Things that will be in this chapter:
•Basic skirt shapes
•functionality of clothing
•proper folds

((This will probably be one of the longest chapters I've done, just fyi. But it probably won't be as long as color and such. I'll link all of my references and such, and source them and everything.))

((Note: This will also probably be in two parts... Or more... It's getting really long.))

STYLE

F L A I R

F A S H I O N

I'M HORRID AT CHOOSING ALL OF THESE THINGS! But Imma give you some advice for making outfits for your characters and such.

•make use of fashion magazines and pinterest-

This is a freaking lifesaver istg. You know those tumblr fashion adds showing some dresses or something like that?
Save those and use them for reference. It has quite literally saved my life several times like when I was almost arrested by the fashion police for wearing crocs with socks but I just showed them my magazines and they let me go free.
Especially for children's clothing. If you or your parents get those lands end magazines or whatever? Use those. It can help you come up with little outfits and such.
Pinterest is a great outlet too.
Especially if you're like me and your too socially anxious to go into those fashion stores and take pictures of clothing that you like/that matches your aesthetic...
;-;

•observe
Take note of what people wear near you, if you live in a city. You're in luck. There are tons of people with tons of different styles around you. Observe and base your character's clothing off that.

•be smart about color.

I'm going to use Tracer as an example...

SHE'S A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF GOOD COLOR USAGE.

I MEAN

LOOK AT THAT ASS.

Haha, I kid.
But she really does show a good use of color.

I'll go over color more completely in a later chapter, but her color scheme is very appealing.
Blue and orange go well together they really make the outfit pop. Typically you want to use colors that are opposite the color spectrum, or follow a basic pallet in order to make a appealing looking character. Don't go making a huge mess of colors. It's not going to look good. If you look at any fictional character, they usually have a signature color scheme. Steven universe is a good example. BUT WE'LL LOOK AT COLORS LATER ON!
I'm getting too ahead of myself, lol.

Some things you need to consider when making a characters outfit.

•Personality
•Occupation
•backstory
And
•function

If your character's a warrior, then they're probably wearing some sort of armor.

Just like with weapons (gonna be in a later chapter) if you're character's a super hero, you want their outfit to have a purpose.

Don't just put random tubes there that don't serve a function.
Tracer wears leggings. As many of you who wear leggings will know, they're very mobile.
Tracer is a hero who "blinks" around, she's rather fast. So it would make sense that she wears leggings.
Just solved the butt controversy right there...

Also, she's a pilot. So she's wearing a bomber jacket.

And honey, don't be afraid to show a little skin, just be practical...
Like female warriors probably don't have their knockers out 24/7.

Mmk?...

But now it's onto FLOWY STUFF
FOLDS AND SKIRTS AND AHHHH

Ok. So let's start off with some mistakes I see quite often...

(Excuse my horrid art I don't have a pencil so I'm using a drawing app with my finger...)

Yeah, I see this a lot.
And there's nothing wrong with this... Except everything...
For one thing, unless the shirt is super tight, you won't see that lovely cleavage and such.

This isn't how shirts work...

This is an example I drew up to show you the folds of the shirt.
Let's just say the tighter the shirt the smaller the folds and creases are.
You can't usually see that underboob line. This is a common mistake a lot of artists do, so it's nothing to be ashamed of.
Another common mistake is adding too many folds to your clothing. (One that I have done many a time...)
Keep it basic, and don't try and add any weird folds that aren't there.

Like, I know irl that your sweatshirt has about twenty billion folds. (Especially if you push up your sleeves) but you don't need to add twenty billion folds.
(Then again, this part is up to your stylistic preference, if you're drawing realistically, yes, you're probably going to want to add all those folds.)

---Basic skirts and such---

Now onto skirts for all your magical girl needs.
I actually really like skirts, they're fun to draw... Not to wear. (But that's just me anyway.)
Studying from anime and real life helps out a lot from this.
Just don't stare at that girl's skirt for too long or you might get slapped...
Especially if their s/o is with them...

So, onto skirt folds! One of the more complicated folds you'll need to know. I actually have a couple handy dandy references which I will link below for you~ (these are all the ones I used anyway... I'm learning this with you guys, I'm still fairly new to the subject.)

http://cailly-art.tumblr.com/post/81644480473/so-i-made-a-skirt-reference-its-as-much-a

Ok, so first off. The first step to learning how to draw any type of clothing, is to have a base to work off of.
Do draw yourself some nice hips. (Preferably at different angles and positions, so you can really get a feel for it)
One easy way to draw hips for a base is to draw a boy shorts shape.
(Or a pentagon/oval)

And then draw the legs coming out from there.

Skirts tend to have a similar fold pattern for all of them.
It's shaped like a curved line.
A skirt is literally just a weird flattened cone. Or a weird wedge or something.

But you also have to remember, that skirts tend to well flow.
We've all seen that one anime scene where the girl's skirt flows up and her face turns red.
Skirts are most certainly not static. They move. And remember, that even skin tight skirts have folds.

I won't get into frills so much, that will be for another chapter since this one is already getting pretty long.
There will most likely be a part two to this as well.

((Sorry this chapter is soo late, but here you are)