Helm - Tumblr Posts

I've been thinking recently about mask designs that would be wearable with glasses. Here's my first design that I'm happy with. It's kind of a crown or helm concept, which goes across the forehead and then down the sides of the face. I based the cross-hatched design on my popular sea dragon mask design.

Another concept I've been playing with is to just remove the bridge of the nose portion of the mask, so your glasses can rest on the nose like they're designed to. But I haven't yet come up with any designs of that type which I've been particularly fond of.

Since I thought this design was a success, I've posted it up for sale on my Etsy page.

Custom color of the dragon rider helm mask I've made before. The woman who ordered it wanted brown faded into the spines, and she says she intends to airbrush them with a light copper shine. I hope that turns out well.

Here are progress shots of a leather helm I just finished up. Another post with photos of it finished will follow.

I did the designing in Rhino, which is a 3D modeling program I've been using ever since architecture school. It was unexpectedly frustrating to find a 3D scan of a head, but I finally found one on Thingiverse with a creative commons license, which I am grateful for. I really wanted to get the geometry for a head right, that was the whole point.

To be honest, this particular design I was thinking of mostly as a test or proof of concept. I'm planning on making more in a similar manner, and I figure I'll work on more compelling shaping and detailing for those, but I wanted to just make a smooth one first to make sure it worked. I didn't want it to be completely plain, though, so once I'd gotten it cut I punched holes for purposes of putting spikes through.

Then I had the question of what color to do. I figured I could just do a plain black, and with all the spikes it would be extravagant but not out of genre for punk/goth/industrial or something. But I wasn't super excited about that, and I realized that there were 6 sections, and after some agreeing suggestions from a friend, I decided to go for a huge rainbow. Which means it's completely ridiculous, and a good contender for the most outlandish piece I've made to date.

For future versions, I think I'll try with thicker leather. I also figure I'll do some toying with making the pieces fold/bend like spiky scales or something, which would give me something more in keeping with many other of my designs. And maybe also some different patterns of breaking up the surface into panels. And definitely riveting the pieces together, that would be much faster.

Anyway, next up will be photos of the final piece. But not now, tomorrow. It's time for bed.

Here's the completed rainbow leather helm with spike mohawk. It's super ridiculous and I think it's awesome. The large spikes in the center curl back viciously in a claw shape. The two rows of tall cone spikes start out a bit wider in front and narrow as they sweep over the head towards the neck.

As I often do, I laser-cut the pieces out, which lets me pre-cut the holes for the stitching in nice accurate lines. It's also quite well fitted to the shape of a head, since I based the geometry off a 3D scan of a head. (You can see part of that process on my previous post about this design.) 

The leather itself is quite light, though the spikes give it some heft. It weighs in at 10.5 oz total. The weight means it rests pretty solidly on the head even without any straps. Though gravity will take it off if your head tilts past horizontal.

Anyway, I'm really happy with this as a first shot at this concept. I wasn't thinking of this one as a final product to sell, because while working I wasn't positive it would work as well as it did. And then I went and made it super-awesome-gay and kinda-weird. If anyone likes it, though, or would be interested in a version that was less over-the-top in terms of colors or metal, let me know and I'll come up with a price.

my husband's OC who he plays in the campaign I run. I made this before I knew how to use multiply, so one of these days, I want to redo her shading. I also do not know how to make fonts yet lol

Daily draw #34

So I’ve been feeling really hype about my character in monster hunter world, so I decided to draw him in his gear. Damascus helm and Kulve Taroth chest. I love my biggie boi.

Okay, I have to gush over the new HELM space for this season.

For those who might not know, there was a lore entry where Drifter tells Eris she needs to actually decorate her living space on the moon cause it's a glorified laboratory/study. After that, Eris got a tea kettle and a welcome door mat.

But I love how the room in the HELM has been decked out and made to look so cozy and inviting and very nerdy with all of the books. Now I'm imaging Bubo, Ikora, Osiris, Eris, and Chalco decorating this room together. Season of the Haunted's space also had a fun aesthetic, but I like this more.

At the helm

“The Siren”

Artwork by Ben Savory (Dropdeadcoheed)