Behind the Scenes - Sexy Armor Engineering 1

(Do not share this, it is your paid privilage!)

The underlay is done for the upcoming comic strip, now I just have to design the characters.  This is one of the characters.  As you can see it will be a medieval-fantasy comic.  Here I will explain some of the thought I put into this character design (posture, attire, etc.)

This proud knight stands like pyramid with straight legs planted firmly, her arms tensed straight with fury.  Her back is arched confidently to intimidate her opponent and to show she refuses to be intimidated.  Her fists are clentched with determination.  It also gives you some impressions of her character without an exposition.  Setting her up like this makes it erotic if she is defeated in battle (which she wiiiiiill = ))

I put a lot of thought into the engineering of the armor to make it practical first, then sexy second.  I went to design school (and barely finished lol) and my final project was a piece of original innovative protective sports gear.  Less-practical armor is easily sexy, but I wanted to challenge making the opposite sexy.  Part of that will be how the plot unfolds.

The knee guards  have crossing reinforcements to prevent buckling or denting.  The ankles are protected by funnels that still allows for freedom of movement.  This couldn't really be done anywhere else without being obstructive.

The decorative and sexy elements include armor rings and plates on her ponytail with a pendulum at the tip, which could be a long-reach  weapon if she whips her hair around : D  I saw a kung fu movie where a girl did that with small razor blades.  Her helmet accomodates the ponytail to stick out showing her beauty as a cultural status.

Something I learned from the making of 'The Lord of the Rings' movies is swords cause painful vibrations when they clash.  For the movie they did something like incorporated a rubber core to make it more comfortable for the actors.  To be more authentic, I took a different appraoch.  In the left-top corner is the sword design.  The hilt is a hollow flat ring.  The blade and handle are not directly connected.  The hilt acts like a tuning fork absorbing vibrations.  It will also make swings slightly easier because this sword design will bend with each swing.  The handle will move before the blade, requiring less physical effort.  The downside to this would be the blade will wobble at the end of a swing.  To compensate for that, the warrior will need to swing it around a little bit after the first swing to dissipate the oscillation.

There will be a timelapse video when this character design is complete with her face and hair, and you will see the evolution of the mental engineering process.

- i v