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May 2017

My comic takes place in a society/era where most people don't own many sets of clothes. They don't wash their clothes often due to the lack of washing machines... On top of that, the main cast has been on the road for a while, so they've been wearing the same thing for the most part.

Anything beyond the ordinary gets expensive quickly (vibrant dyes, for example, or any patterns as they had to be painted or embroidered by hand). I've shown four recurring characters who own multiple sets of clothes including semi-vibrant ones, which means they earn well above the median, but I don't know how many readers picked up on that.

Aside from those four, most people wear the same types and colors -- off-white (most common and the cheapest), navy, dull dark green, brown. It's not super uncommon for someone to only have off-white clothes, so in such a case, you might not notice even if they changed.

Years ago, I traveled across the border to hang out with some artist friends. Just for fun we took close-up photos of everyone's eyebrows, and made a "match the eyebrows to the person" quiz for our other artist friends. One of them identified mine IMMEDIATELY, and said he's seen me draw similar eyebrows in multiple pictures. O_o; No one else could see the similarity, even after he said it.

Quite a lot, Mike changed her clothes a lot of times. Basically like how normal people would with their look


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Pinterest helps a lot with that :'D

Yeah, it's Re:Set1

Yea, they do! Props and clothing can help to emphasise character traits and their background. For example, scruffy clothes can be used for poor characters, and lots of diamonds and bling for tasteless rich ones. Accessories can also be more literal extensions of your character's personality!

I like having characters change their clothes, just like real life. I think fashion choices say a lot about a person, whether they think it does or not. I think it also takes a bit of balance to make sure the clothes don't define the character, that it only adds. I understand, though, why people choose to keep characters in one outfit, since keeping track of multiple outfits that rotate can be a bit daunting (especially for an ensemble cast!).

Honestly, I don't think it's hard to make clothes look fashionable! That's where references come in. Following fashion blogs or OOTD instagrams are great for inspiration. Not every outfit choice for your characters has to be the pinnacle of fashion though, just like real life. Some days I look really put together, other days I've just thrown on jeans and whatever clean shirt I have and call it a day.

There are several outfit changes so far in Heart Hex1, and a lot more to come. Lee's main outfit in the first chapter is something I wish I owned. smile

I have a bad habit of always drawing my characters in the same outfits—in my first chapter of Aiiro No Kunoichi2, you can see that the characters' outfits don't change (aside from one obvious instance) despite it spanning about three days time. That said, I decided to shake things up a bit by giving them different outfits in the upcoming chapter, and I'm hoping to make a habit of changing their outfits periodically in future comics.

That said, picking interesting new outfits for my characters has always been a challenge for me, maybe because I'm not a very fashion-conscious person myself. stuck_out_tongue I definitely rely on Google for outfit ideas fairly often.

The characters in SPIRE haven't shown any outfit changes yet but they're going to change them as often as they would if it were real life. since most of them are well over a hundred years old they kinda lose track of time easily and in turn tend to change clothes and hair less. they don't usually get dirty by sweating either since their bodies automatically adjust to the temperature outside (which is also why they usually can comfortably wear long sleeved and layered clothes most of the time) as a replacement for that (for like survival you know?)
Blaise is especially a mess and wears the same things for like a week straight usually. also Jack's suit is a uniform technically so he's used to wearing it a lot.

as for fashion, spire has a steampunky/formal kind of aesthetic going on and i always have a lot of fun designing clothes.

I do change the clothes on my characters from time to time, but for long periods they do wear the same thing, but that's because they're traveling and it would be impossible for them to bring enough clothes to have new outfits everyday. Also, a couple of them have armour that doesn't change initially.

I've changed their clothes when they've gotten destroyed or if they're doing something that requires a change of clothes.

I find drawing clothes a challenge sometimes, especially since one of my characters likes frilly things. Most of the clothes that I need to draw for my characters aren't fashionable, they're functional.

comic link

I think clothes can help the reader understand your character's personality, the world they live in, their wealth or lack of it and can help the reader relate to them.

OMG IF ITS FROM HNM I HAVE THE CAP OF THE THIRD PIC OF THE BROWN haired GUY LMAOOOOO

Whenever they're expected to. Change to pajamas at home, change to gym clothes for sports, etc.

Eh, I don't really change the outfits of my characters much at all? I give them outfits that fit their character/personality/backstory and try to make it as iconic as possible vs constantly changing outfits. I don't have a problem against it - I just much rather have them have One Iconic Outfit. Realism be damned.

I'm kinda obsessed with clothing and matching irl that it'd do more harm than good because I'd end up never getting anything done because I'm too preoccupied with deciding if x shoe would pair well with y shirt.

For the main characters, no. Grassblades3 is about a homeless wanderer and the orphan who tags along with them; they literally HAVE no other clothes, and have to make do with washing/mending what they've got.

Some minor characters do get costume changes occasionally, though.

I do have some oneshot comics as well, but they don't have costume changes at all, since they take place over the span of maybe a few hours.

Sometimes, when there's a good reason for it! Like when I flash back to something that happened a long time ago, or if they show up in one scene, and then show up in another that canonically takes place days or weeks or more later.

Grassblades is set in a world where people in general have fewer sets of clothes to change between; it's a fantasy setting with no textile mills. So they change more rarely, and the variation tends to be smaller.

No, not really! I have a metric ton of reference photos saved that I can go dig through and find inspiration, so it's not that challenging. It's like with anything else you learn to draw; you have to find out what it looks like first. You wouldn't expect to be able to draw a bicycle without looking at a picture of one first - it's the same with fashionable clothing.

It's a matter of practise, really. Just keep trying until you learn how.

It's right up there ^ but if you don't wanna scroll up - here's a link to all of my series.

Not as such, no, but distinctive fashion and colour choices will make your character stand out, and help your readers remember them.

I do give my characters a new outfit for each new day. I sort of do it for a sense of "realism". Plus it helps show the passing of time. Coming up with new outfits is difficult tho.

My MC however always wears the same outfit even as a child. I did this for two reasons, 1) his name is Crow and his outfit looks like a crow, and 2) he is weird and stubborn. He's suppose to be childish, he's content with just doing what he wants even if that means not changing and growing up.

Here's my comic: Crow's Worth

To be able to change your characters' clothes you really need to have their face recognizable every time, so I'd suggest not to make them change until they're consistent. You can anyway try keeping their hair and main color always the same, and changing the shape of the clothes!

Changing their clothes often also requires that you remember and/or check exactly how they're dressed page after page, and this is another reason why most popular characters don't change at all: it's easier for the artist to avoid mistakes.

I layed out a set of outfits for my main characters based on their different activities: the school in DAWN OF THE DAD1 requires a uniform, so they must change when they're out chilling with friends, or at home, or they just woke up. I set a series of outfit that's roughly the same everytime, so for example the main character always wears dark jeans and a purple sweater when she's at home.
In short, they change but I don't need to decide how they're dressed everytime

all the time because it's fun because I get to research what clothes would they wear next

That's a super interesting question. I have thought about it but not too much until now.

do you change their clothes?
The main character is a robot from another planet so he is naked for the most part. So are all the animals that come and go.

But there are four kids... I guess I do change them a little but mostly just the colour.

(yes) how often do you do it and why?

Off the top of my head, they all have about two outfits (not counting times when they are in their pajamas or school uniform or something) which I swap about. This has mostly got to do with the fact that the clothes might clash with the background.

I did used to get annoyed when I watched Cartoon Network and they never changed clothes though so maybe this has affected me on some level.

do you find hard to make clothes look fashionable?

I haven't been trying but... Now you mention it, one girl has an over-sized top and leggings and this is all my little students wear.

can you leave a link to your comic?

https://tapas.io/series/Gombik-Comics1

Not all of them have made their way from my desktop computer to Tapas yet. I wanted a buffer for when work dumps an intensive course or a pile of paperwork in my lap. Updates are Wednesdays and Sundays.

do you think clothes make the character?

I think the clothes help to differentiate the characters and often tell you a little something about them. Even in a more realistically drawn comic, I'd try to keep either the colour scheme or the clothes themselves the same.

My main character changes her clothes quite a lot. The others don't. It's kinda part of a "joke".

I guess it always depends on the context of the story.

If the story is set in a regular city or town and your characters are more or less normal folks whom doesn't wear an uniform everyday, it's good to change clothing like almost everyone does. You know, not wearing the same thing you wore yesterday, dressing acordingly to the occasion, wearing proper stuff for the climate, just to mention some examples.

But I think that when the story is set in a more fantastic realm it's fair if the characters don't change their clothes that often. I mean, I'm sure that Frodo only took three white shirts and two pants in his quest to destroy the ring.

I change their clothes every time it's a new day XD
What I do is I make a wardrobe for them. Something like this:
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Usually when a new chapter starts. The story jumps between different realities so it helps show that the characters are in a different realm.

My characters usually change clothes whenever a real person would change clothes… so day-to-day, in and out of pajamas, etc. There are exceptions, of course…. one of my characters only owns two (almost identical) pairs of pants and one pair of shoes, for example, so those elements of his clothing never change. Sometimes I'll have a character wear the same shirt two days in a row, especially if they're a minor character and it's obvious from context that time has passed. But for the most part, I'll change their clothes whenever it makes sense from a time-passage standpoint! smile

I love fashion design and I think clothes help flesh out a character a lot… it can tell you about their hygiene, how they want to be perceived by others, their interests, their financial status, etc. etc. It's one of my very favorite parts of storytelling and design. (Too bad my comic is peopled almost entirely with goofy teenagers on summer vacation… I end up designing a lot of t-shirts when I'd rather be coming up with fancy dresses HAHA)