Introduction
One of the most invaluable live briefs I completed during my DPS year was a concept art project under the guidance of Isobel Stenhouse. Isobel Stenhouse is a character and environment artist who has worked on video games such as Little Nightmares 3, and across a variety of creative practices. Over the course of 9 weeks, she would be helping us follow a character or environment design brief whilst giving helpful critiques on the way.
In this blog entry, I’ll be going through my entire experience and process, sharing the critique I received, and how I reached my final outcome!
First meeting – The Brief
After Introducing ourselves and learning about Isobel’s career in industry, we were talked through our brief. For this brief, we were asked to imagine a video game level (based on the image below) where a player character must sneak around, trying to avoid the view of the non player characters (NPCs) who work there, as to steal a prop that’s high up in the air. Here is the brief in full:
A human/humanlike player drops into a scene on the top left, cushioned when they land. They sneak past the area where a lead character is working alongside their sidekick. They can be similar or different.
The player finds a moveable object to place under a prop which is suspended above them. They climb to reach and steal the prop. They exist to the right of the screen (if they don’t get caught!).
We were told to adhere to this concept as closely as possible- to build up our skills when it comes to the future of following Industry briefs. For our final outcomes, there were two pathways: character or environment.
Choosing the character route, my task was to create a trio of characters: a player, a shopkeeper/non player character (NPC), and that NPC’s sidekick. The player character is tasked with stealing something suspended up high from the shopkeeper. It was my job to figure out the details of these characters, the prop item, their setting and story.
We were also shown some examples of final outcomes, and how we could leave this project with a developed piece, polished enough to join our portfolios. I intend to make a Character lineup of all 3 characters, A turnaround, outfit iterations, dynamic poses- and a detailed prop.
Concept and Proposal
To begin conceptualising, I was asked to consider:
- Game Genre
- Location
- Era
- NPC with job role
- Player
- NPC sidekick
- Item the player is stealing
Starting with the genre and era, I decided to opt for a medieval themed high fantasy setting. This is because fantasy games and worlds such as The Legend of Zelda and Dungeons & Dragons have always been a great inspiration to me and the characters I build. For the location I envisioned that the concept of a magical or haunted library would be fun to explore, as a magic setting allows for unusual characters with strange abilities, appearances and personalities to thrive.
I wanted my characters to stand out from one another in silhouette and size. My Player character would be relatively human, but I wished for my main NPC, a librarian, to be larger in size. When thinking about a lone librarian in a giant library, I began thinking of dragons and how they horde treasure. Perhaps my librarian could be like a dragon, but hiding magic books and knowledge away instead? Why would my player character want those hidden books, and who would be the sidekick helping the librarian out?
My player character would be a sorceress trying to find the book to break a curse. My sidekick, I imagined as a creature brought to life/intelligence by the librarians magical knowledge- this way indebted to her and her bidding. Here is the short paragraph I made as my concept proposal:
A sorceress is on the hunt for the cure to a magical curse.
Determined on her quest, she finds herself in a fantastical library, owned by a dragon-like librarian atop a frosty mountain. The librarian appears unassuming, but is hiding the book with all the answers in a chest. A key to the librarian’s secret horde is dangling overhead, something only the librarians trusty owl sentry can reach. The sorceress must avoid the watchful eye of the owl, whilst sneaking under the librarians nose…
Now that I was happy with my concept, I could start collecting references and making sketches.
In this mood board, I wanted to explore the presentation of each of my characters. For the Player (sorceress), I wished to create an elegant and regal appearance with jewellery and a tall stature. However, I also wanted to give the impression that they have fallen from grace in some way by being affected by the magical curse- possibly with messy hair, tattered clothing or an effect of the curse on their body.
For the Librarian, I wanted her to resemble a wise dragon. I aimed to give her clothing many layers, with lots of jewellery and accessories- as to show her tendency for hoarding and collecting. And for the sidekick, I settled on an owl- as owls are associated with wisdom and I would need a sidekick capable of reaching up high to hide the key our player is trying to steal.
Initial sketches and critique
It was now time to share my concept work with Isobel and the rest of my class in a teams call. Here, Isobel gave me lots of insightful critique. My characters appeared too polished visually for a conceptual stage, and didn’t properly portray the personalities and backstories that I wanted to create. Isobel emphasised the importance of iteration, and that experimentation in the conceptual process is key to understanding who your character is. I was tasked with inferring who these characters are on a deeper level, why exactly do they look and present this way, as opposed to what just looks cool or appealing on the surface. For example, if my dragon librarian was supposed to be an antagonist, greedy and secretive, where would such things be evidenced in the way she dresses and carries herself? I was asked to focus more on gesture and shape language, as well as to exaggerate the size differences in my characters as the player and librarian are almost the exact same height.
Further design exploration
In response to Isobels critique, I decided to work on the appearance and backstory of each character in detail. I designed a variety of iterations and through trial and error as well as peer critique, then began to see a clearer vision of each of my characters.
Please look at my concept sketches and read the text in the slide images below:
After presenting these new design ideas to Isobel and the rest of the class, I was able to start narrowing back down my designs with detail and colour.
Design Refinement
When refining my designs, I wanted to make sure to make the entire body balanced. I had a few issues with anatomy along the way, and had a habit of drawing legs too short repeatedly! Thankfully, checking in with Isobel in our 1-to-1 sessions helped tremendously. Upon showing this piece (upper left) to Isobel, she noted that the arm resting on the hip was slightly out of proportion- much flatter than the rest of the anatomy. I was encouraged to redraw this area of the design, making sure to maintain volume in both the arm and poofy clothing surrounding it (upper right). This change made my illustration far stronger overall!
I gave the sorceress a colour palette dominated by deep purples and blues. These colours evoke a sense of mystery, as well as having connotations with magic. They also resemble the rare dyed fabrics that people of high status would wear in the medieval times, this hint to her past wealthy lifestyle is further accentuated by the golden trims on her tattered cloak.
On her face is an abstract symbol, a brand over her eye that is associated with the curse she’s now afflicted with. She uses her long hair to cover that side of her face, and the unevenness of her cloak is hiding the rest of the curse’s effect on that side of her body.
These sketches explore the layers of the librarians outfit. I imagined her to wear too many layers, even indoors, to hide her dragon-like horns and display her habit of collecting. Not only does her knitted cloak hide her horns, it covers her upper arms in a way that could resemble dragon wings. Her clothing style doesn’t have one defined aesthetic, instead blending a mishmash of fabrics and materials to cover herself up. She enjoys shiny accessories, and wears not only earrings and necklaces but extra bangles on her horns and tail as well.
When it came to the owl sidekick, I also wanted to explore the variety of his wardrobe. He is fascinated in humans and the act of being a gentleman, so I gave him a variety of tailored clothes to express this quirk. I also settled on taking inspiration from a snowy owl for his appearance, as I envisioned the library to be in the middle of nowhere, up high on a frosty mountain.
Prop
For my prop, I settled on a key. This is because a key could easily be guarded by the owl and kept high out of reach! This key is what opens a chest containing the book my sorceress needs to break her curse.
I designed various iterations for the key, ornate and detailed. Originally, I wanted the key to look luxurious as it belonged to the librarian as part of her horde. Instead, I opted to make the key resemble the symbol on the sorceress’s face- linking it to the curse she’s afflicted with and making the prop more significant. It glows with the same purple as her mark.
I also sketched out a small chest design, and drew the owl carrying the key as to convey its scale and various uses in the game level.
Outcomes
For my final outcomes, I went into further design detail. I designed the sorceress’s curse marks in full, designing the half of her face that is hidden beneath the hair as well as her left arm. By lifting her hair up, I can show off all of her features. I designed the wand- which she uses to help channel her magic since the curse altered her power, and drew her in dynamic poses to show her body language.
I created a turnaround for the sorceress as well, displaying her clothing and form in different angles to give a 360 understanding of how her outfit works and how her design would appear in a 3D space.
The Librarian was given a colour scheme that would stand out against the sorceress. I chose earthy greens to evoke the image of a dragon’s scales, and a pop of red and orange for draconian fire. Her warm colours contrast the cool colours of the sorceress, placing them as opposites/opponents in the narrative. As mentioned before, her layers of clothing and excess of accessories show off her tendency to horde, much like how she’s stashing away the magical book the sorceress needs for her cure.
Reflection
I found this live brief incredibly rewarding, It tested my creativity and I was able to get critique and advice from an industry professional along the way. If i were to complete the brief again, I would probably make sure my final outcomes are more polished, as my final lineup looks quite rough in comparison to a lot of my work. This is because I was simultaneously doing my artwork at The Dangerous Kitchen, and didn’t have as much time as i would have liked to give these characters the finishing touches and refinement they deserve. However, overall I am very happy and believe I have made some compelling concepts!
Once the brief was complete, I made sure to post my work on artstation and Linkedin, thanking Isobel for the wonderful experience!
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