"Armor of Sol" (Character/armor concept) - Critique? Opinions?

[JereduLevenin]

I sketched these both last night during Crispin Freeman's second presentation, since I'd already seen it in class and didn't have a great seat for the second one. I listen better when my hands are doing something, so I tend to sketch a lot of throwaway stuff when I'm listening to lectures or presentations, if I'm not taking notes. These started out the same way, but they turned out better than I thought they would. As in, I plan to use this design for an actual character. These are all regular ball-point pen on computer paper.

I know some anatomy things are off, and the shoulders are uneven and whatnot, but it's nothing I can fix on the originals. However, I plan to eventually redraw these on the computer, so I'm interested in your ideas, thoughts, suggestions, and critique about the design itself. Technical problems like anatomy, perspective, etc, are not relevant to these pictures since such observations concern the COMPOSITION and QUALITY, and the physical drawings themselves will not be edited or posted as art; they are for my reference for when I begin working on the actual drawing/painting. I would like any and all input on the SUBJECT matter, this time 'round, so that the image I WILL be creating based on these will be as well-developed as possible.

The first image is the same as the second, but with the "AutoTone" turned on for more contrast and smoothness. It makes the overall image a lot clearer, but much detail is lost. The second image is the same drawing without AutoTone, so you can see the details that were lost in the first. The third is actually the first one I drew, and the shoulder/chest armor will probably use THIS design, rather than the design on the full body drawing. I didn't have a way to keep this image out while drawing the full body one, so I did the chest armor there from memory. After comparing them, I saw that they turned out very differently. Please excuse the manga style; it's a lot easier for me to sketch in this style without making mistakes, and I didn't have an eraser. Even if I did, these were done in pen; I didn't have a pencil to rough in the basic outline before drawing.

Yes, I know I have a LOT of different art-related projects going on at once. I have to switch around or I'll get burned out on a piece. I let it sit for about a week, give my brain time to "sleep" on the idea a bit and possibly get more ideas and inspiration, then I come back to it again all refreshed and stuff.

[Max Challie]

Turning the trident around so it's more behind and to the side of him will clear up the composition, and even make him look stronger.

If he lifts his arms up, those shoulder blades are going to hurt. :/

[JereduLevenin]

Turning the trident around so it's more behind and to the side of him will clear up the composition, and even make him look stronger.

If he lifts his arms up, those shoulder blades are going to hurt. :/

Like, so the pronged end is away from his body, and the other end goes up and behind him?

Sounds good.


As to the six spikes on the shoulders... ouch, yes. I will redesign those. I'll do something more like the bit on the forearms, near the elbow... put the flared, pointy end facing out, and it'll look good. Plus, it'll match better.

Thank you!

[Max Challie]

Like, so the pronged end is away from his body, and the other end goes up and behind him?

That's right.

When doing armour, think about the character's fighting style. Are they fast and agile? Or heavy, but cohesive and structured? Stuff like that.

[Tangleworm]

Max is right. Right now I'd imagine it a bit hard to move with all the plates covering up articulation points (like the bit covering the right thigh). You can easily fix this while keeping the design relatively intact by turning them into segments instead, but it may work to rethink the joint areas.

[Max Challie]

I think putting spikes on armour etc is sort of just an aesthetic thing. It looks cool, but how often are you going to use your armour as a weapon? lol.. just be careful with the aesthetics and make sure they don't take over

[JereduLevenin]

I like the sound of segments; thank you!

(Again, I've been watching too much Saint Seiya. Sorrento's armor was even worse than mine! It looks like a metal DRESS:



...)