Taking the Robo Samurai helmet design in a new direction...

 

Above are six variations on the original design I came up with for the Robo Samurai helmet, however as mentioned at the end of my last post - although I felt these were strong and somewhat dynamic drawings they were all a bit too similar to many other Samurai designs out there. So, I decided to start again referencing motorcycle helmets as a starting point before combining these with aspects of the design above.

First thing I did was gather a collection of mainly modern, sports bike motorcycle helmets and studied the lines and shapes used in their design, these are shown below...

 This collection shows a selection of different surface textures, styles of visor and overall shape, some having a flat horizontal base and others a more dynamic and aggressive angular 'jaw' line. I had again intended to concentrate my designs on just the top, sides and back of the Robo Samurai design but was instantly taken with the classic motorcycle helmet top-middle-right and could see how this could be turned into a design with the Samurai face mask being used as the visor. This can be seen in the design to the top-left, below...

I thought the addition of horns at either side would work well and went on to draw a front view. I liked this simplistic design but really wanted to use some of the shapes from the more intricate sports bike helmets in the mood board, especially the ones with the pointed peaks/rain guards. I continued to use the traditional Samurai face mask as well as adding the blades from my original design (shown at the top of the post) in the new designs bottom-left and bottom-right. I also wanted to incorporate more of a robotic eye that will be coloured and glowing in the final illustration. None of these designs were drawn while looking at my Samurai references and didn't really captured the look or attitude I was going for so I went back to my other mood boards to look at the face masks in particular. The design below stood out to me...

This one was slightly different, not as angular as some others I'd looked at. I started a new sheet trying to capture elements of a sports bike helmet with rain guard above a face based on the one above. I also decided to add an elongated, horizontal robotic cyclops eye. 

This was definitely closer to what I had in mind and was the start of a development sheet based on the one design rather than more rough sketches. I alternated the eyes twice, first trying a blacked out visor which I decided looked too much like an ordinary helmet. Secondly, I tried adding two smaller round eyes which I quite liked but felt the original cyclops eye worked better. Next I added the blades which helped make the design look more aggressive and I also hoped would fit well with the design of the shoulder pads. Finally, I tried using both sets of horns that were my favourite designs from the original six shown at the top of this post. The design in the middle was my favourite and I took this on to a new sheet and progressed the design by drawing side, three-quarter and back views which can be seen below...

 This was a very enjoyable challenge and really helped me get a feel for the character and how it will look once added to the finished other parts of the body. I really liked the idea of running the blades off the back of the helmet at an angle making it as dynamic as possible. I also used an idea from one of the photos in the mood board and added a light to the back of the helmet. Next things to consider with this part of the body will be how it connects to the upper body, for now though I'm very pleased with the outcome. Of course, a lot more work could have been done in the initial sketch stages and development but I'm conscious that with just over a month before the final hand in and my baby boy due anytime after the next two weeks, time is of the essence and I really want to not only finish this design but do full body turn arounds, a pose sheet and fully coloured final illustration, if possible. 

The next part I'm going to work on is the lower body looking at sports bikes for inspiration, for time being here is the Robo Samurai design so far...