#boobplate

-top left: Security Chief Dawn's armor (which you actually equip within gameplay iirc) from the game Selaco

-in red and white with forearm armor integrated blaster cannons: Verity Simone Carlo's armor, which first appeared, iirc, in Last Stand of the Wreckers by Nick Roche for the IDW1/IDW 2005 Transformers continuity

-the two Mass Effect armors present nearby are the N7 Defender Armor worn by MShep (couldn't find an image of canon FemShep with it on and didn't feel like booting up ME3 to photo, but this one is great because Shepard is still effectively wearing mostly convex boobplate that actually looks realistic apart from the underboob indents lmao, and the suit really accentuates curves for both versions of Shepard) Hahne-Kedar armor, and that one is sourced by the art models posted by ME3 artist Rion Swanson

-with a similar color scheme and less obtrusive shoulder armor is the Martian Marine power suit armor worn by Bobbie Draper as depicted by the amazing actor Frankie Adams in the show The Expanse (we are not in any way ready or looking to discuss the plot of the show at the moment we just wanted to bring up the armor. only so many spoons). Her armor also features a forearm sized integrated minigun

-the five armors from the Halo series present are: ODST battle dress uniform,Gen 2 MJOLNIR/V - EVA, Halo 5 MJOLNIR/R - Recon, MJOLNIR/K - Commando, and MJOLNIR/B - B-class

-we chose a photo of the Laborers from Mars Tactics specifically because they are very much on the light side of armor, only having space cloth/polymer, an astronaut helmet, greaved boots, and a remote unit/life support pack that is basically a chest cuirass ie the most bra-like realistic boobplate can get

-the armor chosen from XCOM 2 is the W.A.R. suit, which in what seems to be a running theme has a heavy forearm blaster weapon mounted on.

-from the Risk of Rain series, the default armors of the Risk of Rain 2 Commando, Loader, and Huntress are shown, along with Risk of Rains Returns art of the Huntress and Mercenary.

-the cover art of Half-Life Decay depicting player character scientists Colette Green and Gina Cross wearing the signature HEV suit (Hazardous Environment Suit) typical of Black Mesa scientists prepared for dealing with said environments, including forays to the border dimension world of Xen, and famously worn by Half Life protagonist Gordon Freeman. while not quite what hazardous material suits or bomb suit armor looks like currently irl the design is undeniably slick and didn't break any of the rules we posed for our search except the avoiding concave armor in that the mid-riff area has a remote unit indent. ah well, given that the suit is literally something you power up to reduce damage to your person, it has (within the lore) first aid capacities to administer morphine when wounded, this suit doesn't play by normal modern armor rules.

-two versions of Samus Aran's armor from the Metroid series are shown, one is her partially organic technology power suit as it appears in Metroid Dread and the other is her gravity suit as it appears in the Metroid Prime trilogy. The power suit is definitely on the lighter side, while the gravity suit is easily some of the heaviest armor shown here. the size of her pauldrons on the gravity suit is of course absurd and irl her armor would be difficult to move around in unless it's an exosuit with it's own locomotion

-lastly, Star Wars The Old Republic's Shae Vizla's armor as leader of the Mandalorian people, Mandalore the Avenger. she's sometimes shown with closer to breast tight boobplate but thats not the case for this art here

Character design tip #1: The character's outfit should fit the situation.

This especially goes for people who design female characters.

OK, it goes for all genders, but fictional women seem to be the most frequent victims of character designers who pretend their creations are smart, strategic people, and then send them into battle moronically and suicidally underdressed.

If your badass supersoldier spy is going undercover at a cocktail party, sure, you can put her in a flattering dress.

But if she's going into battle with her cleavage bared, against opponents who won't be distracted by that sort of thing, you're ignoring the basic storytelling principles of keeping characters in-character and making their decisions plausible just to shoehorn in a bit of extra boobage.

Granted, there are exceptions to every rule. Having a fancy battle dress is practically a requirement for being a magical girl, and their magic powers tend to make up for the disadvantages their wardrobes present, so there is some leeway there.

(Though, come to think of it, I'd love to see a magical girl series where their transformation resulted in armor instead of dresses. That would be a smart, interesting twist.)

Anyway, back to character design tips.

When it comes to armor, if you're thinking of depriving your character of that protection so their movements won't be restricted, bear in mind that a well-constructed suit of armor has approximately the same range of motion as the person inside it.

So while you don't want a stealth-based character who needs to sneak around, slip through small spaces, or blend into crowds clanking around in full plate armor, a character on the battlefield needs a better reason than "I need flexibility" to go unprotected.

Also, if your knight with girl parts is wearing boobplate (a 'breastplate' that cups and emphasizes her boobs separately, as opposed to covering the whole chest in one smooth curve), her blacksmith needs to be fired for being bad at their job and recklessly endangering their customers.

Because boobplate can get the wearer killed.

Here are some practical questions you can ask yourself to determine what outfit is appropriate for the character's situation:

1. What is the goal of their outfit?

Are they trying to blend in? Look sexy (for a good in-story reason, NOT a meta-story "sex sells" reason)? Protect themselves in battle? Carry every high-tech spy gadget invented by every sapient species at once, just in case?

Their outfit should reflect this goal.

2. What resources are available to them?

If your character is dirt poor and unwilling to steal, they might not be able to acquire armor or fancy clothing. Unless, of course, they have a benefactor who's willing to help them, whether out of altruism or because it's required for the mission for which they're being hired.

Your character's clothes should reflect their era, their geographical area and its culture and available clothes, and their current and past financial situation.

I mention 'past financial situation' because they might, for example, still have nice clothes that they bought before their finances crashed. Their whole life needs to be taken into account, to the same degree to which their past influences their present.

3. What is the weather like?

Unless they ended up in a location they didn't expect to visit, or the weather changed suddenly, your character should be dressed for it.

Unless their wardrobe comes with built-in thermal regulation, they're innately temperature-resistant, or they need their suit of armor regardless of the climate, it makes no sense for them to have the same type of outfit in a tropical or temperate location and a snow-covered forest. (CoughBlackWidowCough)

When taking the weather into account, be sure to consider how much time the character has to prepare and acquire/pack clothes, whether or not they would see this kind of weather coming, and whether they'd have the resources to get appropriate clothing with the amount of notice they had.

Character design tip #2: The outfit should reflect their personality and abilities.

This is closely related to tip #1, but is distinct enough to warrant its own section.

If a character is cocky, unwise, rebellious, or wants to mentally throw the people around them for a loop, they might deliberately choose to dress in a way that's inappropriate to the situation.

For example, they might enjoy showing up in court with a pair of bunny ears on their head, or striding onto a battlefield shirtless because their healing factor will make up for it and the sight of their wounds healing will demoralize their opponents.

Or they might just charge into battle shirtless because they're way too hot-blooded and reckless to care.

But if a character is very serious and practical and has no superpowers, they should dress accordingly, especially when going into battle.

If a character is very comfortable with her body and sexuality, is too innocent to think much of showing skin, or simply doesn't give a crap what other people think of her, then it makes sense to have her show up in a crop top or revealing dress.

But if she's very shy or modest, or has openly expressed disdain for women who use their sexuality to get ahead in life, then showing her cleavage off will probably be out of character in most situations.

(CoughAerynSunCoughCleavageInBattleCoughWTFCough)

Their past, and the beliefs and coping mechanisms they developed as a result of it, should also play a role in your outfit decisions.

A character who's been sexually abused or assaulted might try to hide their body and attractiveness for fear of getting the wrong kind of attention. Or they might deliberately dress sexy in an attempt to reassert control over their sexuality.

Or they might just continue dressing the way they did before, whatever that way might be.

Once again, it depends on their personality and decisions.

Whatever clothing choices your character makes, the basic rule holds true: it should be in-character, and should fit their beliefs, personality, ability and situation.

Character design tip # 3: The character's body should fit their lifestyle and profession.

Can we talk about Lara Croft's arms? Her skinny little arms, with which she supposedly pulls herself up ledges? This woman should have some serious upper body muscle tone... but in some iterations, she doesn't.

This is an example of what NOT to do when designing a character, and it isn't just the ladies who get hit with it.

While females tend to be more consistently shoehorned into a single, sometimes implausible body type, characters of other genders have also been given this treatment.

Here are some examples of how a character's lifestyle might affect their physical appearance:

If your human character has a highly active lifestyle involving frequent feats of strength, give them the musculature they'd realistically require for the tasks they perform.

(Obviously, supernatural/alien/shapeshifting characters get some leeway here.)

If they frequently get into fights that involve cuts and/or burns, are not perfect at dodging, and don't have the medical technology or superpowers required to swiftly and flawlessly heal wounds, having some scars would be more realistic than their skin being smooth from head to toe.

If they live in a hot climate and are outdoors frequently, they should probably have a tan, unless they have a skin condition or wear clothing that prevents tanning.

For that matter, they should probably also have body parts that aren't tanned, unless they were out there nude.

Depending on their hair type, their hair might also get bleached by the consistent exposure to the sun.

If they use crutches or a manual wheelchair a lot, their arms should show the effects of the muscles being frequently exercised.

When you're designing your character's body, consider where they live, what experiences they've had, and what kind of activities they frequently do.

And for the love of all things holy (or at least, for the sake of plausibility, good-quality storytelling, and not making me roll my eyes at you), don't just design them for sex appeal in a way that makes no sense in light of their lifestyle or their past.

Please. Just don't.

Character design tip #4: Their voices should fit their background.

While watching Tangled and How to Train Your Dragon, I noticed a weird pattern:

The adults spoke with an accent that their children didn't share.

Rapunzel had never heard any voice other than Gothel's since she was a baby, yet for some reason, she never picked up her "mother"s accent.

And while the adult vikings all spoke with a Scottish accent, their children didn't.

This seemed weird and unrealistic enough to break immersion a bit, even in stories where hair glows, horses act like hyper-intelligent dogs, and dragons exist.

TL;DR: Keep your character designs plausible and in-character.

Sure, there are other, more nuanced and advanced facets of character design that someone who's studied the field in more depth could get into.

And even then, there would probably be exceptions to most of the rules they laid out, or rebellious try-hards who would take their "don't do this" as a challenge and find a way to make a maligned design practice work. (CoughProbablyMeCough)

But at the core of the process of designing your character, a simple, universal principle holds true:

Their appearance and wardrobe should make sense in light of their personality, environment and activities.

It's just that simple.