Character Design Thread!

@Atom - Niiiice.

I'm working on a Pokemon Super Fic, and I'm running into a problem with one of the character designs.

One of the protagonists, Forrest, is a Rich Idiot With No Day Job (unless you count Pokemon breeding as a day job). I'm trying to come up with an outfit that's moderately fancy, but still allows for mobility. I would have gone with a waistcoat, but Cilan ^note who's not in the story, but I still don't want to copy him too closely, a canon character with the same type specialization, already wears one. Any other options that might work?

edited 28th Jan '18 10:00:50 PM by AgentKirin

In the later part of his run, the Eleventh Doctor of Doctor Who adopted an ensemble that might fit what you're after.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/tardis/images/e/ed/EleventhDoctorStanding.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130428062841

TARDIS Wikia describes it as a "aubergine cashmere frock coat that reached mid-thigh with a corduroy collar"

edited 13th Feb '18 8:41:17 AM by sgamer82

The solution is simple: put a fancy-looking coat on him. Though in all fairness, there are many many different kinds of waistcoats out there... Cilan's is rather plain (he has a pretty standard waiter outfit), so simply make it a different color, put some fancy buttons on it, etc. Perhaps have him wear a green one if he specializes in Grass types (correct me if I'm wrong on that; just guessing since Cilan specializes in that type). Another option is to give him an open coat in addition to the waistcoat. As long as it isn't too heavily decorated, it'll still offer mobility.

Speaking of fancy clothing, I'm writing a Gaslamp Fantasy taking place in a town where many people take their clothing seriously and wear at least modestly fancy outfits. Naturally, I am inclined to describe such outfits when introducing a new character. But to keep things simple, I have most of the characters wear the same outfit (or at least color motif) throughout the story, especially since a lot of the outfits can be quite detailed, almost by necessity. The town is full of Living Dolls, each girl wearing a Gorgeous Period Dress and each boy being The Dandy, and many of the human characters dress similarly.

The challenge here is not going overboard with outfit descriptions, especially since I have a very clear picture of what each of them looks like, and I usually don't feel that a very short description like "a frilly pink and green dress" says a lot. (The word "frilly" is probably not even necessary, since every single doll dress has a lot of frills.) In fact, so far I seem to put more emphasis on the outfit in a doll's description and more emphasis on overall features in a human's description. But sometimes I worry about going overboard in description, or other times I wonder if I can get away with more description. Here are some examples to see what I mean:

Curiously short descriptions: (human characters)

• "Or witch specifically, judging by the pointed hat sitting daintily atop her head. With her mostly-black dress and long wavy (notably not done up) black hair, she really stood out against all the bright décor." (This comes right after a lengthy paragraph about the dress code of a ball, which mentions elaborate hairstyles being the norm.)
• "She gestured over to a spot right next to the stage, where another reporter was interviewing a lady with light blond hair tied in braids around her head, and wearing a very frilly white and pink dress with golden highlights." (This character is the twin sister of the above, and a later paragraph remarks on how they have the same eyes.)
• "Just then, the hall filled with applause as a short old man with a comically large mustache stepped forth before the podium, realized that he was so short that only his wee top hat could be seen above said podium, and ordered a stool for him to stand on so that people could see his round rosy cheeks and the shiny spot on his nose." (For some reason I didn't describe his coat, nor that it was a fancy green one.)

Curiously long descriptions: (doll characters)

• "At the other end of the table sat a Porcelain lady clad in a dress of crimson satin, with a matching floppy-brimmed hat with tiny black pom-poms around the edge of the brim. Below that her copper-colored hair fell in very tidy curls, and round and rosy cheeks (though flat, unlike Winky’s) were painted onto her cream-painted face. Her glass eyes were violet, which indicated a very high status within the kingdom, and as such, she was also allowed three-centimeter heels on her lace-up black boots, while a 2.5cm heel was the maximum allowed for all other dolls."
• "Apparently the store owner really liked the bonnet on her, giving her a carnation pink one overlaid with white lace. To complement it, her dress was a light spring green and very poofy, featuring a multi-layered white petticoat which showed beneath the embroidered bottom and covered her knees. Although the store owner had requested otherwise, she insisted on long sleeves, which were soft and loose and ended in darker green frills at her wrists. Over this she wore what looked like a waistcoat in the front, the same shade of pink as her bonnet, but in the back it tied into a rather large ribbon. Also against the store owner’s request for white booties, she picked out some taller raspberry-hued ones, secretly because white ones would get dirty in the gray earth of the Deathly Glade and because the black cracks in her legs showed through the white stockings she wore. "
• "However, the hat that she brought Friedrich suited him very well, at least in her opinion: a deep blue plumed hat with a fold in the brim. To match it, she picked out a silver-buttoned blue waistcoat and matching blue trousers with black cuffs at the knee, and to match the feather on it, a black high-collared overcoat with wide tails reaching almost to his feet, which were covered by high-heeled riding boots of black leather. While putting everything on, he repositioned his pocketwatch at the neck of his new coat, where the side with the window to the face rested on the frilly white frock he wore underneath it all. The frilly sleeves were even long enough to extend past those of his coat somewhat, where white gloves now covered his hands."

edited 13th Feb '18 6:08:18 PM by ladytanuki

I tend to go for distinct visual looks, clothing-and-grooming preferences for my characters - even the ubiquitous Jeans-'n'-t-shirt look can be played with.

Teri goes for three-quarter-length pants, casual sensible shoes, hot pink T-shirt and her beloved black leather "biker" jacket with lots of zips on it. Prefers minimal make-up - maybe a bit of eyeliner and lipstick if she's going out.

Kris is a Jeans-'n'-t-shirt with sports shoes type - purple, plum and mauve are her preferred colours. Short to mid-length hair is often dyed purple.

Peggy also favours jeans-'n'-t-shirt and casual shoes but in more conventional colours - black or blue jeans, blue or green T-shirt.

Wolfe goes for practical functional clothing - quick-drying T-shirt and long trousers, comfortable hiking shoes, fishing/hunting/photography-style sleeveless vest with lots of pockets to hold all the shit he likes to have on him at all times. Has moustache-and-goatee "spade beard"/"door knocker" and long hair tied back in a ponytail, 2 gold earrings in his left ear, discreet tattoos hidden by even short-sleeved shirts.

James is "not dressed" unless he's wearing a hat, long trousers and a waistcoat - still sees shirts as "undergarments" - likes long coats that evoke the sense of the frock-coats of his era of origin, always has his service sword handy. Footwear ranges from moccasins to leather boots as required by the situation. Clean-shaven and long hair tied in a ponytail as per the military regulations at the time of his service.

Aubrey has similar views as James on what constitutes "dressed" but prefers 3-piece suits of a conservative cut, Oxfords and a bowler hat. Short hair and prominent mutton-chop sideburns.

Karl dresses for the occasion, be it formal or casual but favours clothes that look "civilian" in cut and style - three piece suits, jeans-and-t-shirt etc. Full beard and long hair tied back in a ponytail in direct contrast with the clean-shaven-and-short-hair expected of him in his time in the Army.

Sophia rocks the Punk Rock look with jeans and t-shirt, black knee-length boots, black sleeveless vest decorated with chrome studs and chains, extensive tattoos on her arms, numerous piercings in her ears and face, short green "mohawk" strip flanked with buzz-cut dyed in a pink-and-purple leopard-skin pattern.

Kaitlyn just wears standard jeans and T-shirt, often with a lightweight hoodie, but sticks out from the crowd due to her ears being sculpted into elfin points.

Finn dresses in a bizarre mix - tartan trousers, plain T-shirt worn with a belt around the middle like a tunic, irridescent sleeveless vest, silver torc. Extensive indigo spiral tattoos on his arms, long bleached blond hair swept back from his forehead and moustache that droops either side of his mouth.

Gwion favours black jeans or camouflage trousers, black motorcycle boots, sleeveless hunting/fishing/photography vest with lots of pockets, T-shirt is usually black and often is the one that proclaims "I may be an OLD FART but bits of me are fairly new". Clean-shaven, long hair in a ponytail. Left arm is artificial - battered mismatched arm and hand, crudely patched up and even more crudely spray-painted - right eye is also artificial with blood-red iris in contrast to his natural-looking left eye.

Consider what someone looking at the character would notice. Using the first of the long descriptions as an example, her outfit's color and general style as well as her hair would be among the first things one would see, and an unusual eye color might stand out if you get a good look at her face, but it's unlikely that anyone would notice something like a half-centimeter difference in heel size.

Is this◊ a good color scheme (Please ignore the blue shit on the scarf)? Is it a believable one in a 1940s Europe setting?

The red thing on the face is an improv balaclava. I got the green and yellowish by googling "carmine color scheme", though i'm not sure if these were for this particular shade of carmine. It's definitely not a good color for the pants, and i'm not sure how the boots, belt, and gloves go with this because they weren't a part of the color scheme.

.

This is ONLY about the colors. The costume isn't actually supposed to look like that - i'm just working with limited resources on Heroforge.com. It's actually supposed to be a Whole Costume Reference to Aldo Raine exactly, just in green and with a balaclava^note  (i need to come up with good colors for the vest, wool shirt, and pants, because i have no ideas at all. Also the only reason the gloves aren't brown is because when i put it in it looked really weird).

Edited by Nukeli on Oct 22nd 2021 at 11:02:16 AM