Black Panther project entry 3 SKETCHES

The sketches I have done are here now but before that a little more of my research. With the headgear of the black panther I went with something more of a helmet, with his face exposed, i liked the look of the Benin bronze head and it influenced what i wanted my black panther to look like. The Marvel comic rendition of Thor also helped me see how to keep black panther a superhero but still let him stay true to his heritage.

I also got some traditional leopard masks, I'm still working on the symbols for the Black Panther, trying to join the new to the old.
These sketches were drawn mixed, but I've tried to separate them a bit so its easier to see the flow of work.

The first pack of sketches are about the head, i started out by looking at batman and finding out how to him as different as possible from him with straying too far from the black panther look.

i continued and changes his mask into more of a helmet headgear better suited for a warrior king. i incorporated the rings from the benin head mentioned earlier, and turned them into a retractable face guard. i also added a mesh for the back of the helmet, this also has roots in the african helmets I showed at the top. Im still unsure about pointing BP's ears up or back.

I started working on the body and gave BP a sleeveless body suit and split it at the bottom to give it a loin cloth effect. I extended the usual lined gloves and boots into an undergarment. I kept the gold chain but i'm still working on the gold belt. i wanted to put some designs or patterns on his shoulders and loin cloth but I'm still on the fence about what it should be.

Apart from the body i worked on his claws, first I bulked his fingers up to make them look like jungle cat claws,this allowed me to add retractable claws. these claws also had smaller removable claws, like in the sketch below. I also thought of putting palm grips to aid in climbing and scaling buildings. i reduced the length of the glove too which has left a small square area which will have gold placed there. I tried a few versions on how the actual claws should look like. I also redesigned slightly a dagger which Kyle Hotz did for Black Panther 2099, more emphasis on the handle than the blade.

I also worked a bit on BP's armor. I changed it covering most of his back, i emphasized the shoulders, worked a little on the feet and added a tail. I also redid the claw-gloves , I made it similar to the original lined gloves but turned the fingers into claws with prominent knuckles. You can also see a bit of work on the panther pendant of his gold chain here.

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