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Why We Wrote This Book
When drawing manga characters, unless you’re creating only one kind of manga, your
creations will need to have many different types of clothing. If they’re wearing items you’re
familiar with, that you can easily draw, you know straightaway what will work. But if you’re
not familiar with a certain garment or if it’s a specialized item, such as formalwear, what
your character is wearing can suddenly become a lot harder to draw.
If you intend to draw a lot of different characters, you’ll need to find outfits and looks
to suit each one, so factor that into the time you will spend developing and sketching your
characters. Draw what you know, then take it from there, challenging yourself to produce
more complex pieces. In recent years, more and more clothes have become unisex, with
ever-increasing style options for men and women—offering you even more options and
flexibility in terms of the wondrous wardrobes you can create.
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This book is an illustrated manual in encyclopedia form. It divides contemporary
clothing for both sexes, or what was traditionally labeled men’s and women’s clothes,
into categories such as tops and bottoms, providing explanations about the structure and
defining features of each piece and offering key pointers for realistically reproducing them.
Along the way we supply hints for drawing variations and how to “style” complete outfits.
The focus is on contemporary casual and street fashion, but we also cover business and
formal wear, school uniforms, kimonos and traditional robes. If there’s an item of clothing
you’re not familiar with, you can look it up in this handy guide to learn about its basic
construction, defining features, how to draw it, and available variations on the style.
We hope that when using this book, you’ll be inspired to create striking and distinctive
ensembles that lift your characters and stories to new levels. Soon you’ll be versed in all
forms of fashion and freed from the style choices some of us agonize over daily.
—Studio Hard Deluxe
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How to Use This Book
In this book, we divide clothing into categories to analyze the structure of each piece and how to draw
it. The digital software used is Clip Studio Paint. Only the basic functions such as brushes and layers are
touched on, so users of other software can substitute theirs to follow along.
Icons
Explanation of the steps in
drawing an article of clothing
Tips for drawing clothing
variations, the types of characters
whom these clothes suit and hints
on how to style the clothing are
grouped here
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PART 1
Clothing Basics
Types of Clothing
Noting the Differences
Creases in Clothing
Steps in Drawing Clothing
Types of Clothing
There are so many types of clothing: tops and bottoms, outerwear and underwear, shoes and
bags. In this section, we look at the categories and outline the items that belong in each.
Part 2 Tops
The general term for clothing worn on the upper body, excluding
outerwear. Ranging from thin, short-sleeved items to thick,
long-sleeved pieces, this is a category of clothing with a range of
options and variety. It includes a lot of casual items such as shirts,
and hoodies.
Part 3 Outerwear
This category includes any item worn, mainly as a layer that keeps
out the cold. Items in this category are jackets and coats, with the
fabric, length and functionality determining the garment’s shape
and defining its uniqueness.
Part 4 Skirts, pants and shorts
With skirts for women and pants for both men and women as
typical items in this category, they play as important a role as tops
in determining a character’s style.
Part 5 Ensembles and outfits
Many of the outfits and ensembles featured in this section are
based on overalls and other workwear. In this book, kimonos and
other robes are covered as traditional Japanese all-in-one outfits.
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Part 6 Underwear and underlayers
As they’re worn in direct contact with the body in the form of bras,
boxer shorts and other foundational layers, underwear helps to
make the differences between the male and female form more
conspicuous.
Part 7 Shoes and bags
Depending on their purpose, the design of footwear and bags can
vary significantly, and rather than being purely functional, they
help bring an added sense of fashion and flair to your illustration.
Uniforms and suits
Part 8 School uniforms
These are the uniforms worn by Japanese middle- and high-school
students, with summer or winter uniforms worn depending on the
season. Their design varies and may take the form of a military-
style suit for boys, a sailor blouse and pleated skirt for girls or a
blazer depending on the school.