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Description
As touched on in yesterday's blurb, Wayland the Smith (or "Volund" in Old Norse) was a renowned elven blacksmith, tinkerer, and inventor. His most famous creation is the flying thingamajig he strapped himself to in order to escape his imprisonment under the evil king Niðuð. The language of the medieval accounts of the story makes the exact nature of his wingsuit a little ambiguous. Some have rendered it as more of a garment, along the lines of Freyja's feather cloak, while others depict it as something more mechanical. Personally, I prefer the latter just for the aesthetic and the fact that it lends itself more to Wayland's reputation as the master inventor. Some Icelandic manuscripts even substitute Wayland for the name of Daedalus, famed winged inventor of Greek mythology. Daedalus's son burned up in the atmosphere, though, while Wayland's son went on to be a legendary hero in his own right. Get roasted, Icarus.

Design notes, I've already mentioned how mechanical things are not my forte, so this was certainly a challenge. My primary baseline was the Uppårka winged figure, a 10th century artifact once thought to be Loki, but now believed to be our subject today. It is heavily stylized, but I think I was able to extract some good shapes out of it nonetheless. The body was simple enough… and then came the wings. Good lord those were a pain in the ass. The only depiction I could find of the wings as a more mechanical artifice was an illustration from a 1914 book titled "Myths and Legends of All Nations" by Logan Marshall, so I started with that and extrapolated from there. Secondarily, I turned to the blueprints of Leonardo da Vinci's famous ornithopter, though these aren't as consistent as one would imagine them to be. I really just ended up using the framework from these references. Lastly, I turned to Marvel for inspiration, I know, as if the color palette didn't give that away XD I actually took more inspiration from the Vulture than Iron Man, though, both the MCU version and the PS4 version. The final composition does look a little stiff, but I'm honestly kinda rolling with that. Looking into the way ornithopters work, I like the idea that it isn't Wayland flapping his wings that propels him into the sky, but the sheer kinetic energy built up in this springy structure that launches him forwards with every flap. There's certainly room for improvement, but this design has grown on me, and I think it's suitable enough to keep it pretty low on my revisit list.

Description
As touched on in yesterday's blurb, Wayland the Smith (or "Volund" in Old Norse) was a renowned elven blacksmith, tinkerer, and inventor. His most famous creation is the flying thingamajig he strapped himself to in order to escape his imprisonment under the evil king Niðuð. The language of the medieval accounts of the story makes the exact nature of his wingsuit a little ambiguous. Some have rendered it as more of a garment, along the lines of Freyja's feather cloak, while others depict it as something more mechanical. Personally, I prefer the latter just for the aesthetic and the fact that it lends itself more to Wayland's reputation as the master inventor. Some Icelandic manuscripts even substitute Wayland for the name of Daedalus, famed winged inventor of Greek mythology. Daedalus's son burned up in the atmosphere, though, while Wayland's son went on to be a legendary hero in his own right. Get roasted, Icarus.

Design notes, I've already mentioned how mechanical things are not my forte, so this was certainly a challenge. My primary baseline was the Uppårka winged figure, a 10th century artifact once thought to be Loki, but now believed to be our subject today. It is heavily stylized, but I think I was able to extract some good shapes out of it nonetheless. The body was simple enough… and then came the wings. Good lord those were a pain in the ass. The only depiction I could find of the wings as a more mechanical artifice was an illustration from a 1914 book titled "Myths and Legends of All Nations" by Logan Marshall, so I started with that and extrapolated from there. Secondarily, I turned to the blueprints of Leonardo da Vinci's famous ornithopter, though these aren't as consistent as one would imagine them to be. I really just ended up using the framework from these references. Lastly, I turned to Marvel for inspiration, I know, as if the color palette didn't give that away XD I actually took more inspiration from the Vulture than Iron Man, though, both the MCU version and the PS4 version. The final composition does look a little stiff, but I'm honestly kinda rolling with that. Looking into the way ornithopters work, I like the idea that it isn't Wayland flapping his wings that propels him into the sky, but the sheer kinetic energy built up in this springy structure that launches him forwards with every flap. There's certainly room for improvement, but this design has grown on me, and I think it's suitable enough to keep it pretty low on my revisit list.