This is a character from a sci-fi feature animation screenplay I've been working on, titled Tellurian Sky. For this design, I wanted a combat uniform that's both practical and aesthetically pleasing. I initially wanted a genderless design that would look good on both male and female soldiers, but then I thought about how in some cultures, women aren't really all that gunho about gender equality in terms of wanting to wear the same stuff that men do. I've seen many cases where women prefer to have a more feminine look for their uniforms--for the simple fact that they are in uniform so much they'd rather look pretty while doing their jobs (but never at the expense of impracticality). For the military, genderless design is usually the way to go (for all the obvious and not so obvious reasons), but in some cases, female soldiers have different uniforms from the men (for example, dress uniforms for women have skirts). I sort of used that logic when designing the lieutenant's combat uniform. Although it's feminized a bit (mostly in the lower torso design), it absolutely does not interfere with practicality. The psychological ramifications of men going into combat with female soldiers in form-fitting combat uniforms on the other hand, is a completely different can of worms.

The uniform itself is made of military grade synthetic material that will react to sudden pressure by stiffening up (this technology is already available now in the American military forces), effectively forming a tough but flexible body armour at the event of an impact (could be projectile ammunition, crashing in a vehicle, falling from heights..etc). The green symbol and the orange spots on her chest could change color and shape according to the needs of the soldier. For example, a criticially wounded solder will display a blinking red signalling the need of immediate medical attention, flash a bright orange when needing visible identification, or turn completely black during stealth operations. In fact, the color of the entire uniform could change colors to adapt to the environment.

 

Here are the step-by-steps of how this design was conceived:

The initial sketch	The clean drawing

The various versions I made while trying to decide on the final look:

 

And the version I settled on. Although it's hard to say if this one is really the best out of all the combinations I tried, but at least in that moment it was the best pick of the bunch.