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I'm a terrible clothing designer, and I need help.

The character lives in a deserty area






how do I make this design less boring?

I am sure there are more sites than these, but you might want to look through these and get inspired!

Use bits and pieces plus your imagination.

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/traditional-dress

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/traditional-clothing

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/traditional-costume

You could probably look up a specific region here, to get some ideas of traditional clothing from desert, mountain, plains cultures, etc.

http://www.costumes.org/ethnic/1pages/ethnolnk.htm

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man, thanks so much, i'll search through these

Pretty much what Obscura said. When I need to design a game costume for a... paladin, for example, I go through and look at several games that I know have that class and look at what makes a paladin, take elements that I like from 10 different costumes and go from there. It's difficult to come up with something totally unique. I'd look up middle eastern/north african costumes, or of course, you could always go the cowboy route xD

What I can tell you is that for a desert place, that fabric is much, much too heavy. You'd keep your body covered for sun protection, yes, but often people choose thin fabrics of a light color because it reflects light and therefore heat. The fabric needs to be breathable. The guy also needs some head protection. With his blonde hair, he'd probably get sunburn on his scalp depending on how strong the sun is. Even people with dark hair can get sunburn where their hair parts. Very painful, trust me :p I think the exception to the rule is at night, though (Or the Gobi desert in China/Mongolia where it is really cold most of the time). Moisture in the air prevents drastic temperature change because of water's high specific heat. Deserts don't have that so as soon as night hits, the air rapidly cools down. As a result, you often have high winds. Might be a little too much information, but I've always believed that an artist needs to fully understand something before they can properly draw it.

Oh, and awesome job painting his torso. I love the muscle structure

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http://tetiel.deviantart.com

There are several factors to consider when designing costumes and clothing.

What is the function of the clothing?

Don't say, "to cover up naked bits". That's obvious, and sometimes not even true! Desert clothing's main function is to reflect heat and protect the skin from sunburn. It is often layered to provide insulation - during the day this traps cooler air close to the body, and during the freezing nights it traps body heat to keep the wearer warm.

The clothing's function may be to protect the wearer - as in work clothes, body armor, etc. When designing this type of clothing you have to thing about WHAT the clothing is supposed to be protecting AGAINST.

The clothing's function may be to attractive attention for romantic or sexual purposes. Lines lead to genital areas, skin is usually shown, and the outfit is cut to flatter the figure. Ancient Egyptian women often displayed nudity as part of everyday dress - when they wanted to dress sexually or romantically they would COVER UP more. This, like many "attention getting" clothing was tied to a display of status. Because servant girls wore nothing or just belts, the more fabric a woman could afford and cover herself with, the better off and higher status she appeared. (A little mystery suddenly being present probably didn't hurt . . .) The same hold true with modern "romance" clothing - they are often made of expensive fabrics or are accompanied by jewelry. All this is to show wealth, status, and desirability as a sexual partner.

This ties into another function clothing may exhibit - to project status, power, or authority. These types of clothing will almost always be more traditional or historical in design, harking back to old times. This is a subtle way of saying "my position is an old and well respected one, and I am a direct inheritor of the old rules and ways". You see this in judicial robes, military dress uniforms, and police uniforms. The police badge itself is a descendent from medieval jewelry that showed allegiance to a lord or political figure and was granted to soldiers and other men acting in support of the leadership. Thus the badge is a symbol of vested authority. Even the formal clothes of the common man exhibit this call back to older traditions. Note how often the formal wear of one age is the common wear of an earlier age.

You must understand the culture, society, environment, and history of your fictional world to design realistic and effective clothing. What patterns are common? How are the clothes usually cut? What are they made out of? What is their function? What are they meant to SAY? Are they designed to hide nudity, or to accentuate it? What is different about high status and low status clothing? WHY?

Study as much historical and cultural clothing as you can to find out why different people have dressed like they have over the ages, then ask yourself all these questions. That's how you design new clothing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T6R2txVMkc&feature=plcp&context=C40007e9VDvjVQa1PpcFMli1AaVqOkAxXAE4k0rXz_XurdjIk5V9s%3D

This is a may little advanced but this was made from a teacher of mine.
it's the first of a whole series

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