Need Advice for my Trooper Uniform

feodrich

so, im trying to ask around for advice in various sections of the forums on given aspects of my character to see if i can improve any of what im doing or get some inspiration from a source which, otherwise would be unknown to me and i have decided to see if my costume could use any improvement.

the concept i originally wanted to go with was something akin to a sci fi armored soldier perhaps with the addition of some gadgets here and there, i wanted to go for the armor plated look while still leaving some exposed areas which are covered in camo, much like the Imperial Guard from Warhammer 40k or the Mobile Infantry of Starship Troopers, i figured i would rather the plates have more of a hardened plastic look like the Stormtroopers of Star Wars or (again) like the Imperial Guard as opposed to being largely cloth carriers for hardened plates (as with real life soldiers) or largely metal plates (as with the marines from halo)

i also wanted to have a sweet helmet of some sort while trying to ensure as little of the bare skin as possible was exposed (much like an armored space suit, bits which are exposed to space are bits which are going to freeze off), the addition of a gas mask would have been ideal but aside from not being able to remove the metal (and ergo, shiney) look from the existing ones i didnt care much for most of the options i had to choose from

this so far is what i have managed to achieve.





for the colorscheme i was initially unsure what direction i should take, i once tried a gunmetal gray/teal look which did not pan out so i decided i would go with a basic Olive Green for the bulk of the suit, while its not necessarily an amazing look (and indeed, it would be very poor camouflage outside of a forest) the green look is very often used for soldiers so i thought it would be a good starter, i tried to pair it with colors that would go well with it so i attempted to go for earthy tones such as Beige and Brown with a touch of dull, metal looking colors for the various little bits, equipment, buttons and so on.

not being sure what to do for the coloring of my weapons i maintained the same colorscheme and made half of their bodies (such as the iron sights, barrels and so on) gunmetal black as seen above

i had however decided that my outfit was lacking in color so i decided to come up with an alternate colorscheme and look just in case.

going back once again to the imperial guard i noticed some of the cadian shock troops from 40k had lightning bolts and other strange, jagged figures painted on their armor in a stark orange or brown look and decided to see how that would pan out here, in addition i swapped out my jetpack for a combat backpack to help round out the trooper look (i had not swapped out my shoes for some form of jet boots as at the time i was unsure about bringing this outfit into play), i also modified my gauntlet slightly to both give it more color and detail (though it feels to me less like good ballistic armor now given this change as usually you dont want to break up the plates in this manner), likewise i feel that while the lightning bolts add a great deal of extra color and detail to an otherwise plain outfit there is too much brown and not enough green in this given iteration





i dont know if i've done a good job or not but given the tools i had available i feel this is an excellent first try

feodrich

as you are only allowed to have four screenshots per post i have had to make a second posting, these screens should provide slightly closer detail as well as giving an idea as to how the armor would look from other angles.

Version One





Version Two





any thoughts (including negative ones) will be accepted, im looking for constructive criticism, tips and advice.

serpinecoh

I actually really like him in the non-lightning version. Very nice military design and the yellow provides a good highlight.

cybersoldier1981

Get your hands on that UNTIL pilot helmet.

bobsy26

I think with a character like this the first question you need to ask yourself is 'what kind of trooper is he?' and more to the point what is the nature of the army he is from. The classic Imperial Stormtrooper, for example, is the military arm of an oppressive dictatorship, and as such their armour is designed to eliminate every trace of humanity from their appearance.



First off, there is no skin showing, to the point that at a very young age I remember being unsure if they were supposed to be human or robot under the armour. Secondly, the helmet has no real mouth shape, so there is no hint of emotion on the trooper. Finally, the white colour with the large black eyes can look subtly skull-like without doing it overtly.

The more the face is covered, the more enigmatic or alien the character will be. Heroes usually leave their heads uncovered - as TV Tropes puts it, .

Warhammer 40k's Space Marines zig-zag the trope. On the one hand, the heroic captains usually go helmetless, while the grunts leave their helmets firmly on. In media, if the Space Marines are being portrayed as oppressive, they won't take them off. As heroes, they will.

Starship Troopers is an interesting example - anyone that's seen the film knows that the military in there is hardly heroic, being as closely tied to an oppressive dictatorship as the Stormtroopers from Star Wars. But the film makes clear the value of propaganda, and as such the troopers have a much more friendly and accessible image, with lighter armour and uncovered faces. It's to back up the idea of the military as liberators, when in fact they are invaders.

...


All of which is a long way of saying I didn't really know what you intended so I dived in and came out with something that's actually incredibly similar. I stuck with the gunmetal grey idea though. It manages to look a bit subtly 1940s Wehrmacht, though. Since WW2 the cliche military colour code has been green for good, grey for bad. This fella is grey with green highlights, so analyse that, Sigmund,




(remember, the bottom picture is a costume file. Save it to your screenshots folder and you'll be able to load it in the game)

feodrich

interesting points to consider, you bring up themes for the design of soldiers that had not occurred to me, i knew i wanted to look like a proper soldier but i more or less stopped there and just tried to design what felt like would be a proper uniform, i knew i wanted the mouth, nose and top areas to be covered in some way that made sense but i wanted at least the eyes relatively exposed (they are still behind a glass visor but you can clearly SEE them in my example)

my focus was largely on the technical aspects as opposed to the thematic ones (would this look like it was rated for space, key areas and arteries should be armored with thick, rigid plates, are these plates heavy enough to overly impede movement, etc)

once i finish writing the character backstory i believe i will be coming back here and seeing if i should be making tweaks in that regard to make the character seem more human