#*marina. I am unhappy with how I draw her face gage

[worldsewage]

@rudeboimonster To be honest, no idea, it’s a lot of trial and error usually. Finding a style for characters is very difficult, it’s a process sort of akin to designing an OC. But if it’s any help at all, I take into account many factors: first sort of being the vibe I want to capture, emergency exit (for example) is intended to be grungy “salmon run” with inspirations from hiphop and heavy metal, (the baggy pants, the camo print, the caps + the leather , spikes, / latex + the tape, the use of orange and overalls loosely resembling grizzco uniforms, etc.) sort of leaning into these genres sort of made it easier for me to design outfits for these characters, I learned that when you seek out “outfits” you sort of lose the initial touch and stray from the genres, so instead I searched directly on what artists who dedicate themself to these genres wear, I assume this was the process done while designing some of (CANON) Pearl and Marina’s outfits as well, lol, seeing that you could point at clothing items and draw a connection with irl hiphop artists, SAME W FRYE AND SHIVER FOR THAT MATTER, with the cultural influences.

Another thing: drawing Inspiration from concepts rather than clothing, I think in the context of dressing up idol characters: this is plenty more fun. I for sure have a few (not yet posted wips) that I really do enjoy because they incorporate things that aren’t clothing recreated AS clothing items, like I think if you stared at an object long enough you’d be surprised what you could draw from it. I also tend to include some personal aspects of fashion I really love: the skirt/pants combo, baseball caps, transparent visors… all that crap lol. You’ll notice I tend to give my characters white tshirts gym shorts or baseball caps and this is for the sake of simplicity but it’s also just, fashion I enjoy. I’m sure you’d also see this with other artists, maybe theirs are hoodies instead lol.. Though. I’m.. A bit of a maximalist so anything decora or crowded usually grabs my attention.

I think staying away from (this part here is personal opinion, I don’t do this every time, but to me this helped me better develop a style) Pinterest aesthetics or “outfit inspo” helps. Only because I think Pinterest outfits tend to be a watered down version of the product you’re searching for, since they try and be a bit more “fashionable” or easily digestible. That isn’t to say Pinterest is a bad place to find inspo, but I really did notice certain fashion genres aren’t very present there. I, instead look at online personalities, I do this only because you can better get a glimpse at what people- who dedicate themselves to fashion or certain ideas— wear casually outside of a collage of colorful vaguely match-y clothing. Following alt spaces or socials saved my lifeee.

Some examples I’m proud of: Pearl’s oversized jacket, the holes in the side of her shorts, the fact she’s got a price tag still on, Marina’s layered set, the checkered print bandanna around her tentacle, the mad-chemical punk aesthetic Callie has, the spikes the tubes the allusion to her canon outfit. All that stuff.

Sometimes I grit my teeth and stare at an Oc that isn’t mine and go, “I could dress them so well,” but unfortunately it’s not my toy.