Here is my entry for Toa Hagah Kualus. It was a long and arduous process, but the result could’ve turned out worse. Yes, I took heavy artistic inspiration from Randy Eliott and the '05 comics with the general hatching and absence of cross axle patterns. It was a bit of a learning experience, to say the least. The silhouetted Rahi in the background are, indeed, Ice Bats. I’d imagine they’d have Keelerak pincers for wings to get that 2005 look, but this competition isn’t about canonizing Rahi designs-- they’re just for show.
And here is the respective Kanohi.
Credit to BioMediaProject for sourcing the Metru Nui silhouette in the background, etc., etc.
I should quickly clarify that “Lavaman” is another nickname I go by, if you didn’t already draw the connection to “Mount Valmai”.
The “honorary Kanohi shape” I decided to go with was the Great Kakama, which subjectively always felt like the mask I’d imagine Kualus wearing shape-wise: slightly animal-looking, but with sleek lines and a calm “expression”.
I was initially attempting to redesign the Kakama into a sort of “Mangai” shape-- as in, what Lhikan’s Hau is to the normal Hau, but with a Kakama. The “Metru aesthetic”, if you please. You can still see the flat top, vent opening, and long “racing stripe” dividing the center of the Kanohi, as well as the signature angular shapes coming off both cheeks and long eyeholes that taper to the sides of the mask. But the angles are slightly smoothed out, and stripes surrounding the eyeholes have been added for a more regal flourish, resembling “eyebrows” and “fangs”. The extra set of pointed “fins” could be seen as a reference to the Kakama Nuva (or some sort of cat or fox), but the overall intent was to make it look bat-like, as reference to the Ice Bats he learned to communicate with. It looks… unintentionally Tryna-esque. Which I then elaborated on by adding some lenses. The Metru Rau has eye lenses, so why not.
You can take or leave the name I gave for the Mask of Rahi Control (obviously derived from the Latin word for “wild animal”); it was yet another visual flourish. If the design gets approved, it would be cool if Farshtey canonized the name, but once again, it’s not a component of the competition, and I have no immediate expectations for him to.
The illustration is, as appearance would suggest, directly modeled after a MOC originally intended for the competition.
Ignoring the silver shin guards-- which are corrected as white components of the legs in the artwork (they are not supposed to represent “armor” in the drawing, but rather portions of the shins themselves for artistic license)-- the MOC follows all entry parameters. Yes, the drawing’s metallic color is silver– the bluish tinge is simply artistic license to differentiate it from the white. Building the MOC was another process I could ramble over, but that’s for another day-- the actual main entry at hand is the art piece.
Here are some progress shots.
I started, of course, with a pose and looked at the individual components of the set, eyeballing the proportions.
After placing the basic shapes, I gradually added detail, working into the background.
The final drawing looks a bit off, but that’s where digitally scanning it and fixing the linework comes in. Or rather, came in.
Anyways, consent.
I give consent for my mask to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: No. The Kanohi design wouldn’t have so much effort put in if I knew that design would be altered by someone else. I don’t think the possibility of “overlapping masks” will be too big an issue.
I give consent for my metallic color choice to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: No.
I give consent for my spear tip to be altered in the final group art if the artist chooses: Yes.
Well, that should be everything. Best of luck to the other entries!