Costume Basics

Welcome back, more notes for class.  Hopefully the images are self explanatory, I don't feel like writing out a bunch of text.  Biggest unsaid thing is to keep your characters simple for now, too much detail will make it hard for someone else to translate your drawings.  KISS Keep it Simple Stupid! I used some concepts from current students to show simplification.  I will post their examples here when I get the chance.  I mention folds here as wrinkles are the little random "cracks" that happen to cloth when it's left in the dryer or on the floor for too long. And so, cloth when it's just hanging makes pipe folds.  Cloth tends to move outward in accordance to the number of folds.

When material is fixed at more than one point; pinned to the a wall, draped across knees or breasts or held by the fingers etc. the material seems to favor diaper folds and folds tend to radiate diagonally until they hang back in pipe folds.

 

Though there are many types of folds, a group that you see on a daily basis is known as compression folds, most notably the zig zag folds.

 

No matter what type of fold, if they are happening as part of costume, remember there is is something under the material to support it.  Cylinders, boxes, wedges, spheres and cubes make up the construction underneath the material and effects its action.  Note: Folds generally radiate from the joints.  Look at how the the joints effects the flow of the material.

 Those forms, when put together make up the figure and you are essentially 'dressing' your figure or character.  I would suggest against trying to just draw the costume without underlying construction because the costume will always seems to "float".

  

Remember, the fewer folds in your drawing, the neater it will look and not give the impression that your character has been wearing it to bed for the past three months.  A nice neat, sports coat below with untidy example next to it.

 

Well dressed big guys.  Max!

 Cloth does what the body tells it to do, often you get many examples of folds at once.  The spiral folds of tight or thing material of the undershirt with a t-shirt that makes (basically) a giant pipe fold at the bottom hem. this guy is happy because he's got his coffee and a choice team shirt...add your own favorite logo here.

  

Don't be intimidated by hats.  We will cover those in the next post.

 

Contemporary characters?  How about some Spidey?

Now that you have an idea of what goes into drawing costume, you can start putting clothes that make your characters.  BUT, keep it simple for now.  Look at this guy's Hawaiian shirt, what would you do to simplify the designs?

 

Without fail, every semester at least one student comes up with a space warrior/assassin (thanks video games) so what would happen if you changed out of teh Hawaiian shirt and strapped on a handy blaster? Bucket top boots, woot!

  

 I love "Ghost In The Shell"  A great futuristic assassin...or ladies in spacesuits...

Or a viking character is another at the top of the list, keep that maile simple!  Don't draw every ring in the armor or you'll go crazy and push anybody who has to draw it off the brink.

  

Animation vikings! Fur needs to be simple too or else it will look like spaghetti, that's in the next post.

 Here's a wonderful viking (even though liberties were taken with the horns).

 Pilots, whether in human form or as an anthropomorphized animal, should be streamlined here.  Leave out the buttons, buckles or patches (if possible).  I am including model sheets for these examples to compare.

 Ah, here we go, an anthropomorphized pilot. Awesomeness!

 Another pilot with and "animal" face.  I love you, Porco.

Samurais and ninjas and other historical warriors are extremely cool but find something about them that is new and hasn't been done already....unlike the guy below with the same old, same old going on. I need to check all my Samurai sheets.

 Ah the spirit or ghost form.  The most often line I hear from students is, "I don't need to show weight, it floats." Floating is a huge animation problem and makes the character difficult to believe.  Suggestion: make your character touch the floor and give it weight, and we will believe it's ghostliness even more. Again, I have to post some model sheets that fit this but here's a totally awesome link to compare.

 

But here's a ghost character with lots of weight:

Cowboys.  Not many of these being done anymore, which is a little sad, but hats make figure eights.

Grim Natwick!

And Yosemite Sam, my favorite cowboy.

Uptight 1770's guy. That's a trope isn't it?  I guess I'm glad I'm not from the 1700's (even though my students think I am) because I would have had to be uptight (which my students think I am).

 Nifty story art for Beauty and The Beast:

A lot of bird characters this semester.  So...here's a guy in a bird costume. KISS! Quack!  Maybe it will fly over the ocean carrying an elephant by the truck...maybe...

 

Hmm...Maybe a little Tex Avery?

 Monsters.  They always seem to be sort of like therapods, So here's monster guy.  Soft fabric...you just wanna give 'em a hug. I think this should be made into a costume. If I wore it, would you hug me?

 Cool monster(s) from Art Adams.

And trench coat guy.

My favorite guy in a trench coat, Inspector Gadget.  This fan's site is pretty cool if you're into the Inspector, Penny and Doctor Claw.

A hula hooping fire dancer.  Never been done in class before.  I cannot hula hoop to save my life but here's my attempt at such a thing - from the rear of course, because big fat guys hula hooping...
Looking through my model sheet collection, I can't find a hula hooping character (which means I need to look harder) but I did find this link.

Thanks for stopping by.