Guides

[center] Ever see those lairs with flawless, perfectly dressed dragons? Do you struggle with matching colors? Well I don't have a flawless lair but I can help you get your dragons looking nice and snazzy! All the outfits here are free to use. If you want to see more examples of my work you can head on over here [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/drs/2204872#post_2204872]>> Click me for free outfits :) << [/url] [b]1) Starting Point[/b] Pick a dragon. (You don't have to but....) Deciding on what outfit a dragon should have? [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gde/2283855#post_29549135] See the second post[/url] If you are creating an outfit for a hatchling, click [here] to learn how to preview it! (I need to find the link) [b]2) So....what next?[/b] How do you want to start? Most won't know what they're looking for but that's fine! The first option is to [b]start with a theme.[/b] Pick a theme. For example, if you are dressing a warrior. You would want to put something like.... [item=Ebony Filigree Wing Guard][item=Viper's Helmet] or [item= Koi's Breastplate] While FR does have armor sets available, you are [b]not limited to those items.[/b] An example of a warrior outfit is this. See? You know it's a warrior because the headdress and banner tell you it is one. That's why you aren't limited to the traditional armor sets. FR apparel is unique because it is not copy pasted and there's many variations of themes you can do. [outfit=182675][img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dummy?breed=4&gender=0&skin=0&apparel=22667,18784,18808,18791,18775,22666&xt=dressing.png[/img] My second tip is to [b]just throw things on the dragon.[/b] I do this all the time. You may be surprised to see what you can get. [b]There are no fashion rules and limitations, so go wild![/b] [b]3) Borrow from people[/b] Ok, not as in stealing. I'm talking about taking an existing outfit and improving on it. Let's take my dragon for example. [img]http://flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=9&bodygene=18&breed=13&element=6&gender=0&tert=131&tertgene=10&winggene=3&wings=131&auth=6e41ebc4145c9db8f87b833ca64d5451b4fa3053&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Pretty plain, right? So what if I take the outfit from [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=211842&tab=dragon&did=30686572]Rook[/url], and put it onto him? Cool! I don't want to steal this outfit so what if I put.... [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=35923612&skin=0&apparel=3689,3641,3639,3640,3702,3642&xt=dressing.png[/img] Awesome! It looks like the ''stolen'' outfit but since I improved it, it looks great on him. [b]Please don't forget to credit the user who made it.[/b] [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=35923612&skin=0&apparel=3689,3639,3640,3702,3642,24056,24059,24055,24054,24057,24058,24060&xt=dressing.png[/img] When doing this, you may end up with a drastically different outcome then the beginning. It's okay to be lazy sometimes but turn that laziness into something awesome! [b]4) Do some homework[/b] Look up apparel lists. Look up color matching guides. Look up ways to match outfits. There are people with free resources and are willing to help you improve your fashion game. [b]5) Use ''base'' pieces[/b] What is a base piece? A base piece is an apparel that you use as inspiration to build an outfit. You can use a set of apparel as base pieces. For example...... [outfit=156809][img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dummy?breed=8&gender=0&skin=0&apparel=24047,24049,24051,24053,24048,24050,24052&xt=dressing.png[/img] I personally like this set because it is very minimal. So how can I make an outfit out of these pieces? [outfit=182609][img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dummy?breed=8&gender=0&skin=0&apparel=23125,20850,24047,24049,24051,24053,24048,24050,24052,5679,5675,5678,5676,5674&xt=dressing.png[/img] Coolio! I like this method because you can make it into whatever you want. Looking for a royalty themed dragon? [outfit=182722][img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dummy?breed=8&gender=0&skin=0&apparel=3634,24047,24049,24051,24053,24048,24050,24052,3632,3631,3698,272&xt=dressing.png[/img] Easy! [b]6) Follow the theme[/b] Let's say you are creating a spoopy outfit. What do you normally see used in (real life) Halloween costumes? Fake blood? Skulls? Generally spoopy stuff? Once you have that down, you can easily create an outfit! Example You're making a spoopy outfit. What's wrong with this one? [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=35842028&skin=0&apparel=20841,20838,20830,20846,20856&xt=dressing.png[/img] [size=2]@Fizzywits 's Dragon[/size] This one doesn't match the spoopy colors. The items are right but the coloration is messy and does not mash. *Sometimes colors clash in an appealing way but the above does not. How about this? [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=35842028&skin=0&apparel=20836,20839,20842,20841,20840,20837,20838&xt=dressing.png[/img] It looks nice! The outfit matches. You can stop here if you want. But if you want a really spoopy one..... [outfit=182565][img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=35842028&skin=0&apparel=20836,15306,12268,20839,23290,769,20842,20841,20840,20837,20838,325,319,18803&xt=dressing.png[/img] What's so great about this one? First, all the items go together nicely. Do you see the theme here? You don't have to inspect it like Sherlock because you can clearly see that it's a creepy/scary themed outfit. When making themed outfits, you should have something that shows you all the apparel items because you might be missing that one piece that could make or break your outfit! [b]6) Completing the outfit[/b] So why is this a section? Well, you might run into some problems when making an outfit. Sure, you think it's complete but there is always something you can improve or switch out. Let's look at this outfit. It looks complete, right? [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dummy?breed=10&gender=0&skin=0&apparel=24061,24062,24063,24064,24065,24066,24067&xt=dressing.png[/img] But there are always ways you can improve it! [outfit=182645][img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dummy?breed=10&gender=0&skin=0&apparel=20836,24061,24062,24063,24064,24065,24066,24067,15706,15698,15723,15747,21864,20840,21264&xt=dressing.png[/img] I didn't have to go all out to improve this apparel. I simply used a few pieces and now it looks even better! Let's take a look at another one. [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dummy?breed=4&gender=0&skin=9479&apparel=20850,13082,22836,272,2317,3700,10373,10379,22833,1094,21856,15740&xt=dressing.png[/img] What's wrong with this one? There's nothing on the arms or legs. Unless your dragon matches the outfit perfectly, there should always be some sort of leg/arm apparel to give it a more rounded off look. [outfit=87237][img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dummy?breed=4&gender=0&skin=9479&apparel=20850,13082,22836,272,2317,3700,10373,10379,22833,1094,22830,22825,21856,1092,21833,21828,15740&xt=dressing.png[/img] See what I mean? i highly recommend checking your outfit to make sure you have leg/arm apparel because it really helps to give your outfit that ''finished look'' [/center]

[center][b]How to pick an outfit for a dragon[/b] So you have your dragon, but no outfit. That's OK! First you need to figure out what type of outfit it's going to be. For example, I have a red dragon. What colors would look good on him? Since he is red ranged I will go with either black, orange, darker red or white. [img]http://flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=59&bodygene=6&breed=8&element=6&gender=0&tert=2&tertgene=5&winggene=7&wings=59&auth=b5b504cecfb211bbff8ddd174e32ae88c7543b4b&dummyext=prev.png[/img] I like black so I'll go with this. [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=31796162&skin=0&apparel=20836,24061,24062,24063,24064,24065,24066,24067,15706,15698,15723,15747,21864,20840,21264&xt=dressing.png[/img] Cool, right? Let's try green. [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=31796162&skin=0&apparel=9452,3637,768,15696,2317,941,3636,3638,3635&xt=dressing.png[/img] [outfit=182748] Looks great! I didn't think red goes with green. This shows that fashion can be really unpredictable. If I didn't experiment, I wouldn't know that green goes with red. Alright, so what now? The purpose of this explanation is to show you how to pick an outfit (or at least start one). Still don't understand? If you have a pastel dragon, you would not give it a spooky outfit because it does not match the colors. However, this is not true for all dragons. For example..... [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=28877791&skin=0&apparel=&xt=dressing.png[/img] Pretty, right? If I wanted I could give her this.... [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=28877791&skin=0&apparel=14437,14433,14439,14434,14436&xt=dressing.png[/img] But since I don't like pink dragons I can give her this. [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=28877791&skin=0&apparel=2757,21864,2318,16234,15270,5912,15271&xt=dressing.png[/img] Awesome! You wouldn't think that the spooky apparel would work but it does! Most of the times it depends on the dragon. This shows that you don't have to follow the matching colors ''rule'' but instead you should experiment with it! ------------ [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=31796162&skin=17016&apparel=10726,13081,18795,18779,2846,769,750,352,20855&xt=dressing.png[/img] But wait, why an accent? Aren't outfits not allowed to have accents?! BTS, please explain! scroll down to next post ;) [/center]

[center][b]Accents, Skins, and how to use them[/b] Is your outfit missing that [i]thing?[/i] Have you tried any other apparel piece but it doesn't ''fit''? Well I think you might need an accent/skin. What does it do for your dragon? Well it can often make the outfit complete or can be the ''outfit'' for your dragon! Sometimes it's really hard to know if you need to use a skin/accent but I highly recommend using skins and building outfits around them for practice. So when should you use them? 1) You have a complete outfit but there's something missing 2) The dragon is missing something But how can you tell if it looks good on your dragon? Preview it either with the dragon or the outfit. Picking one is hard but there's no 100% proven method to pick the correct one. [b]How to pick an accent[/b] 1) What's your budget? Usermade skins are very expensive. If you are not willing to drop 500g for one then I recommend not using those. Your best bet is festival skins. Often they are so high quality that they look like those 1000g skins. These festival skins are awesome [item=Skin: Ancient Soulwarden][item=Skin: Solstice Rosette][item=Skin: Forgotten Child] Here's an example of correctly using a skincent. [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=31796162] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/317962/31796162_350.png[/img] [/url] Why is it good? Well, it's because it completes the outfit and gives off the rounded look. What if it didn't have it? [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=31796162&skin=0&apparel=10726,13081,18795,18779,2846,769,750,352,20855&xt=dressing.png[/img] The outfit does not look ''complete''. It looks really weird without the skin. Here's how not to use a skincent. [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dummy?breed=4&gender=0&skin=20626&apparel=20850,13082,22836,272,2317,3700,10373,10379,22833,1094,22830,22825,21856,1092,21833,21828,15740&xt=dressing.png[/img] What's so wrong about this one? It looks nice, doesn't it? Well, it's not a good use because there is a better skincent out there. [item=Accent: Tomb Keeper] simply doesn't fit with the theme. My advice is to use the site [url=https://items.kanojo.de/](click me)[/url] and to look through it to see if there is one that better suits this concept. [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dummy?breed=4&gender=0&skin=9479&apparel=20850,13082,22836,272,2317,3700,10373,10379,22833,1094,22830,22825,21856,1092,21833,21828,15740&xt=dressing.png[/img] This looks better, right? [item=Accent: Icarus] fits the theme better. It's hard for me to tell you what you shouldn't/should use for your outfits which is why you need to [b]experiment.[/b] ------------- Outfit resources http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gde/2206115[/center]

@Fizzywits
You don't have to thank me twice! ;p

The most important thing about fashion in general is experimenting. I've seen outfits that make my jaw drop and others that need a little help! I really like the variety of apparel on this website and I really wish I could have different colors (green/red seraph would be so cool ;-;). Hopefully I can improve this guide further!

I don't know if I need to claim more posts but okay

Another claim? Don't delete posts just yet!

Boop

@BTS One thing it might be worth adding is a bit on color theory, which can be useful to make dragons, especially fairly monochromatic dragons, pop. Post a color wheel and mention complementary colors, warm colors, cool colors, triads, tetrads, etc. You might also want to mention brown, silver, gold, white, grey and black as general accent colors. I know about this stuff, but not everybody does, and I think having a visual guide to keep up when dressing dragons could help even me. If I might provide an example: [img]http://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/dressing-room/dragon?did=35756367&skin=0&apparel=21224,20849,20845,24047,24048,21292,24052,11218,5166&xt=dressing.png[/img] One might not think magenta, gold and blue would go this well together. Why does it work? Because it's a triad (or really close to one). Color theory also explains why green and red work, as in your example: they're complementary colors on the traditional color wheel.

@c1anddsaddict
Thanks for the suggestion! I'll add it in soon. It's too bad I'm on mobile ;-;

Also your snapper is beautiful enev though I don't like snappers.