Wow. I always knew that Dresden Codak was an incredibly detailed, beautifully colored comic, but I never really thought about all of the decisions that go into all those details and all that color.

Yesterday, Aaron Diaz posted "Costumes: the Wearable Dialog" to his art blog, an illuminating dissertation on costume design in comics: why it's important and what to consider when designing a character's clothes. I'll admit, sometimes art blogs go a bit over my head; I have trouble interpreting them as anything other than "Draw better than you already draw." But Diaz takes us step by step through the elements of design an outfit -- know what your character looks like naked, how she stands, what her goals are when she gets dressed in the morning, repeat features throughout an outfit or article of clothing. I had quite a few aha! moments reading through this.

It's also worth reading through the rest of Diaz's blog Indistinguishable From Magic for more insights into comic art, although just the thought of "How a Dresden Codak Page is Made" is stressing me out.

Oh, and Diaz has an "Ask Me Anything" thread up on reddit. A word of warning: those things can be a major time suck.