what's your thought process for armour designs?
It can be inspired by anything really; a color palette, a weapon type, animal, plant, etc. It can also stem from the character themselves and what about them (be it personality or ability or just vibes) I want to shine through in their look.
Once I have a starting point, I mess around a lot with shape language and motifs that fit the "goal" of the design. I like to find a shape that repeats in different areas of the designs to help reinforce what the character "is about".
Most designs end up being a combination of several different sources of inspiration that I think helps each Knight stand out from the other. For instance, the "Piercing Wind Knight" was inspired by the classic "Robin Hood" attire, a hummingbird, and repeating angular "arrow" shapes.
I didn't start with these right away though; I went into the character thinking "I want a knight that fires a magically summoned arrow". I had also recently watched "The Boy and The Heron", and although feathers are already naturally associated with birds/feathers, I was interested in combining those things visually. This is the part of the process where research is important; It's okay to have ideas for the design already, but be open to letting anything about the look change when you feel you've come up with something that fits better.
Once I started throwing around the shape language and I was fitting in the arrow/triangular motif, I though of a tri-corn/cap which lead me to outfits like Robin Hood, which also fit nicely with what I wanted for this look. As for which bird specifically, hummingbirds are fast and angular so that was hitting the right mark, and their color palette is pleasing visually to me. This blue-green tied back to the Robin Hood inspiration as well.
So after that, it's just down to lots of sketching to try my best to have these different elements blend together into one design!
This was a long winded answer to your question so I hope it answered it at least somewhat!
TLDR: I'm always on the lookout for inspiration, whether it spurs me to create something entirely knew, or helps me finish an incomplete idea. If something grabs my attention, I make a mental note to see if it can be expanded upon to become part of a future design.
That being said, I think the best advice I've been given is to go out into the world. Look closely at nature and architecture and art. Read stories and learn the origin of things; that's what I feel is the best way to come up with ideas. Let yourself be inspired and see what happens!
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