#I especially use my pinterest for fashion design!

[sydneymykah]

☆MY FASHION ICONS☆

How to turn influence into originality

I think everyone should have at least 2 - 3 different fashion icons. Whether it's an artist, model, designer, fictional character or even cartoon. It's these influences that can help build upon your own fashion sense and style. Relating and gravitating towards certain people can help us decide how we want to present ourselves to the world. Help us find our inner confidence shine through to the physical. Taking bits and pieces from other influences to make something completely your own.

This post is in three sections

1. How finding your influences can help you find your style

2. My icons and their style

3. How I use their influence to find my own original style

(Also I use fashion icon and style icon interchangeably. The basis is just someone who’s fashionable and has a style you feel inspired by)

Lets get into it

FINDING INFLUENCE

Maybe you watched a movie when you were younger and a character dawned an outfit that has stuck with you forever. A specific show or movie has stayed with you simply because of the fashion alone. You discovered that you would give anything to dress like the people you grew up seeing on your screens. To a celebrity's iconic street style or a characters impeccable fashion choices. What we naturally gravitate towards is what inevitably ends up being our main influence. Knowing what we are inspired by helps us figure out how we want to represent ourselves. Today I'm focusing on fashion and style.

If you're someone who wants to figure out what inspires you I'd suggest to go explore all genres of films and tv. Regardless the decade I bet you, you will find a movie or show that resonates with you in terms of fashion/style and aesthetics. Pinterest of course is also an amazing place to look for inspo. Especially if you already have an idea of what you want but need expanding upon it. Environment also affects inspiration. I've seen people's style and how they express themselves completely change because they moved abroad or just simply to a new city. I hope people who read this who are in an environment who cant express themselves the way they want are able to find a place for them someday. If you cant find an environment physically, I'd suggest finding one online. Twitter communities, Tumblr and discord servers pertaining to your interests can help you extremely.

Now, people might struggle to take what inspires them and make something of their own without looking like a straight up carbon copy. Not knowing how to build a style and not look like they're wearing a costume. What I've found to be helpful is to start off by noticing patterns with how your influences dress. If one is a celebrity you can probably find interviews of them talking about the style you're trying to implicate. If it's a character(s) there's a high chance there are YouTube videos and even tiktoks dissecting their style. The best part about this is that you can pick and choose what you like and what you want to try out.

That is also how you eventually find your own style through influence. You have to do things through trial and error. I know that makes people wince because they don't want to look ridiculous but it's true. The main thing you need is confidence. And if you don’t have that fake it till you make it sis. I can think of many people and celebrities who started off one way and evolved into the icons they are today. To people like Rihanna, Bella Hadid, and Sabrina Carpenter. Even with them you can see what influences their style. Rihanna (who has gone through many fashion phases) once being very heavily influenced by 80's UK British punk rock style and Americana. Bella recently being influenced by vaquero and cowgirl chic fashion because of her current cowboy boyfriend Adan Banuelos. Sabrina being very influenced by baby doll aesthetics, lingerie, and 60's style of clothing. You can see with all of their influences they're able to make it theirs. Of course they have stylists to help them(not to take away from their own creativeness) but you can still find ways to help yourself.

Even I am in the trial and error stage. Finding out what I like and what my current influences wear that I want to try too. What helps me is making mood boards and finding pieces that look similar to the ones my inspirations wear. It’s important to note that just buying statement pieces won’t help you build style because it’s harder to create different outfits with them. Basics are VITAL. So don’t overlook them when dissecting your influences. Let me show you how I dissect the patterns and fashion sense my fashion icons have and how I use these as blueprints in figuring out how I want to style myself.

MY ICONS

FRAN FINE

Played by the fabulous Fran Dresher, Fran Fine was the main character in the extremely popular and iconic sitcom of the 90's "The Nanny". Fran being a flashy girl from Flushing Queens who stumbles into a nanny job taking care of rich bachelor Maxwell Sheffield's three kids. The shows main plot is the will they won't they dynamic between Fran and Mr. Sheffield and how unconventional of a nanny Fran is.

Her unconventional yet charming nature reflects in her many iconic outfits. Many pieces being traditionally sophisticated like blazers and turtlenecks are made more flirty and tempting with mini skirts. Frans style didn't shy away from any sort of color, texture or pattern. Wearing things that range from a brick pantsuit, a rainbow sequined strap dress, tiger print blazer and mini skirt set, many bright colored fur coats, and full vinyl and leather matching sets. Her main inspo to her fashion seems to take from 60’s and mod fashion trends. Especially with her big hair and headbands being her main choice of accessory.

Frans typical silhouette would consist of some sort of turtleneck or vest. If she wore a vest it'd usually would have some sort of blouse underneath (collared or another turtleneck). Her bottoms would either be fitted pants, a mini skirt, or a mini dress. Frans signature shoe was a classic pump heel and would usually wear some sort of stocking or tights with them. (usually black) Occasionally she'd switch out the pumps for a boot that would either be reminiscent of 60's mod or just a regular heeled boot. Fran loved a matching set so typically her skirts would usually match her jackets. Her jackets typically being cropped or regular sized blazers. A lot of them being fur trimmed.

CHER

Cher is a famous musician, actress and Tv host. She was the IT girl of the 70's deemed " Goddess of Pop" and was known muse for the incredible Bob Mackie, one of my favorite fashion designers.

Cher was known for her impeccable and ground breaking style. She was unique and was never afraid to dress outside the box. Proudly showing off her stomach and wearing very risqué mesh outfits. Cher's approach to fashion was like a hybrid of bohemian, Disco and old Hollywood glamour. The main thing I think of when it comes to Cher is how she was almost always decked out in sequins and diamonds. Forever sparkling and shining in the cameras. Looking like a colorful disco ball. Cher was also known to not shy away from feathers, furs, and metallics. Considering she can technically be considered a showgirl and had her own popular show filled with musical numbers it makes sense for her to wear that sort of fashion.

Cher's classic silhouette was usually some sort of form fitting, skin showing dress or two piece. She would start off covered in some sort of shawl or jacket that was usually fur or covered in feathers. Then she would reveal her outfit. Typically the outfit would show some a lot of skin, usually her stomach, chest and arms. She was almost aways wearing cross body dresses and tops. a top that would wrap around Chers chest but still show off her core and arms. If Cher wasn't wearing a dress with this type of top she was wearing flared disco pants/Bell bottoms. Similar to Fran, Cher never strayed from interesting patterns and designs. Both very flashy and fashion forward women who knew how to light up a room with just their style alone.

JEM

Jem, from the 80’s cartoon "Jem and the Holograms" is the lead singer of her pop rock band of the same name. Not only that but she’s also secretly Jerrica Benton, the groups manager and owner of her late father's record label starlight music. Jem's 80's fashion can only be described as truly outrageous along with her big pink hair.

Jem of the Holograms was a unique show not only for its premise but because the main cast almost always had a new outfit every episode. Jem didn’t have a consistent silhouette but her outfits were adjacent or the inverse to her alter self. Jerrica being more conservative and covered while jem was more flashy and glamourous. Like a rock star should. One thing consistent with jem were her colors. Pink being her iconic color along with purple, light blue, fuchsia, and yellow.

Jem wore everything from pant suits, bodycon dresses, ball gowns, evening gowns, trench coats, matching sets, and bodysuits. All with 80’s trends like shoulder pads, fingerless gloves, popped collars, patterns like polka dots, layered necklaces, and mini skirts (one reminiscent of tutus artists like Cyndi Lauper and Madonna would wear) The one accessory that stays consistent with her is her gem star earrings and if you notice in the show are the bands symbol. In many of her outfits she dawns a star shape or pattern

*Note that not just Jem inspires my fashion tastes in the show but other characters as well. The other person inspiring me second to her is her antagonist Pizzazz who I've opted as my alter ego. especially considering Jem wears pink and Pizzazz wears green, (opposite colors)

CREATING YOUR OWN STYLE

If it’s not obvious based off the three examples I gave, I like dressing like the brightest thing in the room. The star. The showgirl. The main character of you will. I like to be dressed up even if I’m the only one doing so. So naturally I gravitate to people (or characters) who dress like that. Showgirls like Lola Falana and Josephine Baker inspire me too. Now what I do is take the inspirations and make a mood board. You might've seen my "The Vibe I Bring to the Function" post. That is one example. I've created many moldboards of the type of style I want to have. By taking those influences I notice the similarities between them then make a base line. Here's what I've noticed with mine:

Sequins and rhinestones

Feathers and fur

Leather/Vinyl

Figure hugging

Skin showing

Bodysuits

Turtlenecks

Fitted Blazers/Suits

Flared pants/Bell Bottoms

Matching skirt/pants and jacket sets

Animal Print

Bold Prints/Patterns

Cross body/Halter tops

Bold and bright colors

Then I take this andattribute it to what I know looks good on me. Like certain accessories. for example headbands and bamboo hoops (usually in gold). Speaking of you should also learn your colors. Coincidentally Jems colors are actually some of mine. Especially the color pink. But like I said above trial and error is how you soon figure out what works for you and what doesn't. I used to have a romper body suit once that was baggy with spaghetti straps. The pants were hemmed with elastic so it looked like sweatpants… That's when I realized that if I wanna wear a bodysuit it looks better if its form fitting and flared at the leg lol. Asking people what looks good on you helps a lot too. A lot of the stuff I figured out looks good on me is because I consulted some good friends. When it comes to my environment I'm in an astrology discord chat with some close friends and long story short I'm associated with peacocks so I consider that into my style as well. I'm also from the south so southern inspired outfits also intrigue me. I take this all and experiment with it. I currently have a bunch of animal prints in my close to a peacock corset to an orange velvet bellbottoms. This is only the beginning.

At the end of it all it comes down to experimenting, finding what looks good and realizing that what you gravitate towards. Learning to style yourself is as easy as looking up the basics on YouTube and building on from there. Your icons in fashion will help you get to the direction you want and one day you’ll see how much you’ve developed.

Also ALWAYS remember that you’re in charge here. You can change whenever and whatever you want. You don’t have to find your style and stick with it forever. Like I mentioned before Rihanna has been through multiple different fashion phases, we’re seeing the same with Doja cat as well. Your influences now can be completely different later. Whether it’s your environment or tastes that change. Whatever you find in life that influences you. So today I might be dressing like a 70's showgirl the next a man-eater vampire. Still me at the end of the day. And whoever your icons are, or whatever your inspired by at the end of it all should be reflection of how you want to express yourself.

✧─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Xoxo, Sydney Mykah -☆

[huellitaa]

it girl autumn 🎃🎀🍁

autumn is upon us!!!!!!!!!! all hail the best season 💭🎀🍂🧸🩷

──★ ˙ ̟🎀ur autumn to do list

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ ur never too old for trick or treating (if u celebrate!). girl get OUT THERE. (🎀🗒️note: if u have any little siblings or cousins or family, then you can take them out trick or treating and celebrate w them js as an excuse to get outside!!)

🧸𓂃 ࣪˖ make pinterest boards for ur fav autumn movies and shows bcuz they cant do it themselves </3

🍂𓂃 ࣪˖ go collect leaves outside and make a pretty piece of art out of them

🎀𓂃 ࣪˖ walk around early in the morning when its all foggy and pretty

🐇𓂃 ࣪˖ learn how to bake or cook (in my case anyway) OR look for some cosy autumn recipes to learn and share w ur loved ones or just to have a cosy night in and eat for urself♡

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ go thru ur closet and wardrobe and throw out all the old things you don't wear anymore. autumn is a time of change, after all (🎀🗒️note: make some cute autumn outfits while ur at it! ♡)

🎃𓂃 ࣪˖ drink every possible pumpkin spice drink u can find in ur area

🍂𓂃 ࣪˖ get out of ur reading slump! if ur in one anyway. if not then just read more books bcuz tea, rain and books is quite possibly the cosiest thing ever

🎀𓂃 ࣪˖ visit a library alone, go shopping alone, just enjoy ur alone time. autumn is a time of introspection and a time to work on urself, and though i love spending time with myself in any season, autumn is especially cosy ♡

🧸𓂃 ࣪˖ look at cute pumpkin designs and make one urself if u celebrate halloween ♡

🎃𓂃 ࣪˖ make some little halloween decorations if u celebrate ♡

💭𓂃 ࣪˖ build a little bug hotel out of twigs and leaves and things u find on the ground outside!!!!!! i used to do this all the time w my brother or my friends when i was little and its very nostalgic and fun ♡

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ take loads of pictures and make little vlogs and video diaries of ur autumn adventures, just for the memories ♡

──★ ˙ ̟🎀 music and media

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ ur autumn playlist

clairo (charm, sling)

the 1975

florence & the machine (lungs)

the cardigans

the crane wives

neil young (harvest)

the smiths

phoebe bridgers

type o negative

kali uchis (never be yours)

gracie abrams

🍂𓂃 ࣪˖ movies and shows

the nightmare before christmas (obviously)

gilmore girls ♡

coraline, corpse bride, pretty much any tom burton movie

anne with an e

fantastic mr fox

hilda

gravity falls ♡

you've got mail

over the garden wall

pride and prejudice

jennifers body ♡

practical magic

little women

kiki's delivery service

arrietty ♡

howl's moving castle

lord of the rings ♡

and i always have a harry potter marathon every autumn because i loved it when i was younger, so why not!

(🎀🗒️note: i love playing identity v, animal crossing and cosy grove in the autumn too! or meeting up w friends and literally js playing board games theyre so fun♡)

──★ ˙ ̟🎀fall fashion and staples

okay so i personally love pink, whites, browns, cream colours and just general neutrals-pastels in the autumn, but you can adjust this to ur personal aesthetic and however you see fit!

the first thing i think of when i think autumn is layering. layer layer layer layer. tops and sweaters, cardigans, jumpers, leg warmers, tights; to keep you warm and pretty ♡

pay attention 2 fabrics! knitted, cashmere, fleece, flannel, all the cosy sorts are perfect for the autumn months ♡

patterns like stripes, leopard print, chevron, argle and plaid are so cute and simple, esp in october / november ♡

neutral colours, like beige, white, brown, cream, grey, black, and pale variants of colours too i think work so well esp in the autumn ♡

anything fur lined is absolutely adorable i rest my case

MASSIVE COATS. i have this big trenchcoat my mum had since i was a baby and i wear it EVERYWHERE in autumn ♡

boots are THE autumn shoes, bonus points if they're fur-lined. they just look so so cute ajdhfjsfjhsjf♡

knit hats and small hair accessories, bonus points if they're in the pretty autumn colours ♡

not really fashion but i love doing simple makeup in the autumn. just very dewy natural looks are pretty all year around, but especially in the fall ♡

🍂𓂃 ࣪˖ pretty fall fashion:

all my love... 💬🎀🫶🏻💗

[princess-nobody]

Avatar Rant: Snowy Region Na'vi

Am I the only one who doesn't like the fanon snow navi designs? Specifically this (I used shitty AI images I found off of pinterest to illustrate the point and to avoid using actual artwork from people 🩷):

(Before I continue my God these are creepy 😭 AI genuinely cannot create Na'vi without them looking uncanny, disturbing and far too human)

I can understand why people choose the more predictable design philosophy – blonde hair, blue eyes, pale/white skin, pretty two pieces – because that's relatively how this sort of lifestyle has been portrayed to us in the media. Every movie or show set in a snowy region always features mostly eastern European characters, so naturally people decide that their snow na'vi must resemble eastern European people to a degree, and this bothers me.

Not because they look like white people (though that is like 25% why ngl) but because it just isn't realistic? Na'vi may be inspired by humans but they are still a different species living on a harsh and deadly planet that humans can't survive in, na'vi winter and snow would be excruciatingly difficult for them, and they would need to adapt to it.

I just don't see how they would be so thin and petite and pale, people say to blend in, but why? Only a handful of animals in arctic regions are actually white to blend in (polar bears, arctic foxes etc.) so wouldn't it make more sense to base them off of arctic animals from the ice age? Back then, animals were bigger, bulkier, with thicker skin and hair all over to protect themselves from the crippling cold – with that in mind, wouldn't snow na'vi be bigger than average na'vi, and bulkier too? Unlike regular na'vi, it would make sense that the snow ones actually have body hair all over, maybe even fur if you want to take it that far.

And if you're basing them off of INDIGENOUS people, then appearance, features and fashion wise, wouldn't it make more sense to base them off of the actual Inuit people of the arctic instead of Elsa from frozen 😭

Because realistically why would they wear flowey dresses and two pieces in weather that is probably 80% worse than any winter humanity has ever faced... especially since na'vi are all inspired by different non-white/european indigenous communities, and yes... non-white/European indigenous people do in fact live in cold, snowy, arctic regions...

To add a little bit of pseudo-psychology to it, it may be done in an attempt from white avatar fans for the most part to feel closer to the na'vi by adding a white adjacent sub-species, as the closer to europeans the na'vi look, the more they see themselves within the na'vi. However, that is purely speculation lol.

Also, I do NOT think you are racist or anti-indigenous or anything of the sort if your headcanon for snow na'vi looks anything like the examples! You're allowed to draw and design what you want, and just because tumblr user princess-nobody doesn't like it, doesn't mean it's bad.

TLDR: Fanon snow na'vi don't make sense and confuse me lol. Imo snow na'vi would be big and bulky behemoths that are covered in thick body hair and wear large, figure covering warm clothing, not skinny little russian girls in ballet outfits LMAOOOO.

[jordanelemus]

ybc musical costume in-depth analysis! 💥🎸🎱

hi! I'm jordan, the costume designer (and also an actor and co-writer) of "the young blood chronicles" musical! i posted this on instagram, but i thought it might be cool to post it here too!

my initial role in “the young blood chronicles” musical was costume design, which, as a fashion enthusiast, i was incredibly excited about. i spent about a month curating a huge pinterest board collection and creating individual moodboards. the show takes place in 2013, but i wanted to take inspiration from both pre and post-hiatus fall out boy looks! here’s an in-depth look :’)

patrick’s main inspo was his “soul punk” era, which lives distinctly in the hiatus. i wanted something that would remind us that years had passed since the last time the band had made music together; something cool and trendy, but a little too dressed up for a long day in the studio. even when not onstage, ybc patrick is performing. clothes can give you power and he knows that. the yellow sunglasses were our way of getting around patrick’s glowing yellow eyes from the music videos, but i really love how it makes it seem like he has a mask on. it makes the end of “miss missing you” even more heartbreaking.

pete’s main inspo came from both his early clandestine drops as well as his more androgynous looks (both pre & post-hiatus). pete really cares about fashion, but he still has a chill la vibe. 2013 pete could often veer more edgy, but i chose to move in a different direction in order to better distinguish pete and patrick’s styles. unless you’re a vixen or patrick, you don’t get a leather jacket! sorry pete! to me, pete’s fashion has always felt so current while still being forward-thinking. ybc pete’s outfit could be from 2006 or 2024 and that was very purposeful!

andy’s looks are mostly pulled from more recent years, but band tees never go out of style. the mesh top under the tee alludes to his tattoos, which make up the extent of his stage looks these days since he typically does shows without a shirt on. celia had this mesh top in her closet and i love the colors on her (it’s the only source of color in the heaven outfits!). andy’s outfit is maybe the simplest of the four on paper, but i think it’s sick. it’s laid back, but super specific and grounded. it makes me want to start wearing basketball shorts.

joe’s looks are pulled from both pre-hiatus and early post-hiatus looks! striped sweaters & cargo pants are things he’s worn before, so i'm lucky i had them in my closet (especially since i wasn’t originally joe!). joe, especially in recent years, really likes wearing dark colors onstage, but, similar to how i avoided leather jackets for pete, i wanted to very clearly differentiate the boys from the vixens. any black piece of clothing on any of the boys had to be broken up with a design or pattern. no all black outfits! sorry joe!

the goal with the heaven outfits was to make the exact same outfits in all white. i wanted the exact same silhouettes as before. i’d say we were pretty successful! we got really lucky when it came to finding these costume pieces.

my vixens! these costumes were a lot more nebulous throughout the process. many of the costume pieces came from the actors’ own wardrobes. it was really important to me that each vixen had her own distinct style. baylee’s vixen (whom she named blair) has a more feminine style, her main costume piece being a lacy leotard. she's sweet with an edge. ava’s vixen is second-in-command & her outfit really screams that. the lingerie top is so killer. alexa’s vixen is almost a mix of baylee’s & ava’s in terms of style. the outfit is sweet, but edgy with the ripped tights & lingerie-style top. lauren’s vixen is a little more utilitarian, actually dressed in a way that makes sense for kidnapping four people. she’s more sporty than the others, but her combat boots are incredibly threatening. hbic is all that and more. her outfit is simple, but powerful. she is terrifying.

tiffany had to feel a bit like an outsider. she’s wearing the vixen clothes, but her jacket has some color on it. it’s a little too big on her. the other vixens really live in & embody their clothes, but for tiffany, it's a bit more like a costume.

here’s how i describe the angels: 1) the hottest girls at the ren faire & 2) like that picture of the angel guiding the two kids that every latine family has in their house. they almost feel out of place; so incredibly fluid in a show that is mostly made up of harsh lines. texture and layers were really the name of the game here, but the angels still have an edge to them. to quote fob: “…angels choking on their halos, get them drunk on rose water. see how dirty i can get them, pullin' out their fragile teeth & clip their tiny wings.”

+ i made pete’s bass machete and tiffany’s/joe’s guitar axe! i don’t have much to say about them, but i loved getting to utilize my cosplay foam skills.

this was my first time ever costuming a show and it was such a dream. the entire cast was so willing to experiment with me and it was such a joy to revisit aspects of 2013 fashion, which i remember from my preteen years, but never got to truly participate in! :’)

- jordan <3

ig: @/jordanelemus

photos: @/cararittner on ig!

[cyandreamzaceattorney]

❀ Red investigations women ❀

A few days ago I felt like using some scrapbooking paper I found and decided to use some in my book. A lot of it was red so I went with a red theme and drew both Verity and Shih-na on paper from an abandoned sketchbook I found.

I had a lot of fun drawing these two in custom outfits. Verity's outfit was loosely based off many whimsy gothic and lolita fashion references and considering this is my first time drawing her I really like how she turned out! Expect for the shoes, I definitely need to study more interesting shoe designs -_- because her heels are boring to me (especially compared to her shoes in her official outfit, Verity imo has the best shoes in ace attorney).

And for Shih-na, I wasn't even sure if I was going to draw her or Kay, or Verity again at first, because I wasn't quite sure on what kind of outfit I felt like drawing next (all I knew was that I wanted to draw an AA character in a custom outfits), so I looked threw all the refs I saved and found this shirt (only could find a Pinterest link in my backwards search sorry) and it felt very secretary to me and given Shih-na's is introduced as Shi-Long's secretary I decided I'd draw her wearing this kinda silly looking shirt XD and I think it's a really cute outfit! At first I did consider making the pants black but I'm glad I decided to make them red instead because it makes the shirt and shoes pop more, and yes the pants have a cute on the side as a slight reference to her canon outfit.

P.S: I decided I like drawing collar bones again, for now :P

[luckyjunehenry]

Where do you get your aesthetic inspiration from? you have such a specific feel to your music and art i wanted to know what inspires that! do you also have a pintrest?

There is so so much that inspires me in terms of visuals! I have been involved in zine-making and collecting since 2015, which is where a lot of the cut-and-paste type stuff comes from.

My teenage obsession with Drain Gang was honestly a massive source of inspiration for me, especially the artist behind Bladee's 333 album cover Claire Barrow. Lots of colors and little creatures. I'm also in love with the work Claire Barrow does with fibers, especially the Sweet Bitch scrunchies that Bladee wears in the Amygdala music video.

My mama has a BFA in textiles and does work as an interior designer so the homes I grew up in were always very distinctly intentional and beautiful. She likes a lot of mid-century modern type stuff, my favorite furniture pieces I grew up with where a yellow Eames rocking chair and a George nelson atomic ball clock. I have slept under a quilt that she made in college for years and years and it often functions as the core factor of the color palette of my spaces. No matter what I do to my bedrooms, that quilt always feels like the heart of it all.

growing up in the midwest also has had a big part in shaping my visual and musical styles, I think. Kansas sunsets are beautiful!! I love the prairie.

I'll leak my Pinterest to u all hehe, the username is luckybiter ! Im not super organized on there, my roomies and I mostly use it for decoration Inspo for the house. I have a board full of my favorite pictures I've taken in the midwest called Lurching Towards Utopia (reference to an unreleased song by my pal Park whose project is called Orchard Ladder, which you should definitely check out), and there's some June Henry 2025 fashion plans stuff on there, too.

[cy-lindric]

Hey! I'm a big fan of your historical work (especially your sewing!) and thumbed through your pinterest awhile ago (thank you for linking it at some point) and was wondering if you have any reference books for period fashion that you like! Not any period in specifics, just any literature or media that you've found helpful, or return to often! Thank yeww

Hello ! I've listed a few books that were useful to me to understand construction on historical clothing in this post, but I've used those books more in my little historical costuming hobbies than for design.

When it come to character design historical references, my main sources are portraiture and contemporary illustration and I find most of it on archives or museum's online ressources. The only physical book of that type I sometimes use is Racinet's Costume History. I have a few books for napoleonic uniforms that sometimes come in handy including a few from the Men-at-Arms series of Osprey.

I think my main hubs for design references are probably the online collection of the V&A and Gallica BNF (the online ressource of the french national library).

For medieval stuff, I like to look at digitized versions of heavily illuminated manuscript like Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry in the collection of the castle of Chantilly ( loads of colourful XVth century fashion) or the lovely Manesse Codex on the website of the Heidelberg University Library (14th century, some of these are the cutest stuff you've ever seen).

These days, for my revolutionary calendar project, I'm using a lot of illustrations from the Gallica digitizations of several "Cris de Paris " street studies, esp the ones by Vernet and Poisson, for reference of commonfolk clothing from the late 18th century and early 19th.

For 16th-17th century stuff, it's even earsier ; paintings from the early modern era depict garments very realistically both in upperclass portraiture and in scenes that represent lower class people like tavern scenes and the like. For these I honestly just rely on wikisource for high res files of classic european masters stuff.

To be fair I usually hang out on Pinterest, try to find stuff that looks credible and matches the vibe of whichever project I'm working on and work backwards looking for the sources if I don't know them already. A lot of old fashion plate books and manuscript can be found fully digitized online, no need for an expensive library and acres of shelf space ! Hope this helps !

[hijinxmayhem]

hi🫡🫡first off ur art style is genuinely so inspiring ive been wanting to do a piece thats practically a study of how u do colors and dynamic posing and the way yoh compose ur drawings LIKE UR GEN ONE OF MY FAVE ARTISTS EVER instant serotonin and inspo boost whenever you post i Adore the recent leo and sluggy one and the punkrock leo and april one especially like theyve been stuck in my brain

segue ive been wanting to ask how you design/choose the outfits you usually draw on characters ! theyre always so bright and well put together, esp leo’s outfits i want to dress like him so bad </33 i was wondering if you find refs if outfits to draw or if theyre all just out of ur head?

Omg thank you😭 That’s so sweet of you!! I’m genuinely so happy ppl like my art on here and use it as inspiration. It’s so hard to explain colors and stuff over writing bc most if the time I’m just messing around. T-T

For clothing inspiration it’s kinda all over the place. I have a Pinterest board that I check a lot and practically save any cool outfit I see. My brother is rlly into fashion too so I use bits and pieces of his outfits for inspo too. But I’m also just rlly into baggy and street style clothing and I kinda just mush all of those ideas together👍

[mahouplanetofficial]

Advanced Mahou Outfit Guide 💫

Hi guys! I hope you all are excited for more posts to come– AP exams are over, and soon school will be out for the year! To those who have upcoming school exams, or are in the final stretch of school, good luck! We believe in you :) 

Also, another reminder to join Mahou Planet! We have a couple of Summer events we’re planning, gamenights, challenges, etc! It’d be lovely to have you join our endeavors ^^

Now that that’s over, are you guys ready for today’s guide?

👗 INTRODUCTION TO MAHOU FASHION

If you’re no stranger to the world of magical heroes, you��ll know that they have different outfits whenever they transform. Strikingly different outfits compared to how most of us dress on the norm. Advanced magical heroes will likely know what they’re searching for in terms of outfits, however, beginner magical heroes may not know where to start– that’s what this guide is for! In this guide, I’ll be discussing a couple of tips and tricks to create your magical hero outfit!

👠 HOW DO I GET STARTED?

To get started, I recommend following some of the advice that I shared on my concept basics post– especially with making lists. I recommend making bulleted lists of what you want/don’t want, specifically in outfits. For example, writing down “I want to wear a skirt” and “I don’t want heels” already narrows down a LOT of possibilities you have for an outfit! 

Another recommendation is to decide a couple of concept themes before you create an outfit, so you can correlate your concept with your outfit. Knowing the basics can help you more than you think– know your desired motifs, colors, etc.

One more important tip, think about what you are comfortable wearing and what you’d like to embody as a magical hero. You can experiment with this by playing dress-up in your bedroom, fitting rooms, etc! Experiment with what you feel comfortable wearing in real life, so you’ll get an idea of what you’d like to wear while doing magic. If you can’t do this, then think about what you would like to wear as a magical hero. Maybe you want to try a new style, or (my personal motivation) defy societal norms/the “dress code” you were raised with. Basically, go out there and experiment! 

💄 BRAINSTORMING IDEAS

Now that you have these new ideas layed out, it’s time to brainstorm! Go out in the real world or on the wonderful world wide web and search for some outfit ideas! Here are some helpful sources for finding outfits:

Pinterest is a STAPLE for inspiration. Some keywords I recommend are “magical girl”, “magical girl oc”, “magical girl oc design”, “(your aesthetic)core outfit”, “runway outfit” and “stage outfit”!

Research some magical hero animes/games for outfit ideas! Some I recommend looking at are Madoka Magica (more specifically Magia Record since there’s like 1000 magical girls there), Precure, Girls x Heroine, Cocoppa Play, and Pripara!

tumblr (this platform teehee) is also a nice place to search for inspiration! You can use the same keywords above, just with tumblr hashtags!

Play around with dress-up apps like Gacha Life 2, Dolldivine, Everskies, Picrew, and ROBLOX (I know a couple of avatar editor games, if you want me to drop them, just ask!)

Go window shopping (or shopping if you have the money) and look at magical hero-esque outfits! You can go thrifting, to the mall, online shopping, or look at other people’s everyday outfits!

🎨 DESIGNING THE OUTFIT: SECTION 1

Now that you have inspiration and plenty of ideas to go off of, it’s time to DESIGN! You can design your outfit with any method, from creating collages off of images, to using dress-up games, drawing your design, commissioning an artist, there’s endless possibilities!

The only method I recommend you don’t use is AI art. AI art not only takes credit away from actual artists, but AI art is environmentally harmful and the algorithm searches every image on the internet, including medical records and illegal and problematic images. Mahou Planet has a rule against using AI art: “There will be no AI art usage in this server. This rule is non-negotiable. Accidentally sending AI art without knowing is understandable and can be corrected by deleting the message, however, do not promote the usage of/use AI art.” I will not be willing to argue with anyone about the morality of AI art– know it is not supported by us. There are many better alternatives that can get you a better design, and most importantly- it’s a design that you (for the most part) create yourself!

There are lots of different factors to consider for your outfit design, such as whether you have teammates, uniforms, shared outfit motifs, outfit rules, etc. We’ll go over those in this section!

TEAMMATES

If you have teammates, it may be a good idea to correlate your outfits together to show that you’re a team. 

For example, the magical girls in each Precure season have shared outfit motifs to show their team harmony. I think the Precure season that does this well is GoPri. The Cures in Go Princess Precure each have a tiara with a charm representing their outfits motif, princess-like dresses, a back bow, and a golden gem on their outfits. You can easily look at them and tell that they are a team. 

Another example of this is of Winx (specifically S1)! The simplicity of their designs, the glittery fabric, the small wings, and the boots are all correlated, even though the girls themselves all stand out with unique takes on these rules. 

Something to take from these magical girls is that they each have something to tell that they’re a team. If you are a team and want you guys to have shared outfit motifs, make sure that someone can look at a picture of your team and can tell that you guys work together.

A simpler solution to this is uniforms! Uniforms are basically a simpler way to coordinate your teammate outfits. One of the most famous examples of this is Sailor Moon: their outfits, besides some accessories, are the same. The only difference is the color scheme. This is easy for those who don’t want to design unique outfits, or want outfits to stand out in terms of color. 

Here’s a more simplified list of the pros and cons of having uniforms VS unique outfits:

Uniforms

Easy to design

Takes little to no thought

Colors easy to pick out

Can be either simple or complex

Colors may be hard to remember for each member

Limited freedom of expression

Unique Outfits

Harder to design, but a more satisfied finish

Outfit and colors may be hard to remember for each member

Usually complex but some can be simple

Freedom of expression, or much freedom if there are still rules

Harder to coordinate

As you can see, I have a little bit more pros under uniforms. However, do what you want with your designs! I personally always go for unique outfits– some of the unique outfits I’ve seen in the magical hero community look STUNNING!

If you want to have unique outfits or uniforms, a good thing to implement is outfit rules. Rules are basically what you can and can’t do in a design. When I’m designing teammates, I have rules listed under DO, DO NOT, and IT DEPENDS categories.

DO is of stuff you can change, add, modify, etc. For example: you can have a unique hairstyle.

DO NOT is stuff you cannot change, no exceptions! Example: you must keep a bow on your chest.

IT DEPENDS is stuff you can modify, but may be limited. Example: You can change the shape of a skirt, but it must keep white ruffles and be in the color of your theme color.

These rules can vary based on your kind of magical hero and what you want for your team. Remember: you are the designer! Design to your heart's content and what you think looks good for you and your team! 💫

SOLO

If you’re going solo, this section may be a bit more helpful than what I said in the teammates section. Solo outfits usually apply to just yourself, so you have so much more freedom in designing your outfit. When making an outfit, don’t just focus on what looks good. Remember to design an outfit that makes you comfortable, and you only! 

If you want to have teammates in the future, or if you need more guidance on creating outfits, then it’s recommended to create outfit rules, just in case. Or if you’d like 100% freedom on outfit designs, do what you want! It’s your outfit!

THEME COLOR

Choosing a theme color is easier said than done. I see most magical heroes choose their favorite colors as their theme colors, and I have also seen magical heroes put more thought in their theme colors. Do what you want! Even if you don’t want a theme color or want multiple, you are still a valid magical hero!

For color palettes for an outfit, you can go on Pinterest for colors, or go to coolors.co to generate color palettes! A cool thing about coolors is that you can save color palettes for your magical form!

MOTIFS

Motifs are also important to decide on your outfit! To decide outfit motifs, repeating elements in your outfit, think about the theme your magical hero wants to display, or a moral lesson you’d like for whoever you’re fighting/the general public to learn. If you’re a magical hero of love, you can opt for adding heart shapes and motifs to your outfit. If you’re a magical hero of wishes, add some shooting stars on your outfit! It goes on and on for any motifs, it’s all up to you to determine how you use them.

🎨 DESIGNING THE OUTFIT: SECTION 2

For this section, I’ll go over the more detailed aspects of your design, from top to bottom! I’ll give advice on designing outfits, as well as some practical tips for your magical design.

HAIR

Probably the most famous– magical heroes are notorious for their crazy hair. Most magical heroes you see have long hair, either down or in some updo, and in the color of their theme color or an accent color. Some magical girls have their hair be a variation of their natural hair. You can have any kind of hair you’d like as a magical hero! Here are some of my tips:

Make sure your hair won’t hinder your fighting abilities- it won’t get caught in your outfit, you won’t trip on it, etc. Also, make sure your villains can’t grab your hair to pull you/catch you off guard! This is a common fighting technique and I’ve seen this absolutely destroy people in school fights. If crazy freshman can do it, your villains likely will as well.

Don’t worry about your hair being “easily recognizable” if you’re keeping your natural hair. You can always script in that no one recognizes you or use magic to ensure no one associates you with your secret identity.

As for personal recommendations, I recommend having your hair out of your face. I have bangs in real life and in my magical girl form; sometimes they’re a pain, especially on hot days. It’d kind of hinder your ability to see in your magical form. A good counter to this would be scripting the thickness or thinness of your bangs if you plan on having any, or to script that you see better once you transform (this is good for people with glasses!)

Also recommend to script that you don’t sweat when you transform. Sweat + hair = pain.

Choose a hairstyle you can fight in and feel comfortable with– if you’re not sure where to start, think about hairstyles you would like to try or hairstyles that flatter you. Even hairstyles you wear in real life would be a good start!

Don’t worry about damaging your hair with the color you choose, I’d like to imagine magic changes your hair color, and is completely damage-free! (Really wish this were the case in real life 😭)

HEADGEAR

I know a couple of magical heroes who plan on having hats or SOMETHING on their head in their magical hero form. If you’re interested in having headgear in your magical hero form, here are some precautions and tips:

I don’t want to say it’s a hindrance to have a hat (because I literally wear an ushanka in my magical hero form 💀), but try to find some way it’ll stay on your head while fighting. Unless you don’t anticipate doing crazy backflips, I’d recommend scripting that your headgear won’t fall off even in the craziest situations– or even better, it can only be taken off by your hands only.

Also script that your hat (or better: your entire mh outfit) is the exact size for you, and grows as you grow in civilian form!

Try to find some practicality in it! I see magical heroes go for goggles to replace their civilian form glasses. Some magical heroes wear hats to keep the sun out of their eyes. I had an old concept where my magic came from a top hat (if you know, you know). Hats don’t just have to be fashionable, but I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted something cool just to finish off your outfit.

If you’re looking for hat designs, a good game I recommend for inspiration is Genshin Impact! The creativity the characters have for their headgear is amazing, and I can imagine some magical hero designs based off of just hats alone. Pinterest is also a good place to look!

TOPS

Tops! This is one of my favorite parts of designing! Designing tops is always really fun. Here’s some advice:

I recommend looking up necklines or just pretty tops in general for inspiration! 

Also recommend to have a built-in bra with your top, wearing one separately would be a hassle in my opinion.

One of my biggest pet peeves with strapless tops is it falling down every 5 seconds, so if you have a strapless top, make sure you script that it won’t fall while you’re fighting. 

This is the same for sleeves in general! Script they won’t fall down.

If you have anything tied in your magical form, like ribbons, script that they won’t come out or loose.

Make sure you choose something you’re comfortable with! Script that you’re comfortable in your top, no matter what kind of top you’re going to wear in your magical form.

PSA for magical heroes who want gloves: script that you can use your phone while wearing them. I hate wearing gloves and then having to take them off just to use my phone :( 

If you aren’t planning on wearing gloves, script that you don’t leave fingerprint traces on surfaces you touch, just for security reasons!

I’d hate to continue the “YOU DON’T NEED PAINTED NAILS IF YOU’RE WEARING GLOVES DUHHH!!!!” debate, do what you want with your nails! Pinterest has gorgeous nail designs! If you are wearing gloves, I’d recommend making the color of your nails change the natural color of your nails. Long nails would probably be more of a liability than shorter ones, or you could script your nails are immune to breaking, getting damaged, falling off, etc.

A smart idea would be incorporating your outfit into some kind of use with your magic. For example, if your main weapon is guns, then I’d recommend keeping ammunition on your body, on a sling or a belt. This takes a bit more thought to be put into it, but it’s so worth it and makes a great design in the end!

BOTTOMS

Bottoms are also fun to design! In my opinion, these are the most versatile. There are different directions you can take for bottoms, SO many different directions! Here’s my advice and suggestions:

Go for what makes you the most comfortable! You are 100% a valid magical hero if you go for pants or shorts over a skirt and vice versa! It’s your outfit! If someone has a problem with how you present your magical self, they can kiss your- 💥💥/JOKE /ok but fr ignore people who have problems with your outfit they’re just insecure (/srs)

If you are planning on wearing a skirt, please script safety shorts or opt for a skort instead! I don’t think I should explain why flashing people while you’re fighting is not only embarrassing but dangerous since there are terrible and disgusting weirdos out there. 

If you’re wearing socks, script that they won’t slide down (another pet peeve of mine)

If you want to wear heels, or if your shoes are high heeled, PLEASE script that you know how to fight in heels and won’t fall or trip! Been there done that, it’s not fun. Also scripting that your feet won’t get blisters is a good precaution too!

Also, if you’re wearing a back bow/something on the back/a cape, or anything you’re scared will catch up into something while moving, script that you’re not going to get stuck or nothing will catch your clothes while you’re moving.

MAKEUP

I feel like makeup is a less commonly talked about thing when it comes to magical hero design. I think makeup is also important to consider when you’re transformed! Here are some considerations:

Make sure your makeup is sweat-proof, sensory friendly, and won’t wipe off or get ruined while fighting. Emphasis on sensory friendly, I avoid makeup in civilian form because foundation is absolutely PAINFUL.

Search for makeup styles you like, or go off of makeup you wear or would like to wear in real life! You can go for natural makeup, glamorous makeup, stage makeup, etc.

Royale High on ROBLOX is a good game to look for makeup styles! The makeup in faces (to my knowledge) is free to use! Everskies is also a good game to experiment with makeup!

Tear proof makeup works as well, just in case you end up crying in your magical hero form. 

🎤 GENERAL TIPS

Keep in mind the environment you’ll be fighting in may change depending on where you go. You may fight in the rain, in snow, on the beach, etc. It’d be a nice idea to accommodate your outfit for such conditions, or to script that your outfit is weather-proof. 

Speaking of accommodations, if you’re disabled, it’s always a great idea to script accommodations for your outfit! You can script that your outfit is sensory friendly, isn’t itchy, and (my favorite) there are no tags on your magical outfit.

I also like to script that my magical outfit is able to regulate heat/coolness! This can work for any outfit, even if you can’t find the logic behind it. It’s magic! That’s all the logic you need!

Make sure you’re able to find some way you can fight in your outfit. Even if you don’t plan on fighting, it’s a good precaution!

Kind of TMI, but if you get periods, script that your outfit is bleed-proof. This is also good if you end up getting hurt in your outfit. Also scripting that your outfit’s immune to tearing or getting injured is a great idea!

A fun way to experiment with how your magical hero outfit may look is to take a full body picture of yourself and then draw over it with your magical hero clothes. You can also dress in aspects of your magical hero outfit in real life with items you have at home (ex. wearing a top similar to the top in your magical hero form) to get a feel of what you’ll be wearing.

If you need design help, I suggest joining Mahou Planet! There are great magical hero designs there and talented designers willing to help you! Searching for inspiration, meshing different pictures of outfits together, and asking friends for help are also valid methods!

💫 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, there are about a gajillion different ways to create a magical outfit. There’s not one right or wrong way to design, or a “bad” or “good” design: what matters is that you’re comfortable in it and that it’s an outfit you love! Outfit changes are 100% valid, and I’d even recommend scripting variations of your outfit for weather/personal reasons!

At the end of the day, designing should be a fun process. I hope you guys learned a thing or two from this post, and have fun designing your magical hero outfit! Remember to join Mahou Planet to have a chance to choose the next article I write!

See you guys next post! 

(idols: yeojin - loossemble, jinsoul, choerry, kim lip - artms, mina - twice, ella - pixy, gowon, hyeju - loossemble, gwsn ot7, stayc ot6)

[beemers-hell]

YUME AND EB R LITERALLY GORGEOUS... beemer, drop how you stylize the outfits for your OCS, and my soul will be YOURS!!!!! /silly 💕💕

I'm assuming you mean how i come up with outfits for them? Its fairly easy, I just get real world inspo for it!

Firstly, and this is an obvious one, pinterest! I only recently started using it For Real and its been helping me find great outfit pieces to dress my goons up in. That's also why I dont have many boards for ALL of my ocs, only some, cause those are the ones whose fashion tastes I have mapped out pretty clearly!

secondly, i have a channel in my burner discord where I save outfits and aesthetic images i like! having something like this essentially works the same as having a dedicated pinterest board, except this is more generalized for stuff i just particularly like, especially when it comes to full outfits and/or individual outfit pieces!

like, for example, the yume piece i just did, i used two sources I had saved from my fashion inspo channel to put that outfit together!

and lastly, this might seem odd, but i get a lot of inspo from various doll restyles I come across! Of course, I dont take the actual outfit, being presented, I just take the general idea/vibe/aesthetic of the outfit, or, I take the general shape of the outfit pieces, and i change the designs to fit my tastes more!

I hope this helps explain my process when it comes to fashion!!

[wasyago]

Absolutely adore your Joel designs Yago <3 [Well, I adore all your designs, but the Joel and Tango ones are very cozy to me especially.] Do you do research / mood boards / etc to get your ideas, or do you doodle around until you find something you like?

UWAAH THANK YOU QWQ !!!!!!!!!

generally i frantically switch between doodling and scrolling my gallery / pinterest in a constant state of panic over wanting to introduce new interesting ideas but realizing i need to think with my own head and not look at other art...

i do have a couple separate pinterest boards for some specific things, like, all the cyberpunk and sci-fi things are in one place, all the armor refs and tutorials in other, animals in other, horses are separate from the rest of the animals bc there's too many of them, real life clothing and fashion in other, etc. yknow for cases where i 100% need lots of references and inspiration. plus i search up additional refs when i know what im looking for / already have an idea for a design and just need it to be accurate.

but most of the time it's just my gallery. i save a lot of art that i like, and when i need ideas but i don't really know what exactly i want to see, i scroll through this massive pile of all sorts of different things until something catches my eye. can never tell where inspiration might come from, so i find that having it all in one place is better than having lots of small organized folders that i need to individually look through.

hmm i feel like im not answering your question at all......... i used to always have clear references and things i deliberately and consciously took inspiration from, and i did research into themes and what could potentially enhance a design. if you look at my older art, design sheets especially, you can see that a lot of them have references in the background, and are more thought through and planned. i've stopped doing it at some point tho. not sure why, probably just got lazy. although i think around that time i was also coming to terms with the idea that i don't need to have a set design that i follow 100% correctly every time, and that instead i can have fun and draw characters however i like and let a design form over time. so that probably had an effect.

nowadays most of the ideas for designs come from my mind and visual memory, plus inspirations from the gallery, though it is less deliberate and more of a "oh wow that's cool". that's also where the frantic switching and panic come in. which makes it a lot harder to track down or to explain...

uhh yeah

👍

[queenofthecats]

ʏᴜɪ ᴋᴏᴍᴏʀɪ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅɪᴀʙᴏʟɪᴋ ʟᴏᴠᴇʀꜱ’ ꜰᴀɴᴅᴏᴍ

—————————————

Yui is one of my favorite characters, and for a reason. Let me explain:

(Please excuse the spelling mistakes)

1. 𝓔𝓶𝓹𝓪𝓽𝓱𝔂 𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓐𝓫𝓲𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓕𝓮𝓮𝓵 𝓢𝓸𝓻𝓻𝔂 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓞𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓼

This is what makes a person strong in my opinion, and Yui has a lot of it. She’s caring, despite the situation that she’s put in. She can admit when she’s wrong, and she genuinely feels bad. A little dense at times, but she still cares. I find her reminding me a lot of what I want to be. And no, I don’t mean her situation, I wouldn’t wish that upon my worst enemies. What I mean is her ability to forgive, her ability to heal. She’s like a golden retriever honestly, and her being genuine is what makes her so likable and is what makes me so confused when she receives hate.

2. 𝐻𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝒶𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒶𝓃𝒹/𝑜𝓇 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒷𝑒𝓁𝒾𝑒𝒻

I’ve never really felt comfortable as a queer woman around religious people. But she’s my comfort character, and for a good reason. Her faith, and her desire to not give up is what many of us wish we had the ability to achieve. She doesn’t use her religion as a way to attack, rather as a way to hold herself to moral standards. Yui doesn’t give up fast when it comes to her beliefs, she’s strong and isn’t swayed easily when it comes to something she truly believes, which is something so beautiful in a way.

3. ᴀʙɪʟɪᴛʏ ᴛᴏ ʜᴏʟᴅ ʜᴇʀꜱᴇʟꜰ ᴀᴄᴄᴏᴜɴᴛᴀʙʟᴇ

As I mentioned earlier, she, despite being a teenager, is quite accountable. She apologizes when she does something she considers wrong. She tries to her best ability to understand why she made people upset. Not to mention, when she realizes she did something, even unintentionally, that hurt somebody, she genuinely seems to feel bad. I know this sounds pretty basic, but a lot of people seem to lack this, and so do so many ocs in the fandom.

4. Ｈｅｒ Ｅｍｏｔｉｏｎｓ

I know a lot of people love the cold-hearted look, but that isn’t favorable at all to me. Everybody has emotions nearly, except few with certain mental disorders. Yui plays into them, which is so realistic in a way, especially in her age range. Her bad endings reminds me of the female rage trend. If everybody is nonchalant about everything, imagine how boring that would be? No reactions, no nothing. We use art as a way to express our emotions, our backgrounds, everything we ever known. Imagine watching a horror movie for example, and nobody reacts the whole time. There would be no emotional value really. This is why human art is so special, this is why Yui is special. I don’t watch much media, but I’ve never seen a teenage female character that I’ve found interesting and emotionally relatable as Yui. She makes mistakes, she knows that. She isn’t made to be a completely unrealistic character, who is perfect, and fits every beauty standard, not that she’s not pretty, cause she is, but still. She’s perfect in a teenage girl way to me, not in a creepy old man who profits off unrealistic expectations way. She’s one of the realest female characters I’ve ever seen. I wish I was as strong as emotionally that she is.

5. Ｈｅｒ Ｄｅｓｉｇｎ

I could go on for hours about how much I love her and why, but I’m going to cut it short as I have more posts that I want to do!

Anyways, Yui’s design is aesthetically pleasing to me. I actually got into the fandom because of her design, as I saw it on Pinterest and fell in love with the color palette and how pretty she was to me. Her eyes are so pretty, and so is her hair. She looks like she has this warm aura surrounding her, like she’s the sun itself. She’s so simply designed, yet I love her. It’s funny, as somebody who has always been into more alternative fashion, I love her simple girly design. Her facial expressions make me laugh tbh, and she’s always so pretty no matter what she’s in.

6. 𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝙼𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝙻𝚎𝚜𝚋𝚒𝚊𝚗

Now, everybody in Diabolik lovers and also the fandom helped me realize this, but especially Yui. I loved the way she treated others, and started to think about how I would want a woman treating me that way, the way she treated the DL boys. I wanted somebody nice like Yui, but more than a friend.

The DL boys also helped me realize that it wasn’t being a certain way that I couldn’t stand, I just can’t stand idea of being with a man. This fandom also helped me realize this, as no matter how much they characterized the guys, no matter how much empathy they gave them, I was not attracted to them, much less real men. Their anime designs are some of the best I’ve seen, but I still couldn’t find myself, which caused me to go down a rabbit hole, that made me realize I did not like men at all.

-Livi

—————————————

[unbizzarre]

BARRAYARAN COSTUME DESIGN

The process for costume design:

Had fun looking through a whole bunch of reference images to try to create a costume set that reflected the strong sense of tradition with midieval-esque holdovers from hand textiles that would have had to be the norm during barreyars period of isolation, while also accounting for the wealth of the current barreyaran aristocracy and their access to modern galactic trends and clothing. I also didn’t want the midieval influences to be generic-fantasy-vaguely-european-bulshit, so I also tried to find reference images with styles, patterns, and silhouettes that where somewhat reminiscent of the French, Russian, and Greek cultural heritage barnyard first settlers may have brought with them. That being said, it wouldn’t make sense for any of these traditional garments to have been preserved with 1-for-1 accuracy from there earth origins over the many centuries (cuz like, irl traditional dress in these countries is less and less common) so I didnt want to just copy exactly historical garments.

OH! And then I also had to make sure the men’s clothing also reflected the pseudo-military affectations which Bujold has mentioned in multiple books as being popular in menswear amongst the vor cast. (Ex: the formal riding boots, and the two swords carried at formal events, or less formally vor “town clowns” also wearing casual clothing reminiscent of a military cut.) but! In order to do this, I had to think of both what would have been military uniforms both in isolation-barrayar and modern barrayar, and which aspects of each set of military uniforms would be incorporated into modern men’s fashion. Would any women’s clothing also reflect this warrior trend?

Finally, since all of this costume design was brainstorming for the dinner party scene, I wanted to make sure that the clothes matched the personalities of the people wearing them. Like aunt Alice and Professors Vorthis are both middle aged Vor-caste women, but will have vastly contrasting style. Alice being alice, her clothing will likely be both perfect for the occasion while also a sleek and elegant combination of the leading barreyaran fashions, while also giving a nod to traditional barreyaran costume at times as she is a representative of both the state and her old-vor house. The professora on the other hand, will probably opt for something comfortable and cozy, while not especially showy, as she is more concerned with her studies and gardens and is not super involved in the Vorbarra-sultana social scene.

Some of the reference images I used:

And many many sooooo many more. So much borrowed creativity from all over the internet I feel bad I can’t more accurately site all my sources 😞

Also some random cool aesthetic modern shit that I thought had fun sci fi vibes as well as some *sigh* generic-euro fantasy clothing cuz sometimes you need to be a little basic.

Also a lot of cool art by artists I love that is just dope costume design and totally all their work. Idk the names of a lot of them cuz I’m not really active on social media and only really see the images amidst thousands of others in my Pinterest hoard but I always recognize the artsyles and creativity and wind up saving them to reference art boards 🙈

Some that I do remember and love a lot are cy-lindric, Juliette, and Celia Lowenthall

[bonesandthebees]

How do you figure out character design for your fics? Like how did you decide on outfits and other design elements like the glowy freckles

well when it comes to fantasy races like the sirens in stars or the details I come up with for mer in my mer fics I kind of just go with whatever seems cool? like I don't remember how I came up with the idea of glowing freckles originally. years before I even got into mcyt I had an original story idea involving teen hijinks with an alien who crash landed on earth posing as a human, and one of the design details I came up with for this alien was that he had freckles that glowed in the dark. I have no memory of where I first got this idea from, probably from some art I saw online depicting freckles as stars or something? but yeah that always stuck in my head as a design option so then when I was planning stars I was like hey you know what would be cool-

but yeah I mostly just choose character design based off whatever I think fits the universe, the tone of the story, and looks cool. stars is a sci fi epic with fantasy undertones so more fantasy inspired alien race design choices make sense because it matches the tone of the story. do you need to match the tone of the story with your design choices? not exactly, but it helps enhance the story if your design choices lend themselves to the atmosphere of the world you're trying to create if that makes sense. if you're running low on ideas, try looking through art posted online! there's a ton of incredible original art online especially for types of sci fi/fantasy concept art you can find and browse for inspiration

outfits are kind of in a similar category. the clothing a character wears can set the tone and atmosphere of a story, while also just being cool. I use pinterest for a lot of outfit ideas especially for characters, but I also use other pieces of media as well. like for under the hanging rose which is a medieval fantasy drama, I mostly rely on costumes from game of thrones and house of the dragon for inspiration since the costume design on those shows is incredible, but I also use real life historical fashion as references as well. like when I go into museums if I see a painting of a woman wearing a headpiece I like or a dress I think is pretty I'll snap a picture of it to use for rose inspiration later. just try to get inspiration from all around you! and then try to figure out what both fits into the tone of your story, while also being something that would make sense for the character to wear. why did your character choose these clothes? what do they say about your character? those are all fun things to think about when describing what your character is wearing.

hope that helps!

[dahliasheep]

Love your art, especially your character designs!! I wanna ask how you design clothing!. I imagine some may be taken from in-game outfits and simplified from there, but I know some artists use Pinterest boards and stuff and wondered if you have any tips? Ty! 💕

aaah thank you!! <33 clothes are really my favorite part of character design, so im glad to hear that :-)

i am, as a rule, not well organized at all so i don't have nice pinterest boards or anything like that. i do have a fashion tag that i sometimes look through if im very low on inspiration, but rarely... if only because when i draw a dress 1:1 from a reference, i always think mine looks worse lol! if i invent it entirely, there's no unflattering comparison

mostly, with fashion, i try to have a good library in my head of fashion designers and a good chronology in my head of overarching fashions trends between the 1780s and now. i don't know that it would work for everyone, but personally, that tends to be how i approach any form of art : finding one person i like and learning a lot about them and their art specifically, and then branching out slowly as i go. with their friends, mentors, students etc

and i do think a good chronology and understanding of what certain trends symbolized, where they came from, is useful if you want to design your own. for example, i realized as i was watching a play from the 18th century that Dior's bar suit silhouette was obviously a return to that style of fashion, adapted for modern times - and doesn't that say a lot about the state of the world in the 1950s? nostalgia for what was now seen as better times, when there was still frivolities and luxury. so that's not neutral at all, it's a strong statement!

in general, i prefer to keep studying fashion and drawing fashion at different times, because a) it gives time for my brain to process all the designs i see in the back of my mind, and then they can percolate into something else b) if i try to follow a reference pic too closely, my art gets all sad and stiff. so i tend to draw more from memory, and for me it just works better this way

i hope that's of any help :-) personally my favorite decades to draw inspiration from are the 1790s, the 1840s, the 1860s, and then a lot of the 20th century, but especially the 1960s & 1990s

[superscourge]

Personally, I've always found it difficult to try and design shoes for a fandesign/possible future/grownup Sonic. His iconic regular shoes/classic shoes are that absolutely perfect blend of simplified, genuinely cool and fashionable, especially with the story of how it was inspired by the king of pop himself, Michael Jackson. Even his movie shoes had to take the liberty of the golden cuffs on the side of the shoes.

How did you go about designing it for your resurrected au? They look great and I love it when I see ones replace the cuffs with actual rings. Legitimately makes me pog and go chimp cause it's such smart thinking and a nice way to implement his most vital part of gameplay!!

dude no i totally feel this but with all canon characters.. ive ALWAYS struggled to do redesigns of canon stuff bc theyre Already Iconic. theyre already streamlined to look their best. how the hell am i supposed to change them in a way thats still iconic and appealing but is also different enough to be considered a redesign lol

for my resurrected au design(s) i not only had help from friends and pinterest lol but i tried to think of like..story aspects? character design is a whole lot easier when you take into account the character's lore, world, and story, because all of those things influence their design! that, and headcanons :) like the top surgery scars and ear chip hehe

for example, i added gold to his quills because i wanted to show that he's been affected by the amount of times he's had to use chaos energy to go super, and i added the cyber corruption to his eyes from his super cyber form to show residual effects from the events of frontiers; i gave him more sporty gloves and compression socks to illustrate his athletic nature in a different way than his usual design; for his shoes, i wanted more of a look of running shoes mixed with his sa2 soaps while still keeping the iconic red, white, and gold somehow

basically i tried to think "how does sonic's story and world affect how he looks when he's older" and also "how can i make it look like he's aged in general"!

so ya canon redesigns are Difficult for me too but im doing my best LOL