Step by step

 From an initial thumb nail sketch with only very rough ideas I was able to take my favourite parts of the original sketch, the high collar, fold back communication antenna, and the general mask design and refine them into a full armour concept. From here I ditched the second collar, took some design elements further and then designed a concept for what the rest of the armour would look like based on the styling of the limited amount seen so far. Again many parts of this armour concept appealed to me and they are what led me to the decision to take the design further.

In the design I incorporated some of the ideas I had developed around joint flexibility with panels visible at the elbows designed to slide over and under one another to remain flexible whilst providing upmost protection. I decide that the second high collar would be mostly pointless, and made the wearer look like they had abnormally long shoulders. The fold away antenna took me in the direction of having many essential gadgets be able to fold away. There are parts on the side of the lower leg, the ribs and also the collar that would eventually become deployable jet nozzles for use in flight. I was very aware how similar to Iron man this concept could become and so I was keen to keep a safe distance whilst simultaneously not deciding to do things differently simply because Marvel did them first. With this in mind, and the fact that I wanted my suit to be more realistic, I wanted to stay well away from jet boots as a form of propulsion and palm blasters as the main weapon. It was the separate arm cannons  that actually led to the most interest and change as I took my concept the next step forwards.

I had drawn the cannons in a way which made them look very detachable, almost like they could be removed and swapped out for a different weapons load depending on the suits use and mission. Having added these modular weapons I also opted to add some slots on the thigh and shoulders like these would be the receiving bays for other weapons or add-ons. This was a very interesting idea to me, as I think it is very similar to what the real military would actually do. Not every mission needs the same kit, nor every soldier, so they are given different weapons and equipment but with the same base protection and uniform. My suit would be that base, and the modular accessories would make it useful in a variety of military theatres. I wanted to take this idea further, and also to add some complexity to the somewhat plain armour, as such I began developing the same suit with a few alternative parts.

As I began adapting the armour I made the decision that the pop out jets that I had designed were somewhat impractical and also a little too futuristic, I wanted to take them back a step. I replaced the parts on the ribs and collar with a jet pack and swapped the legs for small modular jets. This facilitated the collar being significantly reduced in size, so that it was much closer to the neck. The only other major change was to the thighs and biceps. The thighs were adapted to look like they could handle more flexibility and both parts were increased in complexity to add a better aesthetic quality. The design as a whole had small elements added to it, these make it look more like many smaller armour plates, and make it look more like it actually has a function and could exist in the real world. 

Upon finishing this design I knew it was the design I was going to make, and I could finally move from pre-production into production. Time to get my hands dirty in ZBrush