After the relative isolation we all experienced over the last few years, it was an absolute joy to attend the Fantasy Basel (“Swiss Comic Con”) Convention recently and share the early design concepts for Imperial Twing with attendees as well as getting to experience all of the fun and of course the amazing costumes!
In order to celebrate the planned launch of Imperial Twing, and motivated by the amazing costumes on display and especially my favourite the fabulous “Gerald of Rivia” presented by Ben of Maul Cosplay, I have decided to create an Archmage costume which I hope will be fitting of the title graciously bestowed upon me by her Royal Highness the Empress, being that of the Imperial Archmage.
I plan to share the development of the costume with all of you here, which I hope you will find entertaining …. and I look forward to showing off the final creation at Fantasy Basel next year 🙂
Initial design ideas
The most important (and most difficult, at least for me) first step is to choose the style of character I want to portray.
The Imperial Archmage (in relation to Imperial Twing) is both a character of power and mystery, and still need to be fun. Our description on the website says that the Archmage “Has endless knowledge about the magic of the 0 and 1 and everything in between. ” which leads me to want to include elements of “technomage” in the design whilst also honouring the traditional fantasy mages.
So my inspirations for the character come from a range of genres including Gandalf (of course, possibly the most legendary of all great wizards), the technomage Galen from the wonderful Babylon 5 and Milamber (aka Pug) from Raymond E. Feist’s novels (although for this last imagery is sadly lacking and I have drawn on some fan art courtesy of “Nylah” ).
Concept
Given these varied influences, my initial design concept is one of:
- Long dark robes, including a hood (or perhaps a silly hat …)
- Bearded face (I think I’m going for the long grey bearded look similar to Gandalf)
- A long staff – preferably something typically “wizardly” but ideally with some kind of etchings with light effects along the shaft
- Also carrying a magic book/tome of some kind which contains deep mystical wisdom and magic lore
- The symbol of the Archmage is the inverted triangle so I will incorporate that as a pendant or broach
- And of course, one of the magical Teddies … the most legendary and powerful of all magical objects imbued with the power of the Orn.
Execution
I have begun collecting (or at least ordering) some items I hope I can incorporate into the final costume and will share images of progress (or lack therefore) in future posts.
I hope you will enjoy sharing this journey and I welcome any suggestions and inputs you might have into the development of the costume. Please feel welcome to email me at archmage@imperialgames.ch