Clothing Designs in manga help?

[stardustpink]

Not sure if this is the right area to post this but...Whaddya do when it comes to creating clothes for your characters?

Me, I usually look at catalouges, fashion magazines, and for more difficult stuff like princess gowns or certain time periods, I look online. These are good sources for refrence material

Is it wrong to do this however? I wouldent think so but now Im not so sure, and I dont wanna accidenlty be doing something bad. Am I worrying over nothing?

Whats okay and what isent?

[NO1SY]

All I'd say is that by looking in catalogues you are limiting yourself to source material showing modern and mostly non-descript clothing designs. It's ok for some outfit design especially for modern-day-based slice-of-life and school-based stories but I can't imagine it helps much anywhere else and can be largely un-interesting from a character/outfit design standpoint.

Some of the best outfit designs I have seen are detailed gothic-styled ones in series like Kurosh!tsuji and Pandora Hearts... they aren't really in fashion atm but it would be good to get comfortable with drawing intricate and flamboyant designs like those, if not just for practice with detail and folds.

Also what about historic/fantasy/sci-fi stories? Armour, Rags, Body-suits, Mechanical body-parts, gangster outfits etc...

Moreover, I can't tell you how boring it is to see plainly drawn clothes on characters, e.g. Absolute Duo - be it just plain T-shirts or a standard school uniform. Be confident in adding your own flare to them, as well as drawing them in a way that is interesting and not one dimensional. Take aspects inspired from different eras and add them to a modern look. Add details like rips/dents/stretching. It takes your own creativity as well as source material.

I'd say that google images is more accessible and varied than catalogues though...

[beige.blancmange]

It's not bad. It's not wrong. Don't worry. 

[stardustpink]

NO1SEY: I have recenlty been practicing more flamboyant detialed dresses, based on baroque and rococo eras.

Ive also been praticing other outfits. Sometimes I see a skirt or mayby a shirt and add that to a character sketch, but try and mix and much other stuff with it, or even add my own flare to it(mayby a certain colour or logo or writing) Ive even tried giving a charater something from my own wadrobe. And yes, Ive found google to a be a good soruce aswell as tumblr.

My biggest concern I guess since starting this, is it legal I guess to do this?If something looks too similair or even exaclty the same, can you get in trouble for that? I dont think theres such a thing as copyright infringement on clothes or accesories. Or as long as your not copying an exact outfit from a fashion layout head to toe. Not to mention fashion is constnalty changing anyway

[NO1SY]

Just don't copy brand logo designs I guess... unless the outfit design is very specific and recognisable itself I doubt anyone would be able to tell...

[Shiratori]

If I were you I wouldn't exactly replicate the clothes. Just take ideas from various clothes and try to merge them together. For example, the sleeves of one piece and the buttons of another and always change t-shirt logos. Or slightly change the clothes, moving the pockets around and so on.

Just to be on the safe side.

Just make sure that people won't be able to identify them like "oh, that's company's X shirt" or "oh, that's the dress Nicole Kidman wore at the oscars"... Given that, you'll probably be alright.

[stardustpink]

Ive looked up some information on the subject, and from what I understand there is no such thing as copyright infringement on clothes. Which makes sense, I imagine its harder to be original with clothes than art, and for that matter some things are always gonna look similair becuase there popular and staples in fashion. Baseball jackets, chinese dresses, etc. It'd be even harder and limiting than designing a character.

I think it might be okay. A good example is this Naoko Takeuchi drawing.

She says herself the clothes in it are something Naomi Campbell wore. If you look at these other examples too, they do look pretty much the same, if not exaclty. If she can do that, mayby stuff like that is alright.



Mayby if your not using trademark pictures, patterns, logos or graphics its okay, or if your just using it for art as opposed to trying to claim it as a fashion design and attempt to sell it. That makes sense to me anyway.

I imagine using stuff in catalouges or fashion mags might be okay, but probably not a good idea to base clothes offa things like etsy, where people sell there own creations.

Im not entirely sure to be honest, I hope to get a better idea in time, as this is driving me nuts. In the meantime however I'll merge or slightly change the clothes just to be on the safe side

[Shiratori]

Interesting, still you don't know if they first obtained permission to use the clothes designs or maybe if the real world copied the manga world (also with permission I assume).

I think that generic banal things like t-shirts, shorts, simple/plain dresses, jackets, coats or as you said uniforms, they can't be copyrighted, but I'd still be careful with complex pieces like the dresses in the picture above and things like using designs in the clothes like an hello kitty t-shirt for example.

But I know nothing about that legal stuff, so I'm just saying. If you've found reliable info stating that you're safe, then who I am to argue? Just be sure you don't get in trouble (well, you'd probably need to get famous 1st) XD

[stardustpink]

I would never use trademark things like that as I imagine, even just drawing them in manga, you'd get in trouble. Hello kitty, Mickey Mouse, The Simpsons, etc. So I would avoid those altogether unless someone said otherwise. Certain pictures might be smart too

But to be on the safe side, like you said, mixing and matching designs, or slightly changing clothes your refrencing, is probably the best idea. Better safe than sorry

[KillaMaaki]

Just wanna add to the discussion... and this really applies to *all* design, not just clothing:
There isn't a single idea produced by the human mind that comes from nothing. So, if you want to get ideas for something, you have to give your brain something to go on (because those ideas cannot come from nowhere!).
So, if ever you're finding yourself coming up blank, this is practically what Google was made for. Start Googling. Fashion styles you're going after, time periods, etc. Start stockpiling a crapton of inspiration images. Chances are, you'll come across several things that inspire you and help you through the design process.
Of course, it goes without saying that you should never ever just copy designs wholesale, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with combining elements you like from several different designs and tweaking them to your liking. Never ever be afraid to Google! Good artists work from plenty of references all the time, they don't just pop this stuff out of their heads like magic.

[MisterSherbetLemon]

I just want to confirm for you guys. I recently did some research on copyright to make a video about the basics and while I didn't include it in the video itself, fashion is not considered something that can be copyrighted, especially in a form of media such as manga or anime.

Just make sure you don't refer to it as the inspired brand/trademark as that raises issues. If it's Chanel don't call it Chanel, their trademark names and logos are still protected.

[legomaestro]

Love CLAMP clothing designs, they really know how to make them interesting. I was obsessed with their art at a point.

I also have problems designing clothing too so yeah...

[MisterSherbetLemon]

Screw it, just do a manga series where the entire world wears morphsuits. :P

[legomaestro]

Hahaha I do the same in a way, I just have everyone dressed up in trenchcoats