For the record: BABD is generally not devoted to reviewing personal work. This is the second time I do a critique on someone’s design and the reason in both cases was… well, the artist asking politely.
From now on it probably won’t happen, especially when we’re not provided with details on the context for wearing the armor in question (see wincenwork’s notes at the bottom).
~Ozzie

adilia-the-kouhai submitted:

I wanted to ask you if you think this design is ok, function wise, that is, I realize that I have some problems in the thigh area that I need to fix and maybe the gauntlets but I thought I would ask around.

Sorry for making you wait so long for an answer. A critique of such intricate design really needs bit more attention and knowledge than i have, so I asked a friend who’s more familiar with such complex armors for his opinions.

Keep in mind we weren’t provided with further info regarding the character  (species, gender, their built without an armor on) so we’re assuming they are are human (and I assume it’s a woman, since we’re on a female armor blog).

My friend’s notes:

• add some armor to the groin, if you didn’t do so outright
• the left pauldron doesn’t seem to be able to move
• the hips seem stuck in one position with no ability to shift
• if the helmet is all made of metal, it will be too heavy to wear
• the eye slits should be bigger and the eyes seem too far apart
• the “collar” of this cuirass should be metal and not folded if it’s supposed to protect their neck.
  If not and it’s purely cosmetic, you should consider extending the rim of one of the pauldrons, preferably the left side, to form a shoulder guard.

My notes:

• As hinted above, the helmet’s design seems unbalanced, with a lot of needles material and weight at the back of the head.
• I assume the wavy element near the right thigh is a piece fabric… and it doesn’t do much beside looking cool. Which is okay if that’s what you’re looking for, but from practical standpoint it would probably get caught up in many things.
• Same for the hair. It looks epic when it blows in the wind, but unless you’re going more for the coolness than believability, then long flowing hair is probably the last thing a knight wants exposed. It’s super uncomfortable and provides something easy to grab for the enemy.
• The pointy ornaments on the leg guards would probably just scratch everything and be generally bothersome. They also don’t match the armor’s overall fluid organic design.
• I see your notes at the side, but if you wanted to convey those characteristics through armor design, I don’t think you ultimately managed to.
  To be fair though, armor is not generally a type of design that expresses how funny or loving a person is (unless you want to be unoriginal and have kitschy heart ornaments all over it).
  Also traits like ‘fidgety’ is expressed through posing, not clothing. For example the stable stance you drew here conveys confidence and reliability, possibly also heroism (that’s a “stock pose” for many superheroes).

Also please take the general notes from the last time I answered someone’s request for an armor critique. Hope it helps!
~Ozzie

I hesitate to provide any real critique without knowing the context of the armor and the story it’s supposed to tell.  From a practicality point of view the most important things to know about an armor before judging it are:

• What is it protecting the wearer against? (swords, bullets, fire, explosions, plasma rifles, dragons, etc)
• What does the wearer need to be able to do? (run, be visible on the battlefield, climb ladders, shoot, fight with a sword, leap thirty feet into the air, etc)

The other critical factors to consider are the constraints of the setting. High fantasy, low fantasy, space opera, hard science fiction, etc. These genres all provide different opportunities and challenges for a heroic warrior. 

Without knowing these details it’s difficult to say what is and isn’t particularly practical. Unless it’s something that would qualify for bingo of course.

– wincenworks