hi! I just wanted to say how much I love your art, especially aftershow.
I also wanted to ask how you design outfits for characters, because that’s something I struggle with.
Do you tend to think more about colours, or styles? Do you take note of people you see in real life to use later?
Again, amazing art, and thank you for reading this. :)
skjdflkj thank you so much!! :D (oh asks like this make me so happy, I get to yap abt my design thoughts yesss)
First and foremost I try to think about what kinds of clothes the character would pick out themselves and try to consider the qualities that they'd prioritize, and then think about if I've seen something that would fit vibes-wise before!
If I don't know any irl examples, I sometimes end up googling different clothing items and styles to help give me inspiration too!
Felix's clothing style for example would be pretty basic for a guy his age, just random shirt + jeans type thing - but bc he can't resist a good joke, a lot of his shirts are really silly ones! His last frame of reference style-wise was also 2015, so he likes that Tee-over-longsleeve layered combo that was very prevalent back then too. I've literally known a bunch of guys irl when I was a teen in 2015 who wore these exact kinds of fits lol. Hoodies and hoodie jackets are more comfort wear.
Nicky I knew I wanted to be goth-adjacent to counter the crazy brightly colored circus avatar look with something that's just as eye-catching but much less in that abstract art toy way. I kinda grew up around goths, so I definitely pulled a bit of inspiration from real life there haha - but after some additional googling I decided I wanted them to have a mix of mall-, (retro) trad- and cyber-goth aesthetics, since those styles fit the vibes I had in mind for them the best, especially since a lot of it makes for a very broad silhouette and leaves lots of room to play with it.
Christine considers herself a simple woman who is all about comfort and practicality, so her wardrobe is a mix of business casual (for work), outdoors practicality, warm, cozy sweaters and oversized shirts. I also like to think that she sometimes wears thin undershirts to help against itchy textures, like pieces of clothing where the seams are stiff and itchy.
Cathy's outfits here were kind of directly inspired by the sorts of things my mom and aunt have worn in the early 2000s, which is when Cathy got stuck in the circus! I think due to a certain standard of professionalism she forced onto herself, especially since she started working in real estate, she'd have an odd mix of "politician" vibe clothes and instagram summer... sorry, I can't describe it better :'D
Oh! Imo It also REALLY helps me to have a limited color palette to work with as a base!
Felix's base color scheme is heavy on warm tones, which seeps into the purples, pinks and yellows - so a bit of of additional blue counters it with some colder colors for a more balanced contrast!
Nicky's main outfit colors are heavy with shades of black and grey, after which comes pink (an accent color that ties in nicely with their hair) and turquoise (a color that complements pink and gives them a retrowave-ish vibe). There's some purple there as a middle ground between pink and turquoise, while the green was added as an off-palette test that I found highlights their eyes nicely!
Chris' base scheme is very obviously borrowed in concept from the primary color scheme of her avatar, with the reds, yellows and blues - but it also contrasts beautifully with her cool toned, pink-ish pale skin!
Cathy's outfits are supposed to give an almost filtered kind of feeling, so I kept to simple colors combined with a lot of neutrality (blacks, whites). The mint/teal tones highlight her eyes, whereas the warmer blue/purple tones link back to her circus avatar - the brown is there to contrast all these cool tones with some extra warmth! Her skin tone and hair already does a lot of legwork to contrast the cool tones, so I only used the brown as an accent color on her bag.
I hope this made sense in a helpful way? :'D
Disclaimer: Please check this post before sending me an ask!
