I love feedback.
I'm sure you chaps'v noticed.
 
Replies below.
----- Original Message -----
From: Brett Davidson
To: SMS
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 3:07 AM
Subject: RE: Night land : Land Armour

Great!

Image "Landsuit_Above_Patterns30%" is terrific - and shows why I wanted the SMS touch.

Quibbles/praise follow:

"Scream" of the mask may be interpreted too literally.  Perhaps needs to be altered?  Horizontal louvres are too obvious...?
 
It's true, horizontal louvres are the first port'o'call. Vertical louvres are the other. Other detailing is, natch, poss.
It must be pointed out, this is a study for the suit (And, not the Quints neither).
The actual pic will involve both Our heroine and Pallin in this kit and the Quints in summat more streamlined.

Diskos, to be a practical weapon, needs to have its full perimeter or as much of that as possible exposed.  I also imagined it having a subtly double-curved shaft, like a scythe (expediters as Grim Reapers - why not?) -
 
Now, that is a nice image!
 
however, the dimensions and shape, I appreciate are subordinate to composition.  The implication that it is a double-ended weapon, the heavy powerpack or whatever it is at the end opposite the blade is interesting - never thought of it,
 
It seemed the obvious thing to do - to a large extent, for balance.
 
but the martial arts taught to expediters would no doubt involve the use of a diskos as an impact as well as cutting weapon, so a substantial mass opposite the blade could be handy.  In some short story or other, I described training/use of the thing and noted that there would be a lot of inertia tied up in a rapidly spinning blade, and so combat would appear to be a rather formalised dance... rather like Kendo...
 
Well, I inevitably drew the lines in the disk as a design wotnot but, i'truth, I'm expecting the finished image to show diskos disks as simply white, possibly distorted by the arc of their movement.
AND the Eater wrapped around Meyr.
It occurs to me that, as I've only drawn 'layout' sketches for this, I've not sent 'em to you chaps.
Oops.

Love the composition!
 
Ta. Andy's 'Fractal' point is noted.
Again, I must point out, this is just a 'costume study'.

Ruff and helmet crest work for me.  Love the "explosive" shape of the ground.

This image doesn't need to be more complicated, as far as I'm concerned - I leave this to your judgement, but depicting a specific incident with all present, accounted for and in their appropriate poses is not an issue for me.  This says enough - as the drawings are a suite, we'll see the faces of Meyr and Pallin elsewhere.
 
This image doesn't yet show all the detaioling of the suits that I'm expercting. I'm still trying to settle on the basic outlines of the thing, and to make sure the thing looks like it works as a piece of engineering - I'm still concerned that it's top-heavy This is, it's true, my fault 'coz I really want a headlight /sensor array in the helmet, a 'Tesla coil/plasma repulse' valvepunk ruff, a 'power pack' type backpack and a serious chest/shoulder arrangement. All this, before they start swing ruddy great weaponry...
 
Oh! - One thing I'm doing is bearing in mind the suited figure in one of the 'Eater' illos. I'm trying to make 'em look like they have the same sort'v Tek and similar aesthetics.
 
Best:
Smuzz

Yeah, what he said.
 
Also, one notes there is no reason for all diskoses to be the same size, shape, etc.   In TNL it's a hand-and-a-half weapon - may be used two handed or at a pinch one handed - and so must be about 3 ft long or slightly longer.   In some of John C Wright's stories it's like a polearm, with a shaft at least six foot long.  And the heavy pommel/counterweight seen here is consistent with a one-handed weapon, but it's all good.  
 
One/Two-handed seemed to make sense to me too.
 
However I agree with Brett about having the whole arc of the blade exposed.
 
Additionally, the "below shoulder angle" sketch is really fine.   Lots of dynamic motion trapped in the metal.
 
Goody.
 
 
About armour:
 
Lames.  Armour is essentially composed of overlapping lames, which are ring-shaped, cylindrical, or slice-of-cone-ical pieces of metal assembled to cover a limb or body; lames overlap downward, that is, where two lames overlap, the larger lame goes on the outside; lames may be partially cut away where the limb intersects the body or another limb, in which case the segments of lame remaining are held together by pin-and-slot constructions to stop them gaping. 
 
Where does the arm attach to the body?  NOT THE SHOULDER, BUT THE INNER END OF THE COLLAR BONE.   The construction of the arm armour and especially the pauldrons (big stuff covering the shoulder) reflects this.  Practicable pauldrons are split up into multiple lames and can fold up like a concertina so you can raise your arm.   SEE GOTHIC SUIT.  Armour that does not follow this rule is usually ultra-heavy tournament stuff not designed for much mobility, overrepresented in surviving suits.
 
Ok. That makes lotsa sense. Wilco.
There's a looooong tradition of 'Cool looking armour' in Fantasy/SF which simply wouldn't articulate. Judge Dredd and the Warhammer 40K stuff being two highlights.
Actually, if you google 'Space armour' you'll find the tropes for this stuff is prety well-worn. In the case of this kit, I'm trying to avoid most 'o'them.
 
The "neutral" position for the knee or elbow is half bent.  Not straight.  The swollen-on-one-side-cut-away-on-the-other  lame covering the knee or elbow (called a COP) reflects this fact.  The pauldron is also a sort of cop.
 
That's the sort of thing I need t'know.
Thanks.
 
 
Lames look ok in these pix.
 
Whew!
 
 
 
 
Looking very good.
 
 
((but Vertical "scream" face not quite right somehow.))
 
Hmnn... I certainly want to retain this 'coz it has an expressionist/ symbolist wotsit to it (I particularly like it . It's also - vide the images Bret sent - summatt that the Battlestar GalacticaTNG Cylons seem to have (I've never actually seen the series myself but understand that it's on my List sometime after finishing the West Wing). I did spend some time experimenting with various other Helm shapes, particularly the 'No mouth, just the slit of the visor and thepeak of the mouthpiece directly below the visor' one but felt happiest with the present variation on the classic Athenian helm with those cool cheekguards.
The mouthparts as a 'Open mouth' has been used pretty often in SF 'Armour' but I've never seen 'em used in such a 'Munch' manner, but suggestions are - obviously - welcome.
 
Thanks for this.
 
Enclosed;
Some 'back of the envelope -type sketches of the sort of layout I'm planning. At this stage it's best to keep it loose to let the fugures work out where they work best. Knowing their morphology/balance is going to affect this.
 
Rest assured, there are lots of rought sketches like this, often too 'scribbly' to make any visual sense but just testing patterns...
 
Best:
Smuzz