Character Costume Development

With my duties of character design after finalising the body shape, we decided that costume would come under the same design area as props. I knew that I wanted our character to have layers of clothing much like the Vikings had back in history, so the idea of designing simple shapes for items and then essentially playing dress up on our characters silhouette became appealing. I decided that the Viking needed the obvious clothing elements of a shirt, trousers and shoes, but also wanted needed to include some sort of belt for his props and weapons, as well as owning large furs that would act as a coat. I developed only a few designs for each item as the mix and match process would allow for many different outcomes already, however the shoe and trousers shapes/designs were kept to a minimal due to the attention being focused on the characters upper body.

Figure 1.

After compiling these designs I begun to piece together the Viking attire into full costumes, trying not to repeat my developments too often so that each concept appeared fresh and different. I enjoyed this process and chose the 6 strongest designs which had the most appeal and contrast to our character. I tried to keep these costumes as simple as possible in regard to shape and style so that when it comes to developing our character and his attire in 3D, the transition wouldn't be too challenging or difficult, yet still allow our style to successfully push through.

Figure 2.

Personally, design 1 and 5 are my favourites as I feel as if the simplicity is attracting and the naked arm in both could also allow for markings or scars to be present to give our viking personal visual attributes. The idea of having a naked arm is also a logical design choice as our character would need unrestricted movement in that specific area due to his warrior nature allowing him to attack efficiently. The opposite concept would also be relevant to his other arm which would effectively be his 'shield-arm', so this could be an aspect that draws upon the idea of over protection. Opinions would be appreciated on these designs, however if there is an idea regarding a different 'mash-up' of clothing that could present a more interesting choice of costume feel free to piece it together and comment!