TUTORIAL - Character Clothing
The main characteristics of some historical clothing styles
in which artists and writers can find inspiration.

The tutorial and the images are copyright Epantiras (epantiras@yahoo.com).
Please excuse me if some words sound fishy: English is not my mother tongue.

Some of you may underestimate the importance of the clothing of a character, but the way he/she is dressed gives useful information about his/her habits, when and where he/she lives.
Graphically, it is important for the clothing to look not too complicated: if it is simple it will look more pleasant and be more easily drawn. The gargoyles of the show are already dressed with a simple clothing, but if you don't want to use the classical look of the Manhattan clan, you may like to find inspiration in the clothes of the people of the prehistoric, ancient, medieval, modern or future age.

	PREHISTORIC PERIOD Primitives were influenced by the environment: in warm places they used to wear loincloths, while in cold places they covered themselves with animal coats. They also used to wear fangs or talons necklaces, feathers, maybe gold (because it looks like the sun - or the moon), ivory earrings and rings, masks, tattoo or paint their body. Usually shamans and other important persons had more ornaments than the others. Warriors used rudimental spears, knives, boomerangs, bows and shields. Today, a good example of primitives are some tribes in Africa and South America.
	ANCIENT HISTORY If you are looking for a more "evolved" look, you may like to find inspirations in ancient peoples such as Egyptians, Babylonians, Celts, Romans and more. They have better and more weapons, jewels (amulets, necklaces, armlets, rings, gold, pearls, brooches, tiaras) and clothes (tunics, vests, pants, skirts, sandals, hats, cloaks). Soldiers may wear iron or leather armours (the most covered parts of the body are the head and the chest). Some used to have symbols on their armour.
	MEDIEVAL HISTORY During the Middle Ages Europeans weren't the only men on the world, even if the fantasy genre is inspired by the European medieval history: there were also big nations in the East (such as the Turk and Byzantine people) and the far East (Chinese, Japanese...). In the other places, nations weren't so developed (Mayans, Australians, Indians). I will neither write about the European medieval age (you already know it) nor write about the other peoples because they were so different that they need a very focused research.
	MODERN AGE Everyone of us knows the clothing in developed nations, but in some parts of the world history seems to be frozen in the prehistoric age: just take a look at the section about the prehistorical age.
	FUTURE Take a look at sci-fi films and use your fantasy. Usually people think of future as an age where technology rules: cybernetic arms, strange clothes, chips and cables everywhere! Of course you are absolutely free to create your own future clothing. Just avoid to create something that looks too much complex.

Now you know a bit what HUMANS used to wear: it's time to choose the look of your gargoyle character! You can either choose the clothing of an era or mix them all. Remember:
- keep it simple
- make it look not too symmetrical (it will look also more original)
- every character has his/her own look
- have fun!

Which ones look better?
simple	complex	symmetrical	not symmetrical

USEFUL LINKS:
- The HeroMachine Online Character Portrait Generator: for who can't draw or is searching for ideas
- Google: a good search engine
- Dogpile: a good search engine