For my upcycle project I am using inspiration from the Power Rangers and Berserk. In my helmet I am am using a lot of straight lines and futuristic looking shapes. While I am going to use a lot of organic shapes I hope to make it look more futuristic and less natural. For the opposite of my project I think I would embrace nature and go fully natural. First, I would switch my use of material from cardboard to something like wood or maybe even wool. Anything that is natural and could hold a shape even with a little bit of sewing would work. Next I would try to incorporate leaves or vines of some kind to further the sense of naturalism. Maybe use them as hair or someway to accentuate the eyes. Next my idea for the eyes would be to use parts of an aspen tree or maybe another tree with a knot on the bark. Another way I could create the helmet would be to create a Minecraft like helmet thats basically a box. Using wood I could create a box and cut out the holes. Not doing any fancy details or flourishes would be the opposite of what I’m trying to accomplish with upcycle project now. Another thing I could do would be use plastic bags and create a knight like helmet. I think I could create something very simple and using the plastic and making a more functional helmet would not be the close to my project now.

In my sketches I wanted to highlight the use of nature in the one on the left. I used wood cut outs to create the shape of the face and tried to mimic a tree with the leaves and vines coming from the top. This mask would be made out of wood and would try to be simple and define shape. Next for my sketch on the right I wanted to show the simple and blocky style that I could use in-spite of what I am doing now. Using these hard angles and very geometric structure I want to stay away from stylization. In my project I want to create a sense of mystery and not knowing where the lines are leading. Overall I think doing these sketches has helped me see my project now better and realize what details I want to incorporate and what I should stay away from. Doing more stylization and curves is what I’ll need to do to stay away from the humanistic and geometric styles.

In the end I am excited to present my upcycle project and am ecited to see what other have made. I hope to have a functional helmet and something modular that I can swap out and keep working on later on. In the end I want this to be a prototype for a more built version in the future. I want this idea to keep going and think the modular design would allow for personalization and maybe I could make this a 3D print file for people to make themselves.

Images: 1) My sketches

Featured Image) Ai generated