Research

I started off by looking into Mayan clothing and jewellery. A great inspiration was the film Apocalypto, which features very realistic designs and clearly shows the brutal and violent side to Mayan culture. This gave me the idea that although my character was to be a hero, maybe they wouldn't be the kind of hero that our culture is used to. A mayan hero would probably be very savage and warlike so I would like to try and show that. But to also emphasise his heroic status I thought of how in greek sculptures they modelled them to be their idea of the perfect and ideal proportions.

Looking at the Mayan costumes in both Apocalypto and other images it was clear that they didn't wear much in the way of clothing and that feathers and jewellery would also play a large part in their outfit. Colour was also an import aspect with reds, greens and blues being the most commonly used colours.

I also looked into Mayan weapons and symbolism to make my designs more realistic. I like the large simple shapes of the spear and the Maquahuitl, a sword like weapon used by Aztec and Mayan warriors. These would make really nice silhouettes and are easily recognisable as being from those cultures.