Landsknecht and Trossfrau, 1520s
I seem to have this obsession with the 16th century in general, and the German Landsknechts in particular. So it seemed only natural that I should choose that as a theme for this personal project. I wanted to see if I could use Marvelous Designer to recreate what I think is the essence of their clothing style.
So, who were the Landsknechts? They were German mercenaries who made up the bulk of several European armies at the time (first half of the 16th century). Perhaps most famous for their extravagant way of dressing, they were also a formidable fighting force, using strict discipline in large blocks of pike and shot to best their foes.
When on campaign, they would bring their families along with them. So in this artwork I created a Landsknecht with his "Frau", and their little Italian Greyhound (a popular dog breed in the 16th century).
The skull was based on a downloaded photoscan (but retopoed and textured by me). For the bread I made a photoscan of my own.
One of the attractive things about this clothing style, in my opinion, is the characteristic silhouette that is the result of tight, well fitted hosen (leggings) and those voluminous slashed sleeves. All clothing was created using Marvelous Designer.
I researched actual period patterns to be able to recreate, as faithfully as possible, typical clothing of a woman of the "Tross" (army train) . The braids were made in XGen using a workflow I figured out after much experimentation.
Some of the props I modelled for these characters. The skull is based on a photoscan.
The Italian Greyhound was a popular dog breed in Renaissance Europe. It looks very much like a smaller Whippet, and can be seen in numerous paintings from the period.
The chainmail was created with the help of a custom MEL script that I wrote, based on a Marvelous Designer simulation. I used Megascans assets for the ground leaves.