BA3a Creative Practice - Week 8 Summary

My Week 8

- Russian Nobility

- Ivan Iteration

- Koschei Iteration

Russian Nobility

Because Ivan is a prince, I wanted to briefly do some research on Russian nobility as well as their clothing.

Princes/Tsars

Notable:

Ivan III (the Great) (1440 – 1505)

Ivan IV (the Terrible) (1530 – 1584)

Boyar - 'A boyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Bulgarian, Kievan, Moscovian, Wallachian and Romanian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes (in Bulgaria, tsars), from the 10th century to the 17th century.'

- 'Boyars wielded considerable power through their military support of the Kievan princes. Power and prestige of many of them, however, soon came to depend almost completely on service to the state, family history of service and, to a lesser extent, land ownership. Ukrainian and Russian boyars were visually very similar to knights, but after the Mongol invasion, their cultural links were mostly lost.'

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyar#Etymology

Ivan Iteration Part 1: Initial Sketches For my first designs featuring Ivan, I wanted a mix between normal and more regal clothing. All featuring chain-mail since he is an adventurer and needs to protect himself, however because he is not a member of the military I haven't added as much as Marya, with only two of these designs featuring lower arm protection rather than just leather gloves. Because it was common for princes in medieval Russia to wear tabards, I implemented this within the last design. My favourite designs of his are the first and last on the second row. I like the first one because this coat is something very different to what I've iterated with the other characters I have drawn, and with the last one I like how it looks very 'princely' - but maybe slightly too much? I think this design would look better if I had removed the shuby (fox fur coat).

Ivan Iteration Part 2: Initial Sketches (Regal and With More Armour)

These designs for Ivan were meant as a test to see if he would fit into armour or a boyar -esque outfit. Needless to say, I'm not too keen on the results as I was never overly fond of Ivan wearing heavy armour as I wanted that to be for Marya. The boyar styled coats are also a bit too extravagant for an adventurer who would be slaying monsters as well. I do however, quite like the third design as it features the padding which looks quite cool visually. I think the necklace also works well against the cloak.

Koschei Iteration Part 1: Initial Sketches

For my iteration of Koschei I tested a more regal approach in comparison to more savage one - especially with the ram skulls. The focus of my design choices here was making sure the body looked elongated with the shoulders being as large as possible to increase the look of him being intimidating and towering over people. Out of all of these designs, my favourite is definitely the last one. I think the fact that he's wearing no shirt really fits to his character since he's immortal, and not wearing any shirt is almost a taunt to say 'come and get me if you dare' - when in fact it's exceptionally difficult to kill him by normal means.