What do you look at when designing a costume?

So I'm going over my characters, working on some new costumes to better suit them and try and make some iconic or recognizable.

Now, I'll admit, I'm a big fan of the trench coat because I like the flow of it, I also like the roman armour, cause it does look good in blue and white.

So what do you guys do when you are creating your costume or what do you look at?

I tend to do my costume is 3 parts.

1) Theme.
2) What looks good
3) What meshes well

So I have a Mastermind, whos theme is that to her the world is a computer and bots are her hacking tools with circuit patterns on her, a spider who uses Cyborg Aura HUD and Incarnate Mask to suggest that is what brings up the hud and a fortuna who has a purple leather trench coat.

So what do you look at, what is your order and what do you think works well together?

All my toons have certain things that are the same between them:

All body scales are minimum except shoulders and chest for females and legs and shoulders for males.

The facial scales are the same among all toons.

Skin color is the same across all toons (medium gray)

Theme/RP has no part in costume creation for me, other than matching towards what power sets they use.

Never use the premade costume sets.

All my male costumes have either the Korean pants or the baggy pants. Most of my female costumes have flared tight pants.

Then after those basics I go from there with what I generally want the costume to look like or whatever looks cool to me at the moment and meshes with the overall costume. Despite the list of presets I use each costume is still pretty unique.

What I'm looking for:

- Overall "look good." I think Random has inspired 1-2 costumes and 40 illnesses over the years.

- Does it fit the idea I have for the character - or that particular outfit. Yes, I do have extra costume slots unlocked, some for civilian/business dress, an "armored" look, etc. Varies by character.

- Have I been overusing that piece/color? If so, I'll try to pick something else.

- If it's a continuation/remake of a character, does it continue that character's "theme." For instance, my first 50 was an Elec/Elec blaster. There are 1-2 things I'll try to maintain across "copies" besides look - sometimes it's the round glasses, or the Jewel belt, or the color scheme, or the Celtic pattern on the boots. Even with that, they can look very different.

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Depends entirely on the character. I tend to decide the powers, decide the story, and then mold my outfit around that.

Unless I am just testing a powerset. Then its random, and if I like it I head to the tailor to put a serious outfit on.

For me, the females always, ALWAYS get Stillettos. Or Thigh Highs. Their feet look better that way in the game, to me, the flats and such just look... clubby? Squarish? I dunno, I've never found non-high heel/Stilletto/Thigh High shoes to be not-quite-right looking. Whatever, not elegant, for sure. I might as well like what I'm controlling, after all.

Other than that one particular quirk of my costuming sessions with the characters, I typically have an idea of what that character is going to be about, mainly due to the set I rolled. After knowing the powers, it then is an inspirational thing that 'comes to me', in that I decide on the three types, and then the costume colors are a reflection of the powers (example: the fire corruptor has burnt up, tattered clothes from an explosion in the lab), perhaps the power's colors (match or contrast), or a 'mood' I want that character to have.

The actual costume itself then comes about as I just let the parts 'scroll' about. Are they trying to hide themselves? Masks/helmets. Don't care? Hair then, maybe a hat. Are they mystic, urban, arcane, ancient, scientific, monstrous, etc, ad nausem...

And then voila. The perfect, to me, costume actually presents itself. I've never been unhappy with anything I've made.

And NONE of them, save the Dawn Sisters, look the same. Not even their faces.

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So, I guess, I just look for what needs to happen, and it happens. Yeah, that's it.

I like balance and a sence of unity for things.. Sorta "symmetrical" and would want the arms in [beast run] to be slightly longer or have an option to be more "beast" like than normal human form. And still would like an option to keep certain wings spread open or shut in the options area and not have to run to the tailor.
With costume stuff I like to have colors that match and not clash n crap

I just use the random costume creator. I don't really go for a specific look until I decide I want to keep playing them. At that point, I try to keep the colors consistent with the powersets.

Other than that, I don't put much thought into it in the least.

Don't get me wrong, I'd cry like a baby if I didn't have the option.

I tend to adjust scales quite a bit but:

1) I never go higher than 6'2"ish in height male or female

2) I rarely if ever make boobs bigger than the default

3) I often increase the waist size of females and occasionally do so for males.

4) I often scale down male bulkiness a little bit in both muscle mass and chest size.

5) I tend to widen the hips of both males and females

6) I try to incorporate at least 3 colors into every costume

7) I am not a fan of helms or hats. I like hair

8) I am iffy on using capes. Sometimes they work for a concept sometimes not.

9) I use skin baring options almost always male or female. Not only because I like a little "sexy" in my costumes but also because it adds another color to the overall character palette.

10) Like Houtex I almost always use high heels/thigh highs/other narrow heeled boots for females. I dont like blocky big feet on females. The one exception that not only looks decent but because it works for the concept are the rocket boots I use on one of my female characters.

I make a costume that not only fits the character's theme, but something I could actually see the character choosing to wear themselves. That and I'm a huge fan of simplicity.

I sometimes have a theme in mind, and try to match it with colors, and trying different parts in the costume creator for different body positions. It's a lot of careful back and forth to decide what really looks best for each character. I often start with something close in the drop down ("Doctor", "Fighter", "Tech Armor") but then go and modify it from there one piece at a time.


But mostly I just steal ideas from other players....

The first thing I look for in costume design is ... PRACTICALITY.

Is the costume you're making ... practical? Is it something you wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen walking around in (in real life)? Tights and skin may be thematically comic booky, but they aren't really practical for combatants (unless if they're Super Reflexes or Regeneration). As a result of this, a lot of my characters wear Jackets, Pants and Sneakers ... although not always in the same combinations.

The second thing I look for is ... color palette.

On all of my characters, I make the color palette a "theme" for all of their costume designs, so as to give them continuity from costume change to costume change. Often times, this will result in picking 2 major colors for everything, but sometimes I'll get into different color "sets" for the upper and lower body (such as when making "rainbow" costumes that span the spectrum).

The third major thing I look for is ... a hair style.

Hair styling is one of the few features I go out of my way to keep "common" on all of my costume slots for particular characters. Different characters have different hair styles, but any one character pretty much uses the same hair style in all of their costume slots. Again, this gives a continuity to appearance that is helpful for building a sense of identity in the player. The only exception to this rule that I (have to) make is the Victory Laurel hairstyle, which doesn't really have any counterparts in anything else, for the Toga and Hellenic Sandals costume slot.

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

I do one of two things (Well, ok, more than two, but these are two of the major strategies I use);

1. Have a concept ready, and try to work with the Costume Creator to get as close to it as possible. Sometimes in this process I find costume pieces that I had forgotten about and find they work even better than I could have imagined. Other times I'm left struggling and stick with "close enough" (If I had a penny for every time the overall concept called for a "with skin" option to be two-coloured, I'd be a rich man)

2. Find one or two costume pieces that I like, and then try to design the rest of the costume around that. The trick for me in these cases is to avoid using parts from the same 'set' as those two pieces. I find this works well in situations where, conceptually, it's the costume piece that gives the character his/her powers.

I spend a lot of time in the costume creator and take great pride whenever someone comments on one of my costumes. One of the big things I strive for is to do something unique but that doesn't clash. Often I'll start in on the creator (before really deciding powers or a name) and just look for costume pieces I've never used or really seen used and see if I can build a costume I like around that. Doesn't always work but I usually get something that is fun, although half the time I don't end up using that exact costume. Once I decide origin, powers and a name I like to modify the costume to something that fits the character.

But general guide lines:
1)I almost always use the smallest sized bust on female toons (and that usually feels pretty big still - seriously, these girls don't have back problems?)

2)I try to avoid more common color combinations, straight black and red may look bad-*** at first, but then I feel like I look like everybody else.
2.5) and I never use the same colors on all the parts, maybe for a first draft of the costume, but it much cooler if there is some variation.

3)Try and find combinations that are unusual. Can have really cool effects with some of the lines and patterns you can on lay to the original skin.

4)Just have fun with it and do something unusual. I often will hit the random button for inspiration. It comes up with a lot of crap that is just ridiculous, but I might be able to find a really interesting part I hadn't thought of using.

I start with a concept - how my character got their powers or if they're just simply trained better than some ( MA, StF, Kat etc. etc.)

Then, I pick a name. It can be a typical comic book heroish name or a person, pretty much anything, but something that really speaks to me and starts a costume concept.

After that, I develop a costume. I think I spend an inordinate amount of time on the face and hair. Has to scream out the name of the character.

Next, I work with the actual costume. If it's a typical comic book type name, I try for a number of different looks. Sometimes a Heavy Metalish look, other times, tights with top, gloves. Not always a cape though. Sometimes, capes just don't work out.

For most of my female toons, I have regular sized bust lines and a more narrow waist with wider hips and long legs.
For males, I scale down the Physical size, shoulders and chest and make the thigh stance more narrow and slightly longer legs.

Then finally, I start to customize power colour, which can take forever as most often, each power within the set receives it's own colour combination.

It really depends on the Alt. Sometimes I build an alt because of a new Costume set (IE: Barbarian) and other times I have this really cool background and match the costume pieces/set to that.

I really think that your costume should fully tie into a theme for your character. I like the look, powers, backstory, battle cry and costume of my toons to all be a parts of an overall theme for example

If you have a melee oriented toon and you say you like roman armor as a costume than fully go with tha theme across you're entire toon, every aspect. I spend a lot of time on my characters look before I follow through. Get into the role playing aspect of it with a full description and backstory, that will help mold the look and overall theme on the end.

Just my opinions, of course do whatever you want and have fun

I just play around and do whatever. The only rule I have adopted recently is trying to avoid using too much black. It's far too easy to just garb my characters completely in black clothing, and while it looks good, it isn't very creative/interesting.

Rainbows!!!!!!!

I tend to base most of my costumes around things that the characters themselves would have available. If they're human, they're not going to be wearing a lot of tights (especially tight pants), and instead will likely be wearing standard pants with a design painted on.

My main character fights crime in jeans and a teeshirt 99% of the time, and my main villain's primary garb is a black muscle top with cargo pants. The villain also has his "contractor" suit, which he wears more often than not these days, consisting of a relatively nice suit under a burgundy trench coat--he cares more about his appearance than my hero. (They also, recently, have Incarnate costumes... though only my villain ever wears his, and even then only during Incarnate trials.)

I try to put together a costume, then put myself in the character's place and ask myself, "Would I be embarrassed to be seen in this outfit as a superhero/villain?" There are times, such as with a couple teen heroes I have, that my answer doesn't matter because they think it looks cool... but on a more serious character, if I feel they'd be reluctant to go out in that costume, then I start over.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

When making a female toon I almost always have max hip size, min leg length, and min breast size. I've found this is the only way to get a size 10 or larger figure.

I tend towards longer boots and stillettos.....except my superstrength toons who always have some huge armored boots or platforms.

Otherwise I go with what looks nice.

Because I'm lazy, almost all of my female brutes and scrappers share the same Crey female clone of my male Tanker background, and thus, all share the same body sizes and face, but with different hairstyles. Each has a black and red version of my Tanker's main costume, and their second costume is a 'upgraded' Paragon Protector outfit. XD

Naturally, coming up with a background story is a clinch.