I did a plain text version of this once, but I thought a video would be easier to follow. If you ever wanted to draw Batman in a bar using nothing but letter shapes (and who among us has NOT wanted to do that?!), here's your chance to learn how.
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Otherwise, consider this your (late) "Help!" open thread, feel free to ask anything you like about how to do something in HeroMachine, or an illustration question, or all but one thing associated with the meaning of life.
http://www.heromachine.com/2010/03/25/overkill/#comments
You probably remember my comment about Lightstar and how I redesigned him. I think that a short essay about costume design would be interesting, as a few simple design rules for these who are design-challenged and showing a few example of how BAD design ruined a costume.
Here’s my personal design rules:
1. Keep it Simple!
I believe that this is the most important part of good costume design. A good costume usually have a simple color scheme of a darker color and a lighter color, with brown, black or white as accents. Also I believe that in order to last through prints and prints of comics, it have to be easy to draw over and over again. Another rule is that I believe in order to make it easier to follow the character, I suggest getting rid of any superfluous details that clutter the character’s costume.
2. NO Schumancher Nipples!
A costume that have any kind of detailing that directly or indirectly suggest some “kinky” reference is better off left to some superhero porn comic or video.
3. LIMIT the pouches!!!
I believe that pouches can be a integral part to a character, but I would strongly suggest limiting them to at least 4 or 5, with each pouch defined for a specific purpose.
4. NO Liefieldian Hair or helmet-ornaments PLEASE!
The reason is that more often than not, the kind of mane or headgear can end up killing a costume’s potential.
These are my personal rules for design.