Drawing is rather like playing chess: your mind races ahead of the moves you'll eventually make. - David Hockney
Designing Armored Characters and Costumes
This page delves into the very first bit of inspiration I had for taking this trip. For about two years now, I've been working on writing and illustrating some of my own graphics novels. One in particular features a lot of influence on a particular region based heavily off of medieval western Europe. This fictional culture borrows a lot (most cosmetically) from the 13th-early 16th century history, the most noticeable traits being those of the armor used by many of the characters from this region, who make up a majority of the cast.
Though most of these designs are a tad outdated, they change almost every day but the most present sketches aren't very impressive, I've chosen to include one character in particular among the rest. I've included three for the sake of design diversity, but the character in the spotlight is a knight (not just a man-at-arms!) His design pulls from a lot of German influence, as well as the rest of western Europe, though his design originated from a rough idea of a heavily armored crusader. Though he still retains the classic (adapted slightly for more maneuverability) and over-armor tunic (which I've cut off higher than many crusader designs, making it into more of a coat of arms shirt over his breastplate), I've added a lot more armor, so that his chain mail and hauberk show in significantly less places, connecting more prominent armor for a more plate-heavy look. I've also modernized him a bit, making his armor reflect his strong physique and putting some of my own touches on the armor itself, so it would be unique to the character. Much of his design is incomplete, partially due to that fact that I can't make up my mind on what I what the full suit to look like, and also because of my inability to draw most of anatomy and the structure of his helm (I'm working on it!).
What you see above is a rough design I threw together of a concept for a costume I made. It's very outdated as I changed a lot about it, but its effective in showing the concept stages. This design was based on the look of a crusader. Though he doesn't have anywhere near as much plate armor as my first character, he does have a similar helm. I went with the great helm again as not only is it my favorite, but the simple plate-work makes it easy for fiber-glassing (Don't worry, I'll soon explain!). I've cut back on the plate armor for the same reason, lots of armor means lots of fiber-glassing, which is quite taxing on a time constraint. I've also only used chain mail in a few areas, such as under the scarf (which later became a leather yolk), so that an entire chain mail coat and coif would be implied rather than actually making it. I've got it under the yolk as so so that it looks like the user would be wearing chain mail despite there not actually being any (making chain mail is incredibly time consuming!). As for the non-fiberglass/metal bits, I've given him a crossing set of straps across the chest along with a medieval belt as to fasten the sheath and sword to the back rather than the waist. This is a historically inaccurate touch, but one I chose to include just because of how cool it looks! I've given him a basic black undershirt, and black pants (which are mostly obstructed by the length of the tunic. Finally, I've given him a pair of medieval leather boots, also unplated but partially obstructed by the tunic. Once I completed the design, it was time to move on to making the armor!
What you see in the slideshow is all of the armor I planned to fiberglass in card stock paper along with the sword I picked up from a local armorer. Aside from the sword, everything else had to be handmade! I started by printing off patterns for different types of armor, first on printer paper for a demo helm, then the rest on card stock to fold and cut into finished forms, then fastening everything together with hot glue, making sure all that had to be connected was firmly in place. I made demigauntlets, a great helm, and some layered pauldrons. I tested out how the peices of the shoulders and gauntlets would work by putting them together with tape, then taking them apart to fiberglass once I was happy with how they came together. Once the paper-crafting was done, I'd move on to fiber-glassing it all!
Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the gear mid-fiberglass, as the stuff is an intense level of sticky and a mess to work with altogether, so picking up a camera to take pictures of my progress with sticky plastic gloves on would have been a chore to say the least.
The fiber-glassing process was quite tedious, I had to first coat the outside of each part in a layer of resin, then let it dry without letting it warp away from my desire shape, as once the fiberglass hardened, it wouldn't bend into different shapes anywhere near as well as paper would. Once the first coat of resin dried, I coated the inside of each piece as well. Same story here, I had to make sure it didn't warp. Once the second coat was dry, I pressed the fiberglass cloth into the inside of every part with more fiberglass resin, this would ensure structural integrity, as resin alone was rather brittle, and it would crack and break over time.
After sanding and detailing each piece, it was time to paint! To get a withered metal look, I first coated everything in a layer of matte black spray paint. Once that dried, I sprayed some metallic chrome spray pain into a rag and then rubbed it onto each peace, smearing on the paint in large swipes, leaving some of the black showing for cuts, scratches and general wear and tear. The fabric would was relatively simple, I fashioned a simple tunic for a large piece of cloth and a yolk from a smaller piece of leather. I'd use large, old, tattered belts for the cross straps and the main belt itself. The rest I was able to use old clothing for, including the chain mail, which was from an old jewelry set. It looked quite effective one I removed the jewels!
Despite several days of hard work, the suit itself still isn't done yet. I still need to fasted the cross straps and belt, stud the yolk, find some effective boots and pants, and make a set of basic leather elbow guards. Though incomplete, I've attached a few pictures of my progress below! I'll probably update the page with a shot of the complete costume once its finished!
Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the gear mid-fiberglass, as the stuff is an intense level of sticky and a mess to work with altogether, so picking up a camera to take pictures of my progress with sticky plastic gloves on would have been a chore to say the least.
The fiber-glassing process was quite tedious, I had to first coat the outside of each part in a layer of resin, then let it dry without letting it warp away from my desire shape, as once the fiberglass hardened, it wouldn't bend into different shapes anywhere near as well as paper would. Once the first coat of resin dried, I coated the inside of each piece as well. Same story here, I had to make sure it didn't warp. Once the second coat was dry, I pressed the fiberglass cloth into the inside of every part with more fiberglass resin, this would ensure structural integrity, as resin alone was rather brittle, and it would crack and break over time.
After sanding and detailing each piece, it was time to paint! To get a withered metal look, I first coated everything in a layer of matte black spray paint. Once that dried, I sprayed some metallic chrome spray pain into a rag and then rubbed it onto each peace, smearing on the paint in large swipes, leaving some of the black showing for cuts, scratches and general wear and tear. The fabric would was relatively simple, I fashioned a simple tunic for a large piece of cloth and a yolk from a smaller piece of leather. I'd use large, old, tattered belts for the cross straps and the main belt itself. The rest I was able to use old clothing for, including the chain mail, which was from an old jewelry set. It looked quite effective one I removed the jewels!
Despite several days of hard work, the suit itself still isn't done yet. I still need to fasted the cross straps and belt, stud the yolk, find some effective boots and pants, and make a set of basic leather elbow guards. Though incomplete, I've attached a few pictures of my progress below! I'll probably update the page with a shot of the complete costume once its finished!