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Detailed-Illusion [2012-10-02 02:06:50 +0000 UTC]

Overall

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Originality

Technique

Impact

((Sorry if the rating seems harsh but I rated this as if it where a design for a character in a tv show, and 5 star is CLAMP domain))

Putting the biases that I think you are awesome aside this is my critical look as someone with a background in professional costume design, I am critiquing it as if this was a design for the character of "Ryan Tidball"

The big genius here is balance and contrast and that is something difficult to pull off. The deep grey blues lend themselves tot he emotional world of mystery, suaveness and calmness, while the orange/yellow tones show an fun, warm and eccentric and to an extent flamboyant. The anime archtype of suave/mysterious yet happy-go-lucky is VERY common in a lot of stories and very often there costume betray some aspect of that personality, even master costume designers like Clamp or Final Fantasy have a difficulty pulling it off, Vanilles costume got to lost in bright colours to show her darker side. And Fai's lighter outfit failed to demonstrate a depth to his character making him seam to airy (something they fixed later in the series actually with a subtle outfit choice)

this goes beyond color though, there is a balance here between futurism which is very cold stylistically and a modern and earthy look. They seem trivial but the buttons on the collar do a lot for this outfit. Buttons are something that are functional but not futuristic (zippers, clips are more future) that gives them a homey earthy quality and their placement near the neck and down to the chest centered with the body softens this look.

The other leading factor is the design int he collar it hugs the neck but doesn't stand but still is large enough to have colour value on the picture. Collars are tricky as so many villains are associated with detailed collars so it is hard to do something original with them without making yourself look imposing. SO this keeps true to you more modest personality while sitll giving you another layer on the jacket to work with. Such a thing is also easy to sew so bonus points.

The futurism in the shoulders and subtle detail on the hat are very cool, I feel I don;t need to go into detail on why the techy stuff is good, it looks fantastic and is edgy without being ridiculous.

2 nit picky concern points:
1) Purely for this picture: I wish the line on the strap was a bit thicker, I find as it stands it could be mistaken for a seam line on the jacket itself. That is just a nit pick on the picture though
2)That hat concerns me, it looks FANTASTIC int he photo but completely from a DESIGNER prospective I worry how it would look from the front and back angels. Once again that is very nit picky and I would just need to see concept work for a front view, it is just a matter of whether the back point would be visible and if so would the resulting tear drop silhouette would be desirable and if the orange straps int he front are large enough when looking at the from a front view.

But I feel I am getting uber critical and had to look hard for things to point out, both are really concerns, the second comment especially is really me just saying "the front view of the design may need to be assessed"

But incredible work, this makes me want to see an show with this character, it's inviting dynamic and once again clearly gives us an idea of who this person is. GREAT JOB!

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Detailed-Illusion [2012-10-02 01:40:55 +0000 UTC]

Shoty first comment this looks fantastic but IMA rigth a critique cause unlike with normal art character design is something I can ligit talk about in smart term

👍: 0 ⏩: 1