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klinanime — breastplate redesign

Published: 2014-02-05 04:04:31 +0000 UTC; Views: 953; Favourites: 26; Downloads: 8
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Description I just got a cintiq and it's ... well, it's not the easiest to transition work processes on an intuos4 to a cintiq. I kept trying to hit my keyboard shortcuts on the side of the cintiq before forgetting it doesn't have a keyboard. Anyway, that's just habit and can be relearned. I have to say, it's SO much nicer to draw directly on something. A lot of info gets lost when I draw on the intuos while staring at another screen. I'm glad to see that I was not mistaken that that loss is greatly minimized on the cintiq.

Anyway, redesigning Auriel's paladin armor. I haven't really thought much about the gauntlets and greaves, but I decided her previous armor was way too ceremonial in style. I wanted Auriel to look more like she lived in her armor. By attaching her colors on a kind of drape and etching her religious motif directly on the breastplate she can still openly represent her god without having to wear her colors on a cleric's robe. And instead, she can wear more functional clothes underneath.

The boobplate, as much as I still wanted inch that in, was nixed. Auriel is the type to go for function over everything else. Do I not have one female character in this group that will let me get away with fanservice?!

My two bits on female armor: sexy armor and functional armor both have their place in fiction. The trick is to design a female character from inside out. Come up with a character, THEN design the armor. If the girl likes taking advantage of her assets in battle, from taking advantage of the hesitation guys have towards hitting women to straight out distracting them with naughty thoughts, that's her prerogative. At the same time, don't stick a woman who is trying to be taken seriously by her male comrades in a chainmail miniskirt.  
You'd think this would simply make sense, and I'm willing to bet it's pretty damn natural to writers and storytellers, but the over-inundation of sexy armor shows that a woman's personality ... is NOT a focus. I love looking at sexy armor, but when the girl is just a piece of meat, I'm not going to grieve too much when she gets whacked off.
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Comments: 8

Namara-of-Highroad [2017-08-29 00:28:42 +0000 UTC]

I love the design. Pretty AND functional!

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DolphinSilverwolf [2014-02-05 10:50:09 +0000 UTC]

Interesting argument.  Fand might have a more pragmatic view on that.  If a fighter fights better in skimpy armor then they take advantage of it.  Even if there's no aesthetic stun effect on the opponent, it'll prevent the armor impeding combat.

This is also coming from an elven warrior...which, if she met an armored human soldier...well, the engagement would appear as such.

Human would see her on the left.

A half second, she'd be on the right.

A half second, his vision would be fading to black as his blood supply fell out of him.  In that one movement, he'd be cut cleanly across the midsection through his aorta.  And that's WITH Fand carrying the weight of armor.  No magic, the blade is razor-sharp and moved with speed and precision.  Pure physics.  (That and the motion involves a lateral slash as well as a blade motion across the body.  The lateral movement is much like that of a katana, where the blade rubbing across the surface aids the edge in making the cut.  Works well when you aim between trauma plates and slice the anti-ballistic fabric.)

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klinanime In reply to DolphinSilverwolf [2014-02-05 15:16:12 +0000 UTC]

As long as it makes sense with the character, skimpy armor is A.OK in my book.

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Enigmia [2014-02-05 04:40:50 +0000 UTC]

/\ This. A well put argument.

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klinanime In reply to Enigmia [2014-02-05 15:15:13 +0000 UTC]

truth be told, I get a little annoyed when people say, "women's armor should be more like this functional medieval thing here," because, well crap. Does that mean that every girl who prefers to wear a cute outfit to class is a slut? No! And I don't think people who lobby for functional armor think that either, but they're only addressing the surface-level of the problem. If you swing the other way and get women in all functional armor, the underlying problem of no-personality is STILL GOING TO BE THERE. But way less sexy.

Once female characters are respected as humans alongside their male counterparts, the problem with armor will iron itself out.

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Enigmia In reply to klinanime [2014-02-05 22:53:09 +0000 UTC]

Agreed. But that's unlikely to happen any time in the near future, it seems.

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klinanime In reply to Enigmia [2014-02-06 01:15:38 +0000 UTC]

Movies like "Frozen" put some hope in me, until I then see the responses. "Ooh, it's progressive" or what have you.

For crying out loud people, they actually put some CHARACTER into their characters! That's abso-fking-lutely it!

Sigh. we'll probably get some flat-feeling character who's just trying to fit the "empowered girl" stereotype next.

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Enigmia In reply to klinanime [2014-02-06 06:45:12 +0000 UTC]

Well, I suppose Korra is a good example of characterization without stereotype, but sadly they are pretty few and far between.

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