My background is in design and animation, so it was natural to take total control over the look of Danimal Kingdom. To this end, my friends and I are building props for a planned video and photoshoot. I'm not gonna give all of it away, but here's a look at our first project: making some special plate armour for a Danimal costume. My friend and neighbour Dan is also my art school buddy and once built a whole suit of armour out of cardboard so he seemed the right guy to get in for this. I had bought some industrial super thick corrugated card in West London from a packaging company and taken it back east on the overground. That was a fucking mission; there was this pikey family on the train that i thought were going to eat me, or perhaps eat one of their screaming kids. They were seriously on the brink of cannibalism.
First I made a 3D model based on my initial drawings, so from this Dan could see the idea from every angle and know exactly what to do.
We made maquettes (smaller scale models) of the design out of paper and then card, until we had worked out and cut out a net for the shoulder pads.
This is me with the finished shoulder pads, sizing up the neck guard that Dan fashioned. We added a lip to it so that we could work out how much of each side needs to taper to fit to the torso section.
And this is Dan equipped with the finished design. It's become extremely rigid, transcending its papery roots by being reinforced with strong glue. Looking awesome I hope you'll agree.
NEXT WEEK: texturing and painting.
