Designing and sculpting the extras

To continue my design ideas i need to make manacles, some kind of clothing and maybe decoration of some sort jewelery and body paint. The starting point for the thought process is the story and character profile.

Taking the idea that the character has very little money, is in a very bad place in terms of his mental state he cares little for clothing and jewelry, he wears manacles to remind him of the past, a past that he is not willing to forget.
is he going to be wearing any armour does it fit into the character and what i am trying to communicate, these are things that need to thought about.
so a minimalist approach to clothing and decoration is needed. there is body paint to consider but if i do go for the body paint idea i have to think about why he would be wearing it.

my main area of design is the lower half of the body and how i will clothe it, do i have trousers or shorts or a skirt or just a loin cloth..... and what material will it be made out of?

After researching African battle wear and general clothing, i have come up with a few ideas taking tribal influence such as the Masai people who favor red cloth either covering most of the body or worn as a small skirt.
"The Maasai warriors are one of the most prominent and respected ethnic groups in Kenya. The warriors are so greatly feared, it is told that lions and cheetahs will run away or stop their pursuits of game animals if a Maasai warrior is anywhere close by. As soon as a Maasai warrior is initiated their spear and shield are decorated with red paint, which is symbolic of their status in society." https://www.amazines.com/article_detail.cfm/639775?articleid=639775&title=maasai%2Cart%2Cafrican%2Cart%2Cmasai%2Cart%2Cafrican%2Cwall%2Cart%2Cafrican%2Cweaponry%2Cafrican%2Cweapons


this design is more like a shoalin monk than Masai warrior.

this ideas is more rip leather/ cloth or could be reeds.

I also looked at the Zulu tribe and their colourful attire


the Zulus would often use animal skins such as leopards cow hides for clothing and their shields,

"Their heads were covered with ostrich plumes and they had swaying kilts of foxes' tails and stripes of fur; while round their knees and elbows were fastened white cows' tails as a sign that they were on the warpath.

They carried huge shields of ox-hide on the left arm, each regiment having shields of its special colour, while in the right hand they carried two or three throwing assegais for hurling at an enemy, and a broad-bladed stabbing assegai which they kept for hand-to-hand fighting; while in their girdles was slung a club or axe for polishing off purposes." http://www.pinetreeweb.com/bp-vars-zululand.htm

this is more of a Roman type of kilt, i dont think this style would work it just doent fit with the design idea, it needs to be more natural. something worn out and tatty he needs to come across as being unkempt, and caring little for his appearance.

I have decided to go with a tattered look kilt but made of leather instead of cloth. sculpted out of super sculpey and cooked off with a heat gun, there was a bit of a trial and error in the sculpting to get the right amount of folds and the right look, the belt is one long strip wrapped round 3 times.

to bake off the super sculpy with out burning the sculpt i used kitchen foil to protect it.

the manacles were sculpted out of milliput.