Concept Art Portfolio 2023

Hound of Hel

Process 

But of course, before the 3D there was the overall sketching and initial ideation of Garm. Garm came about from an initial creature sketch I had created a while back, so I used the sketch and expanded on it from then onwards. The original idea for Garm was that he could be able to glide from mountain to mountain due to a flap of skin attached from his underarm to his chest. He also would have neck flaps that had holes in them that would flare out as he glided, and as air passed through the holes it would create a very eerie whistling sound as he went. This meant that all you'd hear was this noise, before even realizing that Garm was there. However, I wasn't able to fully execute that idea, so instead, he can cling to cliff faces with his long claws, resulting in his forearms being quite long, allowing him to stick close to the rock as he climbs. He also has holes embedded on his tongue which allows for a paralyzing toxin to secrete when his prey is bitten. 

I sketched out a few head variations  to see what kind of feel I enjoyed the most. In the end a design was chosen that made him look less like a nightmare. I didn't want him to be a horror creature because I wanted to some how still keep that dog-like personality? I'm not sure if comes across that way but I like the design that came out of it once the head was attached to the body. 

Bounty Hunter 

Arlo was a character I designed during a Star Wars phase. I've always been a fan of cyborg-type characters so I really enjoyed creating him. 

Process 

My first submission of Arlo for a character design project was very rough and looked very unpolished. He also had a different robotic leg design. I wasn't very happy with the design however as it wasn't practical, so instead I redesigned it based on the very first draft. The process of designing his robotic parts was interesting, as I don't really have an eye for robotic or mechanical components, so I had to draw inspiration from various other robotic characters or artworks. The different helmets however were a lot of fun to create and I can say that I love each helmet design, but ultimately chose two for the final submission. 

As mentioned before this was during a Star Wars phase....

So as such all the inspiration from the character came from loving and playing the game Star Wars: Jedi Survivor. Cal Kestis served as a template for my character and my process involved taking screenshots of him within the game. The screenshots were used as posing and clothing reference. 

The Queen and The God

These 2 were the main characters of my own IP created for a campaign project in 2023. The IPs name is Kalopsia: Song of Darkness, and features Queen Marianna Ori and Carlyle, the God of Light. These 2 play the role of the main authority figures in the Kalopsian kingdom, however, the people are distrustful of the god, and so tend to view Marianna as the more respectful ruler. 

Process

The entire aesthetic I wanted to achieve with this project was dark fantasy with the exception of the rulers. The rulers needed to be bright, pure, and regal, along with representing the sun because that's what Carlyle represents as a god. The first ideas of Carlyle were not really giving off the vibe of being a good person as his original designs were too spiky and gave off the image of a villain rather. So the design was changed to match the Queen as she was completed first and she had the sun symbols in her outfit. Marianna went through a few design changes before I ended up happy enough with her clothing. She needed to look the most regal and elegant and I'm very happy with how her outfit turned out. The gold accents are reserved only for the royals to make them stand out. I really love the designs for Carlyle's outfit but had trouble fully deciding what worked for him and ended up changing the design too many times. So ultimately I settled for less clothing. 

I actually had a bit of trouble with the rendering of these 2. I wasn't entirely confident in my ability to render which resulted in their skin and faces being completely off. However, upon fixing them up they look a lot better in my opinion and make more sense now than before. 

Dusk in Kalopsia 

Inspired by dark fantasy, victorian cities the scene depicts a late evening setting in the streets of the Kalopsian kingdom. Statues of Carlyle, the God of Light, can be found all around the city alongside tall spire-like buildings and castles. In this world many beings of magic and fantastical backgrounds appear so I wanted to try and capture that fantasy element in this piece. 

Process

The process started out with some thumbnails of different scenes I potentially wanted to show from different views of the city. Lots of inspiration was taken from places in the UK, mainly places I visited myself, one of these being the Roman Baths in Bath, UK. I also drew some inspiration from the game Hogwarts Legacy, as I imagined this IP to be for a game very similar to it. 

After the thumbnails, a lot of photo bashing was used to clutter the scene with buildings and hopefully come across as a believable street in a city. Environments is not my strong point at all but I'm happy with how this piece turned out as it was a challenge and through it I learned a little more about how to tackle environments. 

The original idea of this scene was actually to have Carlyle walking along the street alone. This idea of Carlyle being isolated is what drove some of the thumbnails as one of them depicts him sitting alone underneath one of his own statues. The people of the kingdom do not respect him despite him being their guardian. Despite his best efforts nothing helps, leaving Carlyle's light as a god to shine dimly. I wanted to try capture this sort of sadness and isolation Carlyle feels in the story, which is why the statue he sits under under is the only one keeping him safe from the rain, showing that he doesn't have anyone but himself, while also serving as a big contrast as the statue is heavenly and everything he is supposed to be compared to his lonely self hunched over in the rain. 

Illustration 

For this project I chose to base it on Baldur's Gate 3. Being one of my top 3 games I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make some art about it, mainly my favourite character The Dark Urge, a dragoneborne with a haunted past. The piece is about my character accepting his role and embracing his dark side, and in doing so, is granted the form of The Slayer. 

Process

I started with some sketches trying to figure out the posing and composition of the slayer. I wanted the slayer to come across as an imposing and intimidating figure behind my character as he's being summoned. Once happy with the layout the next step was to start rendering the piece in greyscale. I used this piece as lighting practice as its something I'm trying to improve on. The last step was to render it in colour, however this proved very difficult, and the end result is not something I'm too proud of. But still it was a learning experience and I can use this piece as practice for the next one. 

Miroh

Miroh is a character I created for a project in very early 2023. He is a minotaur creature that acts as a guardian in his realm. When fighting Miroh is able to go into a sort of "power state" that makes his patterns and eyes glow, and the horns on his head become taller and glow at the top. Tattoos along his body light up white as well which is how you can tell when he is in this power state and when he's not. He's a very sweet character but ready to protect his people whenever danger arises. 

Process

During this time I wanted to experiment and see if I could do simple cell shading. While I don't think it looks bad it's not my favourite style of render as I now really enjoy the more realistic, semi-realistic style. This was a great learning experience however as I used it as practice for anatomy as the project required posing and facial expressions. I absolutely adore how the facial expressions came out, I think his personality comes across well.

The posing was something I really enjoyed as I realized I really love anatomy and started learning more about it. The anatomy was actually heavily inspired by the brilliant artist Taran Fiddler, so I used the posing as an opportunity to study their style. This was done a while ago already so I like to compare this piece to where I am now and see the improvement.