Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School Art Reference: Emma's Service Uniform (Patreon)

Hey everyone!

I have something super exciting to show you guys!

It’s a little bit of a departure from our usual reference lineup whilst we wait for the Thalmin reference commission! :D

This particular art piece has been in the works for a little while now, and it’s something that I’ve been looking forward to ever since I started drafting up the worldbuilding for Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School! :D

As seen in the little lore blurb that came with the first reference for Emma, I’m a sucker for exploring the sociocultural dynamics of a world and its setting through palpable elements we can most visibly see; that being fashion and clothing. It’s these visual elements of the world that are really tricky to convey in writing, that I also ironically love diving into because fashion and design are just things that can tell a lot about a culture. From its values to its heritage to its history and even its ideologies; fashion and clothes are some of the most visible elements of a society. And that visibility is more often than not the result of purposeful design pulling from the subconscious values of a given society at a given point in time.

We saw that with Emma’s casualwear, with how elements of contemporary design carried over by virtue of her preferences for comfort over aesthetics which gives us a glimpse at how open her society is when it comes to fashion norms. This is contrasted rather intensely when compared to Ilunor’s design and how every element of his outfit comes as a result of a strict society of unwavering and arbitrary rules governing social decorum.

However, when it comes to formalwear and uniforms in particular, things get a bit more interesting. Because uniforms are designed with purposeful intent not by a single individual, but by the institutions that make up society. Which, in the case of Emma’s uniform, is the military.

A lot can be read from how a uniform looks as a result.

And that’s exactly why I wanted to design Emma’s service uniform the way it is.

First off, we have the overall look and feel of the uniform. Being that the service uniform across all of the UN’s seven military branches sits in this weird spot between BDUs and Dress Uniforms, its design was intended to be worn by those in what can be described as formal settings for the most part, but a need to easily transition into more physical and utilitarian activities when the time calls for it. Which in this case can be seen by the first layer of the uniform - the undersuit.

This smart-casual/semi-formal philosophy is carried over onto the tunic as well, as it boasts all the hallmarks of a typical dress uniform (epaulets with rank, badges and insignia, as well as a ribbon rack), but without the two-layered dress uniform approach that you’d see in UN military dress uniforms (the art of which will come later!) consisting of a dress shirt, jacket, and a cloak. The tunic is designed so that you can simply just remove it and hang it up, leaving you with the combat or working undersuit underneath. Making it so that you can easily slip into armor, transition over to training, or slip into functional overalls depending on the situation. Once again fulfilling the weird niche that comes with the service uniform sitting awkwardly between formality and practicality.

Now, onto the little elements of the uniform itself! On Emma’s shoulder we see the flag of the Greater United Nations; that being Earth, Luna, and what was formerly the olive branches now replaced with the stars representing not any one major celestial body, but groups of them, with each of the stars' 'tips' representing a distinct group of planets, moons or stations added into the union. On the right side of the uniform we see her nametag. And on the left side we see both a small arms marksmanship badge, as well as a ribbon rack! Given this was prior to her deployment to the Nexus, all of her ribbons right now are more so personal decorations rather than any campaign or deployment decorations. So starting off with her small arms marksmanship badge, she sneakily earned this during her training as there was a time during her training with Captain Li where she managed to effectively sneak in enough requisite hours and requested authorized observers to monitor her final small arms qualification test which granted her the first tier of the badge. Next up on her ribbon rack, she has one for her completion of JROTC with distinction, one for her completion of basic combat training with distinction, and a participatory joint operations training ribbon.

The folded and buttoned up sleeves are reminiscent of how some BDUs are worn with the sleeves folded up, but in this case, the addition of the little roll up tab complete with a gold/silver/bronze/copper button makes this a conscious element of the design adding to the formality of it.

At the end of the day, I also wanted a sort of a sci fi element to the design, whilst still maintaining the overall contemporary futurist aesthetic of my setting. So I opted to both maintain elements of formality, tying it with practicality, but also with a little bit of a flair when it comes to the alternate more formal version of the uniform with the cape and the pin of the Unified Central Command. It’s admittedly a variant of the uniform that isn’t often worn given how the occasions that warrant it would usually see you just opting for a dress uniform instead, but it’s one that still exists as the UN military is nothing if not modular when it comes to everything from their spacecraft design all the way down to their uniforms.

I’ve always been a fan of capes, and I’ve always wanted this whole aesthetic of a practical grounded contemporary sci fi society to adopt capes as both an homage to the past, as well as a nod toward a hopeful vibe for a brighter future. The UN and by extension its military are idealists at heart, and the loftiness of the cape is something that I think adds to that whole vibe.

And at the end of the day, that’s sort of what I wanted to convey from the UN’s conscious decisions when designing their uniforms. As this ties in to what I said before about uniforms being a reflection of the values and beliefs of the institutions that designed them!

But yeah! :D I hope you guys enjoy this one!

Also there are two art credits to be given this time around!

As I need to give major credit to an element of this uniform that completes the whole design, that being the flag of the UN! Without it, the design wouldn’t be what it is! So the reference and credit for the flag is the amazing: 0strich_Master on Reddit!

The artist, once again did an amazing job on this commission as well, so please do check them out! :D

Artist Reference: re11arts on instagram