forum How do you choose your OC's outfits?

Started March 10, 2023 by @DemisedKenze face

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Idk if it's just me or not, but I struggle giving outfits to my ocs…spend a lot of time just staring at my "naked" OC or scrolling through Pinterest. thinking of what they'd wear. Even when I do get an idea, it looks wrong on them.

So…how do you do it? or do you struggle like me

A lot of the time it immediately comes to mind with the design, but obviously not everyone thinks like that, so there are some things to consider-

• How do they need to move? How do they like to move?
• Do they want to be seen? If not, choose something that isn't very noticable for them (unless they really want to be flashy, even while they need to lay low. If so, let them face the consequences.)
• Do they care about how they look?
• What kind of climate are they in?
• Are they recognizable to readers or are they just wearing any old character outfit?

After considering that, I usually look around at Pinterest character designs. However, be careful not to copy a design entirely, especially if it is a very recognizable character.

Sometimes I have a particular outfit in mind for the character and sometimes I scroll on pinterest or through google for way too long to find an outfit that feels "right"

(ngl, this advice probably isn't helpful if you don't already do what i do)
all of my OCs have some element of "self-insert" in them, which can be helpful in deciding a character's clothing & general style.

I typically go with what makes sense for the world and their character - is this a character who does a lot of fighting? do they need to carry a lot of things? what sort of climate are they from/travel to? I build their main outfits from those sorts of questions, and if they have a warm-weather outfit, I tend to give them a cold-weather option and vice versa. I also come up with a formal wear option, because my characters tend to need them throughout the story. I also like to stick them with a single staple part of their outfit that makes them recognizable, usually a piece from my own wardrobe to give them a bit of personal flair.

outfit design is one of my favorite parts of character development, so I hope this gives you some ideas!

I tend to use picsart for inspo. My characters outfits change day to day so its nice just having the idea of the vibe instead of an actual set outfit.

here's my usual checklist for making up a character's clothing:

1. their environment!!
   • This means their location/weather, their geographical area, and how active/how much they need to move! If they're cold, they need warmer clothes. if they're an athlete or assassin of sorts, they're going to need moveable clothes.
2. what they like
   • The OC's own design ideas are big! my favorite OCs wear skater-style clothes, gymbro fashion, and go for grunge. pick the style that the OC would pick if they were a real person. This also applies to color schemes
3. the setting
   • is it fantasy, post-apocalyptic, historical, modern, sci-fi, etc? Based on what the setting is like, this heavily alters what the character is going to wear. if it's a Tolkien-esque fantasy world, your MC isn't going to be wearing sneakers. If it's a 2001 high school drama, your MC isn't going to be wearing a Victorian dress. Y'know? Just stuff like this.

After I put all these into consideration, then I usually craft the image in my mind based on my own clothing choices (or my friends/family's sense of style), find a "style icon" in another piece to base fashion off of, or scroll through Pinterest to find a good idea.

A lot of my characters have their "main clothes", which is one outfit that I'm always imagining them in, but I also try to have plenty of different outfits in mind that have the same vibe. Sometimes, I don't even think of a "main clothes" option and just go with an overall vibe.

Hope I helped!