Read on Twitter
My fantasy design sketchbook:
Dragon Sallet
Also let's play a retweet game because I know you love helmets and want to know more about them.
I will post curiosities about helmets in the comments and whenever you learn something new hit the retweet button.
#conceptart #fantasy
Dragon Sallet
Also let's play a retweet game because I know you love helmets and want to know more about them.
I will post curiosities about helmets in the comments and whenever you learn something new hit the retweet button.
#conceptart #fantasy
Helmets are the most common and most important piece of body armor. If medieval soldiers (or peasants in warfare) could only afford a single piece, they would go for a helmet, because it alone greatly improves survivability and prevents protection against a lot of fatal blows
Most soldiers value half helmets over fully enclosed helmets, because they can be worn throughout the day for all kinds of soldierly duties - soldiers need to be be always ready. Knights are the elite and had special battle gear, which is why closed helmets are a knightly symbol.
A lot of low end medieval armor was not polished to a mirror shine, but painted in bright colors to appear more valuable. Generally a lot of medieval clothing and gear was extremely colorful and medieval people loved colors.
credits: @Royal_Armouries / http://myarmoury.com
credits: @Royal_Armouries / http://myarmoury.com
The city Innsbruck in Austria was one of the worlds most important centres of late medieval armor production. It is because of Maximilian I. who had his court there bc of the iron & silver mines in Schwaz nearby - I grew up there.
This helmet is directly inspired by Maximilians'
This helmet is directly inspired by Maximilians'
Some helmet designs simply got discarded due to being dangerous to the wearer.
An example for that is the viking age Vendel Helmet which „glasses“ could guide the tips of spears and swords directly in the viewers eye once hit, as many skeletons remains of the period show
An example for that is the viking age Vendel Helmet which „glasses“ could guide the tips of spears and swords directly in the viewers eye once hit, as many skeletons remains of the period show
Great Helmets / "Templar" helmets with flat tops had a critical construction mistake, which could lead to a broken neck if you got in a good hit directly from the top. They were popular in church orders bc. They were easy and cheap to produce.
Later rounded tops were used.
Later rounded tops were used.
People would wear a smaller more close fitting helmet under a great helmet, usually known as skull-cap. This would be anatomically shaped and surviving examples show that armorers had a really good understanding of human anatomy.
Out of those single piece caps Sallets developed.
Out of those single piece caps Sallets developed.
Most medieval helmets (not skullcaps) would not directly sit on the skull, but have a good distance to the bone and a system of straps and suspenders on the inside, to provide a free floating metal sphere around the head, which can absorb blows
