How do I design a fantasy Ranger costume

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I am looking to tmake an archery/Dual Blade AD&D ranger type character and I need help on how to get create the costume.

For each costume section. What should I look for? (Green arrowish type?)

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I find the face to be the most important aspect sometimes. Make sure you get the pointy ears and young looking face by playing with the sliders.

Then I'd go with a skirt for the legs. After that, you're gonna have a lot of chest wear to sort through ( I always find picking chest pieces to be the hardest)

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Character is male if that helps

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Green Arrow dosn't look all that much like a D&D ranger.
I would go with:
Hooded head
Chainmail pattern on body
Leather pants
Fur boots
Cape or quiver or bow on back
Swords on legs.

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Leatherhead wrote:

Green Arrow dosn't look all that much like a D&D ranger.
I would go with:
Hooded head
Chainmail pattern on body
Leather pants
Fur boots
Cape or quiver or bow on back
Swords on legs.

That sounds about right I am partial to the "skirt" option on male characters though. Maybe have a green skirt with brownish leggins. I like the fur boots for sure!

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Leatherhead wrote:

Green Arrow dosn't look all that much like a D&D ranger.
I would go with:
Hooded head
Chainmail pattern on body
Leather pants
Fur boots
Cape or quiver or bow on back
Swords on legs.

The only thing I'd add to this might be the Tunic from chestwear, possibly in a forest green color or even make it leather and make it brown. You might be able to use a short skirt (do men have that option?) and make it the bottom of the tunic. Haven't played aroung with male characters that much (if only because all my men seem to look too masculine, too atrophied, or too Hulk-syndrome sufferers.)

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Attached is a ranger-ish looking male character I made for ya in the last 10 minutes. With and without a hood. Feel free to use them!

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Here's what I came up with.

I'm not entirely happy with the chest, but it looks okay as some sort of leather vest.

The rest is pretty much greens and blues, with darker colors for the boots, gloves (right hand fingerless glove for gripping them arrows ), hood and cape to make it look like a cloak, and some animal fur shoulderpads to look like an animal pelt.

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The important thing to keep in mind for a "ranger" type character is that he spends most of his time outdoors. Keep to this factor and the rest of the concept should swing into place. So:

- Clothes have to be practical rather than fashionable. Hard-wearing pieces of clothing, leathers and thick cloth items.
-- He's likely to have to wear layers to keep the cold out. Don't be afraid to have him bulk up a little. Show bagginess in top layers to imply he's wearing more underneath
-- Keep to neutral colours, browns and deep greys especially. For the most part, avoid having too much green. Why? Green cloth must be dyed, and is therefore expensive, an unnecessary extravagance. Undyed cloth can still come out looking ranger-y if kept to deep, rich brown colours.
- If he's an archer, ensure he's got a nice thick bracer on his right wrist. Bracers are worn to stop twanging bowstrings slicing open your forearm, so it's important he's wearing one.
- Someone living rough is likely to have picked up a bunch of knick-knacks over the years. Scraps of armour, jewellery, weapons, a few bits of plants and furs. He'd add these to his costume over the years, and it gives him a bit of extra depth
- Stubble. Beard. He's not going to bother shaving if he's living in the wild.
- Likewise, if he's white he's probably going to be quite tanned, with ruddy, tough skin from all that hard living.
- Long, untidy hair. Barbers don't live in the forest.
- Though it restricts other options a lot, a cloak is a good idea. He'll need some protection from the rain, after all.
- Hat, hood, or neither? Personally I'd lean towards hat because I find hoods a bit cliche and common these days. But it's up to you.
- No long trousers. Ever. They're a 20th/21st century fashion.

Here's my concept. I've tried to add in as many details as possible. The sword has a faded blue scabbard, he's got a few twisted vines and leaves around his left wrist, his hat doesn't match his top, the tunic skirt is aged and torn, there are a couple of bits of armour on him that don't match. It's all to give him a sense of having a history.

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About the bracer thing, I agree with that. My archery character has a feudal japan-style outfit, and she uses... I think it's the one Ninja bracer on her one arm, colored black? That seems to work nice for an arm guard for archery. It's not the best, but I think it fits nicely enough.

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Bobsy wrote:

The important thing to keep in mind for a "ranger" type character is that he spends most of his time outdoors. Keep to this factor and the rest of the concept should swing into place. So:

- Clothes have to be practical rather than fashionable. Hard-wearing pieces of clothing, leathers and thick cloth items.
-- He's likely to have to wear layers to keep the cold out. Don't be afraid to have him bulk up a little. Show bagginess in top layers to imply he's wearing more underneath
-- Keep to neutral colours, browns and deep greys especially. For the most part, avoid having too much green. Why? Green cloth must be dyed, and is therefore expensive, an unnecessary extravagance. Undyed cloth can still come out looking ranger-y if kept to deep, rich brown colours.

Not exactly unnecessary. A ranger will spend lots of times in the woods. Green + brown = good camouflage.

- If he's an archer, ensure he's got a nice thick bracer on his right wrist. Bracers are worn to stop twanging bowstrings slicing open your forearm, so it's important he's wearing one.

A right handed archer will grip the bow in his left hand, and pull the bowstring with his right, so the bracer needs to go on his left arm.

- Someone living rough is likely to have picked up a bunch of knick-knacks over the years. Scraps of armour, jewellery, weapons, a few bits of plants and furs. He'd add these to his costume over the years, and it gives him a bit of extra depth

While I don't disagree with this idea, living as a ranger doesn't necessarily mean being a bum. You seem to have the idea that this character is meant to be a transient. If he's going for the D&D thing specifically, you can bet that this guy's been stealing treasures from monsters for years!

- Stubble. Beard. He's not going to bother shaving if he's living in the wild.
- Likewise, if he's white he's probably going to be quite tanned, with ruddy, tough skin from all that hard living.
- Long, untidy hair. Barbers don't live in the forest.
- Though it restricts other options a lot, a cloak is a good idea. He'll need some protection from the rain, after all.
- Hat, hood, or neither? Personally I'd lean towards hat because I find hoods a bit cliche and common these days. But it's up to you.

I really like the idea of the hat. I went with the hood/cape combination as many D&D rangers (at least back in my day) were depicted with such.

- No long trousers. Ever. They're a 20th/21st century fashion.

Here's my concept. I've tried to add in as many details as possible. The sword has a faded blue scabbard, he's got a few twisted vines and leaves around his left wrist, his hat doesn't match his top, the tunic skirt is aged and torn, there are a couple of bits of armour on him that don't match. It's all to give him a sense of having a history.

Overall I really dig the costume you created, especially the colors. Unfortunately, Champs doesn't offer a lot of muted colors. You get like one kinda dark one and one really bright one for each color category. We need more color options!

Edit: On a side note, I also wanted to avoid using too many dark colors. Not only for the fact that being too dark would make a guy stick out like a sore thumb in daylight, but also the fact that dark motifs are overused a lot. An overall dark character with no contrast to his costume would end up boring-looking after a while, to me at least.

That said, however, I'm not really a big fan of the lighter green I used on the costume I created. It's so bland it makes me want to punch something.

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Bobsy wrote:

The important thing to keep in mind for a "ranger" type character is that he spends most of his time outdoors. Keep to this factor and the rest of the concept should swing into place. So:

- Clothes have to be practical rather than fashionable. Hard-wearing pieces of clothing, leathers and thick cloth items.
-- He's likely to have to wear layers to keep the cold out. Don't be afraid to have him bulk up a little. Show bagginess in top layers to imply he's wearing more underneath
-- Keep to neutral colours, browns and deep greys especially. For the most part, avoid having too much green. Why? Green cloth must be dyed, and is therefore expensive, an unnecessary extravagance. Undyed cloth can still come out looking ranger-y if kept to deep, rich brown colours.
- If he's an archer, ensure he's got a nice thick bracer on his right wrist. Bracers are worn to stop twanging bowstrings slicing open your forearm, so it's important he's wearing one.
- Someone living rough is likely to have picked up a bunch of knick-knacks over the years. Scraps of armour, jewellery, weapons, a few bits of plants and furs. He'd add these to his costume over the years, and it gives him a bit of extra depth
- Stubble. Beard. He's not going to bother shaving if he's living in the wild.
- Likewise, if he's white he's probably going to be quite tanned, with ruddy, tough skin from all that hard living.
- Long, untidy hair. Barbers don't live in the forest.
- Though it restricts other options a lot, a cloak is a good idea. He'll need some protection from the rain, after all.
- Hat, hood, or neither? Personally I'd lean towards hat because I find hoods a bit cliche and common these days. But it's up to you.
- No long trousers. Ever. They're a 20th/21st century fashion.

Here's my concept. I've tried to add in as many details as possible. The sword has a faded blue scabbard, he's got a few twisted vines and leaves around his left wrist, his hat doesn't match his top, the tunic skirt is aged and torn, there are a couple of bits of armour on him that don't match. It's all to give him a sense of having a history.

That's awesome, the hat felt abit out of place though.

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Yeah, I'd really like a wider variety of hats. The one I used here was the same as my main Raychl has. In her case it's supposed to be a post-Rennaissance 17th century style that you'd see around the time of the Civil War. For the ranger it's supposed to be a pre-Rennaissance style. It's a bit of a stretch. As I say, it's a personal choice. I'm just fed up of gratuitous hood usage.

Smackwell, I do realise that using green has a practical application. But as I say, it's a matter of luxury that I think your standard ranger wouldn't stretch to. Cloth dye was really expensive, and my view of rangers is of people who don't go in for money much, since they're living off their own means.

You are entirely correct about holding the bow in the left hand and and drawing with the right, so yeah, I've put the bracer on the wrong hand. Whoops. Not only did I spend ages getting this right on my own character, I've used bows in real life a few times (cutting my wrist once) so I ought to know better really. Goes to show that a history degree doesn't mean you're smart enough to tell left from right.

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Leatherhead wrote:

Green Arrow dosn't look all that much like a D&D ranger.
I would go with:
Hooded head
Chainmail pattern on body
Leather pants
Fur boots
Cape or quiver or bow on back
Swords on legs.

Add Fur Shoulders to that list and maybe the Knife Strap (Chest Wear) and I think you've got it.

:cool:

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Bobsy wrote:

Yeah, I'd really like a wider variety of hats. The one I used here was the same as my main Raychl has. In her case it's supposed to be a post-Rennaissance 17th century style that you'd see around the time of the Civil War. For the ranger it's supposed to be a pre-Rennaissance style. It's a bit of a stretch. As I say, it's a personal choice. I'm just fed up of gratuitous hood usage.

Smackwell, I do realise that using green has a practical application. But as I say, it's a matter of luxury that I think your standard ranger wouldn't stretch to. Cloth dye was really expensive, and my view of rangers is of people who don't go in for money much, since they're living off their own means.

You are entirely correct about holding the bow in the left hand and and drawing with the right, so yeah, I've put the bracer on the wrong hand. Whoops. Not only did I spend ages getting this right on my own character, I've used bows in real life a few times (cutting my wrist once) so I ought to know better really. Goes to show that a history degree doesn't mean you're smart enough to tell left from right.

A glove on the right hand would also not be a bad idea for a ranger, since many archers tend to wear some sort of finger guard/glove on their drawing hand in order to make the draw/release cycle easier on the fingers... I know I do! It was just a thought that I had when playing around with the bracer on an archer costume of my own.

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I haven't done the Ranger Look, however use of textures can look like Chainmail


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v119/gothicshark/Co/AMarielRomulan.jpg

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Instead of tryinh gor a Green Arrow look try going for a Earl Flinn / Robin Hood look, I have a character called Robin Hoodlum that does it pretty good using green and brown colors.

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Bobsy wrote:

The important thing to keep in mind for a "ranger" type character is that he spends most of his time outdoors. Keep to this factor and the rest of the concept should swing into place. So:

- Clothes have to be practical rather than fashionable. Hard-wearing pieces of clothing, leathers and thick cloth items.
-- He's likely to have to wear layers to keep the cold out. Don't be afraid to have him bulk up a little. Show bagginess in top layers to imply he's wearing more underneath
-- Keep to neutral colours, browns and deep greys especially. For the most part, avoid having too much green. Why? Green cloth must be dyed, and is therefore expensive, an unnecessary extravagance. Undyed cloth can still come out looking ranger-y if kept to deep, rich brown colours.
- If he's an archer, ensure he's got a nice thick bracer on his right wrist. Bracers are worn to stop twanging bowstrings slicing open your forearm, so it's important he's wearing one.
- Someone living rough is likely to have picked up a bunch of knick-knacks over the years. Scraps of armour, jewellery, weapons, a few bits of plants and furs. He'd add these to his costume over the years, and it gives him a bit of extra depth
- Stubble. Beard. He's not going to bother shaving if he's living in the wild.
- Likewise, if he's white he's probably going to be quite tanned, with ruddy, tough skin from all that hard living.
- Long, untidy hair. Barbers don't live in the forest.
- Though it restricts other options a lot, a cloak is a good idea. He'll need some protection from the rain, after all.
- Hat, hood, or neither? Personally I'd lean towards hat because I find hoods a bit cliche and common these days. But it's up to you.
- No long trousers. Ever. They're a 20th/21st century fashion.

Here's my concept. I've tried to add in as many details as possible. The sword has a faded blue scabbard, he's got a few twisted vines and leaves around his left wrist, his hat doesn't match his top, the tunic skirt is aged and torn, there are a couple of bits of armour on him that don't match. It's all to give him a sense of having a history.

Excellent job, but Smackwell's right about the bracer being on the left arm, and although a glove makes sense for the right hand, a seasoned archer wouldn't need it as his fingers would be callused. Finally, I like the hat concept, but such a wide brim might catch the string, as longbows were pulled back to the ear.