares are usually associated with power or balance, round is something more soft. of course, those identifications are more individual for each character, as an example something triangular can be the opposite of speed, if you construct it the right way (like alphys from undertale). i recommend you reading more about shapes on your own if you have time! there is a lot of symbolism in shapes.

in general, experiment with shapes, make them bigger, make them smaller, change the accents. when you design a character you will have to change the desing a bunch of times before you find the right version, and thats okay. i have the whole cabinet of paper with sketches of desings, designes and designes that in the end were never used, but they helped me to construct a nicer version.

good luck with your designs 

[SquidDied]

co-signing all of the above comment, experimenting with different shapes not only expresses their personality but gives your character a unique silhouette that you can recognize instantly and makes for a very strong design.

This is an example of body shape in particular but it applies to general shape language too:


This art isnt mine, it belongs to onebadnoodle on tumblr

As you can see, they've used the same overall design but changed the shapes used and as a result, drastically improved the sense of personality each character has, again, this can apply to just the clothes as well. Generally speaking, you want the shape language to match your character's energy, sharp angles and lines might give off a more dangerous or loud look as compared to softer shapes, which would convey a sense of calm or safety.

Important to note that i used the word "might" there, because once you're comfortable in your understanding of how shape language is used you can play with it and twist it around so your character's true identity is obscured by their outward appearance haha (a haunted teddy bear might be an example of this). Remember there are no rules in art, only guidelines!