Help with bust/waist/hip measurement

[Ayutac]

Hi there,

I cannot guess bust /waist / hip measurements of women, but I would like to, so that I could provide some for my female characters.

Googling this resulted mainly in sites like "How do I measure them?" and "What are the perfect measures?", which is pretty useless to me. I would like a collection of examples with pictures, at least 20, so I can get a feeling for the numbers. Maybe you know a reference or example site or something?

What I found so far which is a little bit helpful are these size guides, which gives a rough feeling how sizes of clothes relate to the measurements, but it is very rough. Surprisingly I also found the measurements of the cast of the anime series Love Hina and I could use this as orientation, but I'm unsure how correct the displayed data is.

EDIT: I simply considered the understanding of these numbers to be normal, at least in the US, but this may just be a false assumption. I also find that I'm not missing the numbers that much in my game, since they don't convey anything of the character's personality. I'll still opt to leave this thread open since others may have a use for this kind of information :)

[GNVE]

Idk maybe you can find information like that in portfolio's of models/casting agencies? (though that might all be shielded from the general public) but it might be worth a shot to google.

[Imperf3kt]

Have you considered measuring yourself and use that as a base for reference?
Don't forget to account for body type. The shape and circumference of the torso plays a part in how everything looks.

Ignore anime, it tends to be wildly inaccurate.

[Autumnotopia]

I would also recommend against referencing anime measurements, like Imperf3kt said. Honestly it's kind of distracting when a game/show whips out some totally ridiculous measurement.

I feel like the clothing measurements thing is a good starting point, but I think you should also consider what you want people to get out of it. You're struggling to figure out the numbers, and I suspect that most players will similarly struggle to even have an understanding of what those numbers look like. I know it's kind of a standard in certain styles of game, but sometimes there's just gotta be a better way to convey a girls build than to be like 'okay, well here's some numbers'

[Ayutac]

Have you considered measuring yourself and use that as a base for reference?

I would wager that my sex would provide to be a rather unreliable source base ;)

You're struggling to figure out the numbers, and I suspect that most players will similarly struggle to even have an understanding of what those numbers look like.

That is in fact a very good point! I simply considered the understanding of these numbers to be normal, at least in the US, but this may just be a false assumption.

I'm currently finishing the base dialog of the second character and I agree that I'm not missing it that much, since it doesn't convey anything of the character's personality. I'll still opt to leave this thread open since others may have a use for this kind of information :)

[Desertopa]

I actually went through quite a bit of effort to develop a realistic sense for these figures, only to find them almost entirely useless for character design, because it's so difficult to find an artist, let alone audience members, who can relate them to actual visual images.

I sometimes use a couple of sprites, one from a game I'm working on, one from a game I was playing at the time when the sprite work was being done, for comparison. One character has a canonical cup size of 32-D (American sizing system,) while the other character has a size that would correspond approximately to 32-C. The character who's supposedly a C cup has breasts that are visually several times larger than the one who's supposed to be a D cup. The difference? The character who's supposed to have a 32-D bustline was drawn accurately from a real life reference I provided for the artist, whereas the other is drawn from some Japanese artist's complete fantasyland interpretation of what breasts with that character's official measurements would actually look like.

[parttimestorier]

That is in fact a very good point! I simply considered the understanding of these numbers to be normal, at least in the US, but this may just be a false assumption.

I'm Canadian and not American, but I've discussed the convention of some games listing the characters' measurements with American friends as well, and I can confirm that the numbers pretty much mean nothing to us. No one I know looks at a bust-waist-hip measurement and immediately accurately imagines what that would look like on a person - they just seem to be some kind of weird marketing thing with no real purpose to me. Even bra sizes, which you might expect women would understand, can vary wildly between different brands of bras and different countries' different systems of how they work. I've been measured for my own bras tons of times in my life and been told several different sizes by several different salespeople, so I can't even necessarily look at a character with a listed bra size and determine whether it's roughly accurate or not - there are way too many variables there. So if your concern about the measurements is that someone is going to somehow call you out for being inaccurate, I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen no matter what measurements you make up.

[Mutive]

I'd be cautious of using anime references, too. They're pretty crazy!

Height also matters a LOT, too. What's normal for someone who's 5'0" is very slender on someone who's say, 5'11". (This is part of why models tend to be tall. They look more slender at the same measurements as someone short.)

A fairly normal size six (old size 12 - often considered "ideal") is about 34.5" - 28" - 38" (note that stated measurements for this size are often quite a bit smaller as models and ordinary women alike tend to shave a few inches off).

[GNVE]

Daz studio has updated the descriptions of their base characters to include some measurements. Might help you here (just click either the pro or start bundles and scroll down a little. https://www.daz3d.com/catalogsearch/res ... bundle%208

[nefferinthia]

Most people's idea of what certain measurements look like is completely messed up, on top of that, two people with the same measurements can still look very different depending on height and build. Is a person's bust size large because they have a large ribcage, or because they have large breasts, for example. Anime measurements especially can be extremely nonsensical, where you can try and find a real person with those measurements and have them look absolutely nothing like the character. In all honesty, I don't think it matters much. The visual representation is much more important.

The one thing that peeves me especially however, is when women's breast sizes are referred to merely by cup size. Someone saying another character has "a D cup" actually means jack squat, and they can have a very different body type depending on whether this is 28D or 38D. This is a mistake many people make in real life as well, however, so you might still be able to get away with it.

What I would keep in mind if you do insist on including measurements in numbers is that the difference between measurements is often more illustrative than the measurements themselves. Someone with a typical hourglass figure will likely have a difference of at least 25 centimeters between their waist measurement and their bust and hip measurements, for example.

[Ibitz]

In terms of proportions, everyone can look different even if they have the same proportions. What I would say is to look at different actresses or models and go from there. Everyone has different bodies, so if you try to go by that it'll seem more realistic. I use real people, both in real life and online through images, as my inspiration when I draw; as well as use myself since I'm a girl.