Character Design Concepts: Retro-Futuristic Aircraft Pilot [Part-1]

Hey guys, as part of my character design research I have recently visited the Leeds City Museum and the Leeds Royal Armouries, and taken many pictures of objects relating where possible to my five character design concepts.

In this post I'm gonna look at the Retro-Futuristic Aircraft Pilot. Now Retro-Futurism is an umbrella term for anachronistic science-fiction genres that combine elements of the past, e.g Victorian technologies/fashions, with futuristic and modern ideas, such as space travel and robotics. The two most prevalent Retro-Futuristic genres are Steampunk and Dieselpunk, Steampunk incorporating 1800's stylings, with Dieselpunk incorporating elements from 1914-1950, with a prominent example being the film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

The theme of Retro-Futuristic Aircraft Pilot actually allows for a broad range of different characters with the two main themes being Military and Pirate, which in turn allows for a range of archetypes.

Some of the possible archetypes include:

Military Protagonist: The Military Protagonist would often be stylised on the Allied Powers of world war one and world war two, particularly in old U.S.A.F or R.A.F fatigues.

This WW1 army surplus duffel-bag is likely to be found on board the craft being used my the Military Protagonist or the Ex military pirate.













Military Antagonist: An Antagonistic Pilot in a Retro-Futuristic setting would often be styled after Prussian and Nazi forces, particularly the Luftwaffen, but may also be modelled after Soviet forces.

Ex-military Pirate: An ex-military pirate would often wear heavily modified military issue equipment, but with pirate insignia instead of their military insignia.

Swashbuckling Airship Pirates: The Swashbuckling Airship Pirates theme is a combination of traditional 18th century pirates and Steampunk fashions.

 Flint/Matchlock pistols and revolvers easily fit a retro-futuristic themed character, and the look may be added to futuristic weapons such as laser or plasma weapons, or even ray-guns.

A Victorian duelling revolver may also be used by my other character concept, the Steampunk Freelance Courier.