Now here's something sketchy. Anyone who actually reads my comic knows it's Wintertime in the Landis Kingdom now. And that's all nice and good until I realized one character's outfit really doesn't work for Winter, Alex.

So, during class today, I scratched out a few ideas of Winter outfits in my handy tiny sketchpad.

http://things.exclaimindustries.net/DoMAlexWinterTests.jpg

(top left to right)
1. Sweater and long pants. Simple.
2. Long undershirt and scarf. Same as what she normally wears, but if you look really closely at her arm (where it extends out of her sleeves), you can see a long-sleeved shirt underneath it. I don't like this one, it's too hard to see.
3. Scarf test. A scarf would be hard, since it might get in the way of her ponytail.
(bottom row now)
4. Long coat and stronger skirt. A long, thick coat with a less flimsy skirt than what she normally wears. And earmuffs. I like this one.
5. Alternate for #4, long, thick pants. Might work, too, though I'm a bit more used to drawing Alex with a skirt.
6. Really really puffy coat. Nah. :-)

Opinions? I know they're just sketches, not the finished work that usually gets posted here, but hey.

Lol, puffy!

Que Passa!!!!

Earmuffs is definatly your best bet: they looks wintery, they doesn't really get in the way, and you can still tell that it's Alex even when she's wearing them.

Earmuffs are too... "Modern". You could try make her current outfit look a bit thicker.

Nice handwriting.

Batty: Yeah, most likely.... it IS a bit important that it still looks like her, so the earmuffs and coat combo should work...

Nemesis: Oh, come on, can't I just have a bit of anachronism? :-)

The problem with making her outfit look thicker is that it's not so much the thickness of it that makes it unsuitable for winter, it's the floppiness. Floppy does not really work for winter conditions, no matter how thick. So, I'm trying to make something a bit less mobile, like the coat. Sure, it'll impede her spellcasting abilities a bit, but unless she can get some magically enchanted coat that's both warm and doesn't get in the way of her spells (fairly rare in the DoM), it's the best she can get.

Plus, I'm really bad at making things look thicker. :-)

But hey, thankee for the feedback, everyone (all three so far)!

I think you should give her a cloak, Spamness.


*is a very ardent fan of DoM, for what it's worth*

I got that suggestion from other folk, too, Ducky... problem is, it's a bit late now, given I've already drawn her winter outfit a couple times. Oops. :-)

But, maybe I'll use a cloak-like thing for someone else. Like Phinn. Would go well with her robe, methinks...

Thankee for the suggestion, though!

Que Passa!!!!

Yeah, I agree with that. I think Phinn would look pretty cool in a thick cloak.
(And since Ducky said it, I might as well say it too: I like DoM... Especially Carl, and Phinn.)

Oh, you would NOT believe how much fun I have writing Carl's lines. Especially when he's in front of King Landis. :-)

Well, okay, maybe you would, but hey...

Yeah, I'll go with a cloak if Phinn shows up during winter. And if not, I'll see if I can get a full-page pic of her like that, then. Should be cool.

All righty, wake up again... I tried drawing Phinn with a cloak for winter. I've got the basic idea of the type of cloak I want, but I'm having problems figuring out how to make it look right in 'normal' poses...

http://things.exclaimindustries.net/DoMPhinnWinterTests.jpg

You get the idea of what I'm aiming for. Any advice on how to draw that kind of cloak when her arms are down? Like, how it should normally look?

Yay. I like the sketches. (=

Hmm, well, it probably depends on how long the cloak is. Some cloaks are slightly open at the sides so you can still see part of the person's shoulders/arms when they are in a standing position, etc.


(I'm not good at figuring out poses, so there.)


DoM is hilarious. Except that I can't view it when my ADSL crashes because of bandwidth problems. =\


`pranx0rific

Que Passa!!!!

Hmmm... I'm no good at predicting these things, but it seems to me that if she put her arms down, the cloak would take on the shape of a pillowcase... Of course, it WOULD be a pillowcase with the bottom and sides cut out, but I think that would be the basic shape.

Megumi: Yeah, doesn't help that Keenspace is down right now, either. :-) But, I'm working on ways to make the comic smaller so bandwidth-impaired people don't suffer as badly. I'm convinced that once I start experimenting in color, the filesizes will be smaller due to PNG's habits of dealing with solid colors better than hazy pencilshading...

Well, the cloak's open along the sides and full-length. But, I think I see what you're saying about the shoulders and arms... I don't think Phinn's arms would be too visible from the side, but you have given me an idea of how to do the cloak on her shoulders...

Batty: Yeah, that seems about right. Though not really TOO much like a pillowcase; the cloak's not THAT stiff.

Thankee for the advice, all! I'll keep working on it...

Okay... here's some progress:

http://things.exclaimindustries.net/DoMPhinnWinterTests2.jpg

Obviously, not much, but still better, methinks. Comments?

Que Passa!!!!

Yeah, that works... Kind of looks like those articals of clothing worn by the heros sidekicks in some of the cowboy movies I've seen. I like it.