I don't believe in wearing one clothing everyday in comics. Do you?

[davidlhickmon]

In Autumn Bay, you can often tell that a day has passed by the change in clothing. That being said, characters typically have a "signature style", so it doesn't get confusing. Also, things like coats or uniforms remain the same.

It doesn't bother me to see a comic where people wear the same thing all the time, and I understand several reasons why. For me, it's not only a little more realistic, but also fun to come up with the next outfit.

[AnnaLandin]

I agree that some variation is nice - it implies that the character has a life that exists beyond the panels themselves, which is nice; it creates a sense of a greater world beyond the scope of your story. That said, varying a character's clothing means constantly changing their design, which can end up being detrimental in the long run - a lot of characters (and their clothes) are designed to be iconic and easy for the readers to remember - if you keep changing the design, you're asking the reader to remember a lot more visual info about a character than is strictly necessary, which can be an overload - esp. in stories with large casts.

... also, there are situations where staying in the same set of clothes is fully motivated. When it's a uniform, for example, or when your main character literally only has one set of clothes and has to make due with them, such as when they are a homeless wanderer.

[punkarsenic]

in my comic, theres a lot of uniformity in clothing. mostly, its because theyre wearing uniform. one of the main characters doesnt, and ive drawn her in multiple outfits, but theyre all quite similiar in colour and cut.

as much as varied costumes has a great impact - i loved it in marvel's runaways - i dont think its that crucial. i cycle between two almost identical outfits in real life, im really unvaried with my style, so its not that unrealistic that my characters could be. a distinctive style is helpful for identifying a character (admittedly, if you need it, its a bad character design, but its still helpful)

[gateofselidor]

I like to change my characters' outfits every chapter or two, but every scene? I don't have the time to design that many outfits, or to learn how to draw them just for the sake of a few pages before it switches again. I don't blame any artist who keeps the same outfit all the way through the comic, and I can suspend my disbelief for it.

My comic is a fantasy comic set in a very low-tech world, and my characters spend a lot of time travelling long distances without much space for luggage, so I don't even think it's realistic for them to have a full wardrobe with them on the road.

[Mharz]

It may not be realistic but it's efficient in terms of time and production budget. Designing new clothes for the character require a new character sheet/turnaround for each character for the sake of consistency and you're not just drawing the front view, you'll have to draw the side, 3/4 view and back view as well and that will consume more time ESPECIALLY if you have like 10+ characters in your series. Imagine if you have to design new armors/costumes for every 10 characters to wear each day.

It's okay if your setting is the real world then it's easier to change their outfit. But if it's a fantasy setting, you can get away by not changing their outfit all the time since it's focuses more on the characters having their own signature or trademark design.

On a side note, my comic is a mixture of real world and fantasy so my human characters change outfits every now and then and it's easy because they wear real life clothing (shirts, jeans, shorts, etc.) that don't require me to create turnarounds of them all the time. The angels on the other hand, wears fantasy costume not to mention they have their own signature outfit which is more difficult to change and WILL require me to create new sets of turnarounds and that will consume more time. Also, I can get away with it since they're spirits they won't get stinky or anything like that.

[Devika]

Many great points in this thread! I feel it also depends a bit on the "in-universe logic". If charaters' clothes, or appearences in general, just aren't important and it's more about the gags, take Peanuts for example, it's counter-productive to have them wear different clothes. But if the story generally takes pride in contextual accuracy, such as historical accuracy in a period drama, then having the character wear their ballgown to bed breaks the suspension of disbelief.

[indagold]

Does it really matter? It just becomes tedious depending on what type of comic to constantly change. Most of the time it works because it's a uniform or they don't have the time to change since it's a fantasy/adventure set where changing clothes is not fit for the world. No one really cares.

[shazzbaa]

I dunno man, I like when a comic has characters with a thought-out wardrobe that tells you something about the character, but I also like when characters are usually the same design and changing their look is a Significant reflection of their emotional arc. The idea of a New Look mattering is really cool to me.

If I'm reading a comic and the main character wears the same pink t-shirt and jeans every day, I never think "whaaaaat, DOES SHE NEVER CHANGE HER CLOTHES????" I don't think of it at all. But if I'm reading a comic where the main character actually picks out new cute outfits every day, I enjoy that and feel it adds a lot! So to me, it's less a matter of realism or lack thereof, and more a choice of, is this an element you want to put any focus on, or not?

[KoreanTacos]

I look at it like Calvin & Hobbes as they're my biggest influence. We hardly ever saw Calvin wearing anything outside his red stripe shirt and black cargos. It's an icon that the readers know it's Calvin, and when he did change clothes it felt more special. I do the same thing as well, I only change clothes on my characters during special story lines or if they're at work. Constantly changing clothes and hairstyle only makes the audience refocus on who the character even is. I'm not against regular wardrobe changes if the writer is capable of truly fleshing out their character in a way that they're easily recognizable without context or a "this is this character box."

So yeah, I'm not really bothered by clothing changes. I just view it as a character trait and as a guy who wears the same jacket, jeans, and multiple white t-shirts I really don't care.

[niinasalmelin]

I must say I love it when there's beautiful costume design on a comic but don't care that much if it lacks. As people said, it depends a lot of what the comic aims to be.

[TACOBERTO]

At first it's something I'd rather stick to (keeping the same outfit for the characters). I believe it's important when you're still trying to introduce your characters as you're trying to make their "look" memorable while you work on establishing their personality. Give it some time then I think you can start changing up the character's clothing so you reader's think "Oh yeah that's something X would wear"

[MissMagicGirl]

My characters always change their clothes but they have very specific personal styles so they usually have outfits that follows the same color themes

[Moonshade]

The "costume" for characters is one or two if the media is animated {like videogames, animated film and anime}, especially for the oldests. It was a economic reason and for a simply recognizability of characters: like Super Mario Bros, for example. With a few points you see a plumber with mustache. Hanna & Barbera with Flinstones and Jetsons have create dozens of a funny animated stories with a low cost animation for this "1 character - 1 clothes". In the same way for the hand with 4 fingers.
In comics this is similar reason for the strips like Peanuts, with a story in 3 frames every day, or Dick Tracy, with a long episodes story: the characters have a costume, and costume became a part of the characters.
I have another style and for me it's very strange drawing a same clothes without a important reason for all the story {uniform, holy tunics...}. I change the clothes at my characters, also the hair; if I found a lovely outfit maybe I draw a second occasion, but I love drawing dress, particular, jewellery, armors, long hair to braid...

[NickRowler]

When it comes to clothes and changing outfits, it really depends on the characters.

Some characters wear the same outfit because it is their work clothes. When my characters are not at work, they tend to change outfits. However, I do have a character who doesn't, which was done to make them look odd/weird.

[efdvorsky]

Agreed that it depends on the characters/medium. In my comic, some characters change clothes daily...well they just alter between the same two outfits but doing something different each time (wearing the overalls, letting them loose, so on). But that wasn't out of realism, it was just so I wouldn't get bored drawing the same kind of clothes for 200 pages. |"D

It doesn't, however, steer me away from the comic if characters don't change clothes. Some people just REALLY like them in specific outfits, and that's fine!

[WakaXO]

I think it really depends on the comic. If you have a comic that is set around, lets say, military life, then your characters might only have a few outfits that they wear, ex. Their uniforms, ceremonial uniforms, sleep wear, etc. In this scenario the lack of variety in clothing reinforces the setting.
But with that said I tend to lean towards multiple outfit changes in my comic, not because stagnant, unchanging wardrobes bother me, but more so because I get bored drawing the same clothing all the time. I could probably get away with having less costume changes in my comic, as its a 'superhero-esque' comic and that genre tends to lend itself to the trend of repeating clothing/costumes, but personally that just not for me.
The real question is, is having a personalised unchanging costume for a character, worst than having multiple costume changes for all characters that all lack individual personality and make all characters seem the same? I rather see characters that stand out from one another than lots of characters that all seem to be wearing hoodies and jeans...

[avalonmao]

LOL idk it just strikes me as the creator really follows suite to the standards of the cartoon industry personally. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I for one love designing clothes for my charas to wear in Motsuro Project

[Hel]

I struggle with this! I feel like your character feels more iconic if they have a specific outfit to go along with their appearance, but if there's not a reason for them to be wearing the same clothes every day and it's a relatively realistic/not super cartoony/somewhat serious comic then it feels weird to me. Currently my characters change clothes, but I'm tempted to give them all base outfits because I'm terrible at thinking up interesting things for them to wear.

[KSlinger]

This really made me laugh (not horribly or anything) because my MC is a total hillbilly nomad who lives out a boat. His clothing choice is Limited with a capital L and if he read that post he would be absolutely baffled.

That aside, I can understand why you would believe that (as artists) having the creative license to formulate outfits for characters and not doing it would be a massive loss, stylistically speaking. At worst is a display of total laziness right?

But then again, I don't think you're looking at this this right way. For example, I'm a modern woman who works and keeps a wardrobe, right? I'm not travelling anywhere or fighting anyone or doing anything outside the daily routine, mostly, and I have maybe five outfits I rotate on the regular to suit those general activities. I have it really easy compared to most characters and even I can't be bothered to play around. Not only that, but I don't have the space or money to expand my wardrobe even if I wanted to.

Looking at it that way wouldn't it be totally daft for my hillbilly boat dweller to have a fantastically vibrant and varied wardrobe that reflects his mood for the day? I'm surprised he's even dressed at all- I'm sure naked would suit him just fine.

My point is, not all characters and not all people IRL have the capacity (financially, spacially, enthusiastically) to have an expansive wardrobe. The fact that this makes it easier for artists (and that we play on this shamelessly) is totally fair play.

[Reraser]

I'm trying to think of a cartoon character that switched up their outfit every day. I guess because personally my style resides in the realm of those cartoons where requirements for verisimilitude to real life were low. You remember Kim Possible's singular lime green tank top and not much else, even though she did kind of spice up her wardrobe later on.

I guess it depends on your comic? If you're pretty realistic, or have an internal logic that is dependent on real time passing, clothing changes are important, but it's gonna come at the sacrifice of a cohesive design the viewer can recall in a snap.

This actually gets in my head when I'm watching live action TV. "Design-wise," on Breaking Bad, I was way into Gustavo Fring 'cause he was always wearing an interestingly colored suit, while Walter White is always just in some combination of dad jacket and collared shirt; of course BBad wasn't exactly looking to make cool action figure designs, but that's how it goes in my head.