NORSE KRATOS...time to kill Odin

insaneklown89

Alright so I am starting a concept for a project to keep me busy over the summer. I just beat God of War recently and Kratos is definitely my favorite game character so I figured I'd suit him up for what should definitely be his next adventure, Norse mythology. Here is a sketch to block out the armor. I'm going to go in and paint it(cause I need the practice) when I finalize the concept, and then I'll model it. Let me know what you guys think, more spikes, fur, and skulls? I'll add the Celtic/Norse designs when I paint it, I just didn't feel like doing it this early on. Oh and his tattoo is going to take the same path across his body but I has thinking about having it be a Celtic knot.

zenarion

Well, If you are gonna make him nordic, he better wear more clothes. Warrior or not, he will get cold and if he doesn't cover himself up somewhat. What you can do to reveal his muscular physique (as Kratos usually is seen!) is to rip some clothes off, like they've been damaged in battle. But please don't go the road of fur speedos.

Steve Schulze

Sounds like a great project. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

A fur cloak would seem to suit the character without covering up too much of that all important man-flesh.

One thing you might consider is to take some artifacts from Norse mythology and co-opt them into the armour design as they did with the likes of the Golden Fleece in the games. Maybe something like the Brisingamen which would likely have a similar magical defensive property to GoW's golden fleece. There are plenty of options for weapons and other usable artifacts too.

I recommend taking the time to do some real research on Nordic mythology and see what you can come up with.

.Murder

i like this, but you deffo need to do more research into the types of clothes they wore, orther wise he'll end up dying of the cold b4 he gets to kill odin! But yea, i love the idea. keep at it, i look forward to seeing more of this!!

TheMadArtist

I actually already thought that it might be cool to do a GOW game that's a complete retelling of the story, only have it placed in Norse mythology.

You might want to check out the movie The 13th Warrior. Tons of great reference in there, and it might kind of give you a mood and a feel for how to make Kratos a viking character. Personally I think you're staying too true to the original design. Really go out there and redesign him as a viking, not just the same Kratos only with some viking imagery over his existing clothes.

There was a comic series done a few years back called 1602, in which Alan Moore took most of the Marvel universe and had the story take place 400 years later. The characters were redesigned for the times, but still had traits that made you know who they were (some much more obvious than others). They took Daredevil from a blind superhero in spandex that looked like this:http://huntersinsight.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/daredevil.jpg

And redesigned him to fit into the past by looking like this:http://marvel.com/universe3zx/images/thumb/b/be/Matt1602.jpg/440px-Matt1602.jpg

I'd take a similar approach and really push the idea of Kratos as a viking and try for something very different, as opposed to playing it safe.

PixelMasher

yea right now the design kinda reads like african stylings with the teeth and animal skull. dual skull crushing hammers would be dope , or a Nordic shield slug across his back could be neat too.

insaneklown89

Alright, I'm done with finals so I now have time to get cracking on Norse Kratos again. I added some scale mail, Loki's Helmet, Heimdalls Horn, a cloak and Fenrir's Fangs. I replaced the skull for Tyr's Rune of courage (the arrow). I think I'm going to keep axes for his primary weapon and then some extras weapons are going to be Thor's hammer, Odin's Spear, Frey's sword, and Skadi's Bow.

TheMadArtist

About the helmet, vikings didn't actually ever use horned helmets like you see in popular fiction. But, if you're not worried about that, then no sweat. You could always use a helmet like this:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/authentic%20viking%20helmet/Vincent_Traina/History/VikingHelmet-1.jpg
and incorporate his face paint into the helm design.

Some ref that might be useful:
http://pslan.com/torrents/images/230491.jpg
http://www.runewebvitki.com/13thWarrior1.JPG
http://n2.nabble.com/file/n1087847/4123570_gal.jpg

uneditablepoly

I think you should try making him a little bulkier. Especially in your first concept, it just felt like normal Kratos wearing armor of a different theme. Try to get the character itself to convey the change of theme.

insaneklown89

Thanks for the advice, but I like the horns. Any advice on doing the fur or is it pretty much trial and error with tons of planes.