What are some good books for referencing medieval armor?

[Alaies]

I really want to get good at drawing armor, but I seem to be having a difficult time getting a good comprehensive book on medieval armor. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Most of the armor pics I have I've found online, but they only really helped me learn how to render what I see...none have really given me the "feel" of how it looks when worn, or how the armor will change as joints are bent. I suppose I could just make it up, but I'm looking to at least understand the basics of how armor works, so I can eventually just draw them from memory.

The only half-decent book I found is "Arms & Armor of the Medieval Knight: An Illustrated History of Weaponry in the Middle Ages" which was mildly helpful. I would kill to see a live set of armor, but no museums in the San Francisco bay area seem to have one.

[Mirana]

You might laugh, but whenever I want a good know-it book with in-depth pictures I head to the children's deptartment and go through their DK Books selection. (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=armor+dk&x=11&y=27) They're cheap, fairly large and always astoundingly good.

After that, it's funny you should mention museums because the Met has a fantastic armor collection (http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/arms_and_armor/index.aspx?depNm=arms_and_armor&pID=0&vW=1&Pg=1&St=0&StOd=1&vT=1) (well...ANY collection, really) that you can checkout online.

Hope that helps. :)

[rpace]

I ordered a cool book by surfing through amazon.jp (http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E8%A5%BF%E6%B4%8B%E7%94%B2%E5%86%91%E3%83%9D%E3%8 3%BC%E3%82%BA-%E3%82%A2%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E9%9 B%86-European-Armour-Various-Scene/dp/4568502764/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&sr=1-1).

I've ordered other reference books from there and will probably order more in the future - -they got some nifty books.

~R

[Alaies]

Thanks all, I have one of those DK books checked out from the library right now. :)

That japanese armor book on Amazon looked interesting. I'll have to see if the local bookstore in japantown could order it for me...

[rpace]

Not to hard-sell amazon.jp, but I found the shipping and duty quite reasonable. I think I worked out the books only cost me around 35-40.00 each.

~Richard

[tomwaits4noman]

www.3d.sk

ok only small thumb nails but good range and a search engine.

[aitchjay]

The Assassin's Creed Artbook has a lot of character concepts, and quite a few of them have medieval armor on. It's a pretty good book as far as video-game artbooks go, worth it if you like the overall look and feel of the game, but not if only for the armors--it's not at all extensive, and you might get better results just looking up screenshots of the game.