Designing Fantasy Armor

It’s tough designing armor. At least with fantasy armor, I can stylize it. Balder gets armor later on in the story. I imagine it’s super sleek, silver, and silent despite all the moving parts. That is easier to imagine than draw.

I first based his armor on Alice’s from the 2010 Alice in Wonderland story. I referenced quite a bit from fantasy women armors, because grace and prettiness more of a design priority there, for better or worse. No boob armor though.

A challenge was deciding how the shoulder armor should look. Too much sticking out could look clunky. I settled on the bottom designs, with the jewelry. I like how restrained Balder looks with the shoulders.

Another important reference was this design.

The gold’s a reference to Gallena, Balder’s Fae-Dragon girlfriend, who should get a post soon. Their story’s a tragedy. I laugh every time I think about it.