This is a mecha design based on a knight. I referenced a knight's armour from the helmet, pauldrons, gauntlets, breastplate, tassets and greaves to design the mecha.
I wanted the mecha to present a stoic and strong look with its full armour plating. I even thought that it could be agile, having to move flexible compared to the real armour that limits those movements.
If I thought of the type of weapons that the mech could wield they would be a longsword, axe, mace, and halberd. I say this because I find the mech to be more strength attributed as its designed similar to a strong built figure.
The mech was inspired by the titular mecha from the anime Teggen Toppa Gurren Lagann (2007, Gainax, dir. Hiroyuki Imaishi). Because of this I wanted to design the mech to be heroic in its presence.
I coloured in the mech with metallic colours to simply present it as a knight, there are two versions. The left shows the mech with a visor whilst the right without one, referring to the knight's helmet. I prefered the with-visor mecha becuase it seems suitable to have a heroic feel to it.
The various colour schemes below are what I played with to give the mech more character.
The blue colour scheme (top middle) is based on the similar pattern from the video game Kingdom Hearts 3 (2019, Square Enix) where the playable character 'Sora' changes the colours of his clothes based on his powers. With this, I thought this would bed for a main character to pilot, it has an energy that feels like it represents the pilot of positive attitude.
The red scheme ( top right) has flame patterns across it body. I made contrast between the colours, having the darker red as the under part of the armour blend with the silver and bright red. I had green eyes to blend with the red visor, expressing that there is something powerful luriking within the flames.
For the gold scheme (bottom left) is also another pattern based on Sora's colour changing clothes. I wanted to have him look as if it is a higher ranked design. Something reminiscent of a champion that presents a glorious form. The waist included diamond pattern that is based on chain mail, metal clothing that is worn underneath the armour for more protection.
The black + yellow scheme (bottom middle) is inspired from the titular hero from the series Kamen Rider Zero-One (Toei, debut 2019) who has the similar pattern. I mimicked the colours to go for a simple look, but I even wanted to pay tribute to the hero.
The blue + red scheme (bottom right) is based on another mecha from Gurren Lagann that has the same colours. This time I changed the visor to a black glass shade with the light streaks across.
Personally my favourite colour scheme I experimented with is the second one, becuase it uses blue and grey shadings that I feel complements one another. The star patterns also help with the compliment, which allows the colours to stand out.
What I have learnt from designing the mecha and experimenting with colour schemes is that I have understood the reference I had researched. Understanding how each armour piece protects the body and to result in how I intreprete it to my variation of what it could look like on a mecha. Even with the colour schemes I wanted to figure out how it can give character for the mech but also be a personification for the pilot.
I am pleased with how the design of the mech turned out and will continue to develope my ideas and designs of mechas.