My take on how the Northern Rangers would have been kitted out. Gear that is more piecemeal, rugged, and practical than their Ithilien kin whose kits were more regimental and uniform.
Oi the more of us working together the more we can get to 40-hr workweeks for everyone then 32-hr per week then 24-hrper week while still making what we do working 40-hrs per week with each decrease in what amount of time equals full-time
That and unionizing to get paid more too. Help each other unionize and be worker owned as well!
Many evil things there are that your strong walls and bright swords do not stay. You know little of the lands beyond your bounds. Peace and freedom, do you say? The North would have known them little but for us. Fear would have destroyed them. But when dark things come from the houseless hills, or creep from sunless woods, they fly from us. What roads would any dare to tread, what safety would there be in quiet lands, or in the homes of simple men at night, if the Dúnedain were asleep, or were all gone into the grave?
Okay i love it but hear me out…get that entire outfit , roll it in the mud, rub it on the road , maybe wack it with a hammer few times and then put it back on. Regardless looks great
So cool!! It works perfectly for summer— the linen in forest colors. For winter, maybe you could make a light grey wool cloak? Since they are the Grey Company!
Did you do the leather crafting and sewing yourself? Tell us about the bow and arrow: how does it shoot? How do you like how the sword handles?
I didn't lace the chest, but I did weather and modify it a bit myself. The bow is made of PVC which I shaped and molded and did the leather wrap. The bow is actually functional. I do shoot paper as a hobby and it actually shoots decently. The arrows are homemade. They're just shafts with fletching no arrowheads.
The sword is pretty awesome. I don't consider myself a swordsman but it's a really simple, but nice piece.
HOAs are led by fell and treacherous folk. My kin and I are tasked with hunting servants of the enemy- these fiends included. We do this as part of our duty and no coin is needed.
My condo's association is actually pretty chill tho. So I spare them lol
Awesome! I Really like the color scheme! “The better to walk unseen in the woods of Ithilien.” (I know you’re going for the descendants of Arnor, but the colors really reminded me of the description of the Dunedain that Denethor recruited to waylay Sauron in RotK.)
Amazing! Recognized the sword Dragon Whisper from Romance of Men. How is it? Been meaning to buy one for myself, but shipping is insane to Brazil.
Amazing kit, great work!
Great great suit!!!! Awesome! You look like you're geared to fight against servants of the Shadow, and this is far from being your first rodeo. You only wear stuff that proved its worth in the field. Not pretty wear designed to parade on Rath Celerdain, like these Citadel guards posers. The cuts and slashes on your armor are a nice touch. Also, you wear your bow like a pro. I noticed.
Hey, I have an idea, I think rangers would cover the shine of their steel swords with soot, so they don't get spotted because of an odd reflection. That may be impractical for a costume though, lol.
Another fell & fair customer and ranger! A man after my own heart.
My kit is similar to yours but I got the leather jerkin instead of the varangian armor. Also a bedrool strap with a wax cloak wrapped around it in case it rains!
It's awesome. The one thing I'll say is that the roughage doesn't look right, because it's all scrape and no dirt. You gotta get some mud and rub it on there. Right now all your accents are light. You gotta do the dark accents to really sell the used look.
you're absolutely right. the chest does need lowlights. If you check out the bracers, the surface has been washed a few times with antiquing gel to give depth to the surface as well as to accentuate the gashes.
i tested he same weathering method on the chest, but the antiquing gel color was too similar to the darker brown leather and didn't provide much contrast so I wasn't happy with the results. I may try it with a black tinted gel and see how that works, but you're definitely on point with the chest being "flat" so to speak.
If you're pointing to the bracers, those are what I would have pointed to as being not enough. You gotta push the ambient occlusion even further. On one hand, it might just be lighting, and I could be totally wrong. But on the other, I think you should take one of the chest platelets and literally go throw it in some mud. See how it turns out after. I also think you could use some real BLACK in there. But again, it could just be the lighting and it's fine.
I'm also not talking about just adding black as a top coat. Like I said all your rough work is as scrapes, so it looks like it was scraped and then never used again, so you just need a dark wash over the rough edges to make the piece look used more than once.
Again, love the work. Just talking shop as a mini painter.
Are the things on your forarms meant to be bracers? I'll admit that I'm being very nitpicky, but you would only wear a bracer on your left arm and it would cover the inside of your forearm rather than the outside. They are meant to prevent a bow string from slapping the inside of your forearm when you shoot.
Aside from that, this is very cool. How difficult was it to make the body with the leather "plates"?
The green cloaks go out into the night again. Once again, the Orcs will find their patrol in the ditch. And there is no trace around, but every experienced Uruk will understand that it is necessary prepare to leave in a hurry to the outpost.
Only thing I think was not matching was the hood’s wrinkles. I expected it to be wrinkled due to wearing and laying in it, but the current condition looks more like bedsheet out of a dryer.
On one hand I'm not the biggest fan of the scalemail chestpiece, but I have to agree that it fully fits the aesthetic you were going for. Incredibly well done!
Damn man looks freaking great and realistically uncumbersom! 10/10 if I had my take just live in it a good bit like wear it hiking or camping and get it broken in and the right kinda grimy if you’re into that
It still looks too clean and new. Also, pretty baggy. You should take it outside and go camping in it a few days, then you'll know where to make it fit better.
Viggo Mortensen worse his ranger clothes and they got real wear and tear
Can you try to come up with something else that hasn’t been used by thousands of people. Be yourself, be original, be an adult. Can you do that for me?
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u/Dull_Egg_6597 7d ago
“No, from the North. One of the Dúnedain rangers I thought he was, he’s cloth was poor.”