I am really really struggling when it comes to design of clothes, armour and equipment for characters. I see so many people pumping out work with really unique looking armour and clothing (Kekai Kotakii for example)  with lots of details and patters in their character work. Just wondering what I should do to improve in tis area, its not so much the drawing of fabric folds ect but the design aspect. I can come up with basic designs but struggle to visualize specific details icons ect. Thinking this is probably because I have not spent enough time in this area so have not built up a strong enough visual library.

Wondering how people use photo ref to help, at the mo I try and look at as many sources around my character design and pick bits that I like and put these together in a new way but I also think thats copying and not the way to go, plus time consuming in terms the research.

What sort of studies could or should I be doing to improve in this area? I was thinking of doing lots of copies of historical and contemporary clothing just to flood my brain with different looks and ideas as well as copying other peoples designs to try an build up my visual library in this area. Be interesting to get peoples feedback on this type of approach or how others tackle this part of design?

I would recommend looking at runway fashion. I know it may sound a little stupid, but runway fashion is the pivot of absurdity. Runway fashion is not clothing people "wear" on a day to day basis. It is mean to be a statement not functional. That being said however, it is a great way to get inspiration seeing as how high end runway fashion is usually derived from some sort of inspiration itself.

I struggle with this too. Sometimes I'll just let my hand wander around the page making random shapes, then see if I can turn them into something. They almost never look great on the first try, but sometimes I can take something and refine it into something decent.

Another thing to do is keep interesting objects -- any kind of objects -- around your work  space. Old tools, bones, wrapping paper, old picture frames, whatever. You may see a shape that inspires and roll with it.

Of course, having reference books to hand is indispensable. I have several books on armor and weapons lying around, and even if I'm not borrowing the designs, it helps to know how the armor actually fits together. Knowing how something works will help you riff off of it.

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Nick Avallone
AngryFungus Art Blog | Sketchbook

Weirdly enough, there are a lot of charity shops in the town I live in. So I'll walk in those for inspiration - look at the cheap knick-knacks, look at the belts, clothes and jewellery. I find that helps quite a bit. I then mix and match some things I saw (sometimes I take photos), and once I have a theme for the design (eg if you want a gothic look or a theme of nature) I start working round some ideas I hopefully gained through looking at those and incorporating the look/theme into the ideas. :) 

Another possibility is travel someplace you haven't before, take photo refs, or go someplace local you haven't before, hop on the subway if thats an option and life sketch various people who's close you find interesting. :)  

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mike jasnowski

I think the best way to do this is probably by:

1) Understanding how armour works - I don't mean how it protects, but more how it fits together, why it fits together in that order etc. If you understand your subject then you will be able to come up with convincing designs (even if they wouldn't necessarily work physically - see any painting of Vampirella and wonder how on earth she retains any dignity!!!).

2) Practicing - draw armour, then redraw it, then doodle designs on it, experiment with adding on to it or cutting off it. If it doesn't look right then revisit step 1 and try to analyse why it looks wrong.

Looking forward to seeing you come up with some interesting work.

You could look no further than the new issue if ImagineFX, on sale tomorrow! Jean-Sébastian Rossbach has a workshop on creating unique 'fashion' armour!

Nice!

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Yian 2012

The best way is to look at existing armour, suits and fashion from past and present.  There is a reason why they look the way they do. Look at as much as you can and will realise what you can and cannot do. Just looking cool will often look silly.