Moth Knight

It's a Moth. It's a Knight. It's a Moth Knight. Why did I choose a moth? I like moths. And why a knight? Because they have armour. And I don't like armour.

Initially, I had four different ideas, each very much detached from each other. Ultimately, the fairy knight on the bottom right won me over as a concept. Mainly due to the fact that I've always struggled with portraying armour. Unlike cloth, it doesn't bend but it needs to allow for freedom of movement. It seemed like an enticing challenge.

First, some shape exploration. Very loose and mainly drawing from the build of actual insects for the exaggeration of proportions. Seeing as they have an exoskeleton, I figured I could use this as a design element, trying to replicate the limb shapes and having fun with the antennae, making it part of the silhouette.

Narrowing down my preffered exploration designs into two categories, I started to think about the character in more specific terms. Were they built for speed or strength? With two archetypes to work off of, I picked speed as I liked the top right design best to further itterate on. Meaning the design had to show elegance and flow, regal and proud.

Keeping the previous designs on the side to draw elements from, still, I went to basic shapes to truly push around what I could, experimenting with shoulder pads and the thickness of the upper leg and how the breastplate was going to inform the torso. 

Once again, picking elements from the previous designs and itterating, with additional focus on the wings and the collar and the antennae as design elements.

Next came a more detailed breakdown. With the big shapes down, it was time to start seeing what my knight needed as part of armour. While I mainly focused on a full set, I was prepared to remove components for aesthetic purposes, all while also deciding the parts that had to stay no matter what such as a breastplate, a helment, sabatons and gauntlets.

Knowing what components were involved in a little more detail, I went on to silhouettes, trying out varying shapes using the 'mould' I had picked as my base. Triangles playes a big part in that design so it made sense to continue that here, wanting to put emphasis on upward and outward pointing triangles, similar to the shape of the antenea.

After a little outlining and analysis of the flow of my top three designs, I settled on a mic of the middle and right designs.

Being unfamiliar with most armour components, I sought out inspiration from real photos of armour, decorative or practical. I liked this breastplate in particular due to the sharp changes in faces. Yet, I felt there had to be more I could do with this design.

So I went and gathered even more references, plus two extra moths for good measure. The faint design in the back was a mock exploration that I went on to clean up and try new ideas on top of, using the references, to help me visualise it.
I also added a little lantern on his hip since moths are drawn to light, I thought it's be a fun way to break the symmetry.

With the main body figured out, it was time to work on the wings, wich I pretty much based entirely on my two reference images. I liked the colours and patterns as it reminded me of this royal flair I wanted for the character.

The colour palette was based entirely off of the wings, which was a helpful way to pick colours. The gold and red and white already worked well together so it made sense to carry thpse elements through the rest of it.

And here is the design rendered and displayed. It turned out a lot more complicated than I thought, but I would lie if I said I didn't enjoy the detail and the engravings. If I had more time, I would have loved to do even more detailed exploration and itteration, as well as a splash art piece to go with it.

Ultimately, I believe I achieved what I set out to do, even if it was far from the design I imagined I'd make when I picked this theme.