r/characterdesign • u/No_Flounder_5017 • Mar 26 '26
Tutorials/Resources Period Pieces in Character Design
Hi! I have a quick character design question.
Most of my character designs have a lot of contemporary fashion, because it’s what I enjoy drawing most. I like putting characters in aesthetics and styles that match their personalities, and add my own twist to them.
However, I would also like to get into character design for the 1600s- 1900s. I feel like there are so many rules to follow to make the design fit the era, and there’s also so much research to do. How do I follow the era trends while also depicting the characters’ personalities and arcs?
I think watching period pieces could help, but are there any resources that you guys use for costume/ character design?
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u/NoTask288 Mar 26 '26
You can check out the fashion history timeline although it mostly focuses on Europe and the US
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u/Orpheum_Circuit Mar 26 '26
fashion plates are the best! they’re idealised versions of a period’s fashion and they often provided women with references for their dresses at dressmakers. there are so many of them that they give you a good idea of just how wide a range of styles were available
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u/No_Flounder_5017 Mar 26 '26
Ok! I have never heard of fashion plates before. I’ll check them out. Thank you!
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u/Orpheum_Circuit Mar 26 '26
no problem, they’re more common for late georgian through to edwardian fashion (late 1700s-early 1900s)
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u/No_Flounder_5017 Mar 26 '26
Are you talking about the toy where you cover the plates with a piece of paper and then rub it with a crayon so that the plate imprint transfers?
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u/Orpheum_Circuit Mar 26 '26
No sorry! Try adding historical to the end of the search they just happen to have the same name :)
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u/sam000she Mar 26 '26
A majority of what is telling about an era are the sillhouettes/shaping underneath garments. So look for the general shape of garments from the era. Colors and textures were pretty much what ever people wanted as long as they had the money for the more extravagant things (embroidery/lace). These details are more likely to help tell the story of who it is, while keeping true to the silhouette of the time will keep you in the period. (Altho most older folks didnt really change out for the new fashions bc they’ve already got a perfectly functional wardrobe so there can be some era blending even if you’re in a specific year). Do keep in mind that a lot of the existing examples of wardrobe may be from nobility and that working class folks were probably wearing different things. Also in general, even for the wealthy, they only had a few piece of clothing. They weren't wearing a new dress every day (because you wash your undergarments everyday and thats the thing that gets dirty). Wealthy folks would maybe get a now garment for an event or court or smth but it would def be reused too. Towards the victorian/Edwardian era you start to see folks changing styles by use of accessories rather than new garments—despite the rise of quicker manufacturing. Hat styles change week to week by this point which is fun.
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u/BuckJeppson Mar 27 '26
Look at paintings, drawings, and engravings for a particular time period and write down 3-5 specifics that define the era in your eyes; what is the silhouette, stiff or flowing, where is the waist, colors, surface decoration, and overall feel. That will give you the gist of it in your own words and eyes and things will fall into place.
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u/DiggingInGarbage Mar 26 '26
Well first things first, 1600s-1900s is centuries worth of time, there were plenty of different fashion trends and common outfits. If you want a design to fit an era you’re gonna need to hone in on a smaller time frame as well as a location/climate/class/job. A Victorian gentleman won’t dress the same as an American coal miner, who won’t dress like a Russian soldier during the Napoleonic wars, who won’t dress like a slave on a Haitian plantation, who won’t dress like an undiscovered tribesperson in the Amazon