Month: November 2024

As he is a pivotal and important figure within this narrative, the next character that I ultimately decided to concept would be the fallen ruler of Sol (who I titled the Martyr). I knew that for this concept, I wanted to go for a decrepit, fallen hero, who ultimately remains in stasis in the ruins of the Kingdom of Sol. I looked to many FromSoftware games for inspiration, as the progression of their storytelling is mostly set when many heroes are fallen and past their prime- I wanted to depict the same thing within this character. Though, I did look to many examples of Greenwich armour as there was a level of intricacy I wanted to put that suggested someone who was of noble status, as it represents his former glory. I also looked to the Arthurian Legend when doing research for this character, as it held themes of power, vengeance and chivalry that I thought was fitting for my narrative- and used King Arthur himself as one inspiration, as he was a troubled king and it was a testament to the Martyr’s old fashioned traditions, and time past of the region he belonged to, as it never had time to develop due to its imminent downfall.

I thought of the conflict between King Arthur and Mordred, and envisioned and Arthurian-like conflict between Ascanius and his brother Lupus. And Ascanius’ ‘death’ or rather, his fate was decided by his brother, marking a fall in his kingdom (like Camelot), and himself, leaving the people of Sol to ultimately flee.

Compared to the other ‘boss’ characters, I wanted the Martyr to feel more human due to his disposition, to make the encounter feel more final, and make it clearer that you faced against your own kin. So, unlike the other two enemy characters, I decided to make his silhouette less imposing, yet still authoritative but gentle in his stance, not only was making him look ‘weaker’ a way to make him seem more human than many of the other creatures, but it would also show how whittled he was over time. The Martyr is the antithesis of his tyrannical twin brother, so, deriving from the initial concept, I drew out his figure in a full rough concept and chose opposing colours to convey his good nature and demeanour. The dulled gold was a way to make him look ‘washed out’, and the dull colour of his skin was intended to make it seem like you were seeing a corpse reanimated. I then decided to develop on this concept further, as I was satisfied with the overall .aura of this quick concept. I intended for the scar-like light formation on his chest to be where the Seal of the Sun (the source of his power) was ultimately pulled from his body, leaving a permanent scar on across his chest. I also gave him a halo and ‘wings’ like fragments of light, dim to represent his dying state, and give him more of a benevolent look along with relating to his holy title of ‘The Martyr’.

I had the idea of him being put through multiple gauntlets and waves of fights until he was put into an idle state, so, I wanted to convey this battle-worn, chivalrous warrior, and ultimate ruler of a Sun-inspired kingdom into one design. I decided to go for much more light colours, adding bright elements onto the renditions to show his affiliation with the sun, but kept it to a minimum to still make it look as if he was on the verge of ‘fading away’. I experimented with many types of armour, but making sure to crack it on enough places to still keep the intended look of a war-experienced, fallen hero. I made sure to stay among the threshold of the black and gold armour much like the aforementioned Greenwich armour, but to expand my ideas, I also referenced Roman armour, which remained the same within the years of the Raman Empire, as it was an effective set of gear for battle that also eluded to going through many fights as the Roman Soldiers did not only against other armies, but within the Coloseum. I did not intend for him to have Ilythium armour, to show his dedication and commitment to his kingdom, even in his fall, and visually make him differ from the other armoured warriors. I leant more towards making him look younger but ‘degraded’ in a way to show just how long he had been in his fallen state.

One of the the designs had red as a way to incorporate his previous power and royalty, and also because it was a common colour used by the Romans. This thumbnail was also heavily inspired by the ‘Nameless King’ from Dark Souls III, who is supposed to also be a fallen king in some way, and I thought he was a fitting inspiration to look to. Another one of the thumbnails utilised green to reflect the colour of the Tidal Soldier’s hooded cape. Moving forward into the finalised designs, I wanted the Tidal Soldier to have some reflection to Ascanius in some way, shape, or form.

I wanted to make sure that for Mercedes, she would convey an aura of a dutiful knight, who has upheld her obligations for many, many years. I kept in mind that for this character, I wanted very angular, sharp shape language. Looking back at the concept art for TEKKEN 8, specifically the one for Leroy Smith, I wanted to emulate that style in a sense, by keeping my concepts loose, whilst still conveying the character’s intended personality and essence.

I looked to different sea creatures once again as reference for tweaking the different parts of her outfit, whilst also playing around with the colour combinations that I would use for the character.

I like one particular silhouette, and then tweaked it slightly whilst aiming to lean more towards my using a marlin for reference, as they had very angular and sharp elements to them.

I envisioned her to be the guardian of a larger power/primordial creature in the depths of the Abyssal Hollow called ‘the Heart of the Sea’, so, her first and main encounter with the player would be underwater. I developed on one of the designs that I experimented with, picking this particular one because it exuded the intimidating, ominous aura that I initially wanted her to have, along with having a refined and almost formal danger to it, that I thought would be well-suited to her ruthless and dutiful personality whilst also remaining true to that ambiguous nature, like ‘Lady Maria’ from Bloodborne and the Darkmoon Knightess from Dark Souls , subverting from the usual gender-conforming feminine characters shown in many video games, but also relaying a slight femininity without being too gaudy. I temporarily omitted her weapon within this stage as concepting the weapon separately would add more clarity to both concepts. When experimenting with the designs, I used different types of fish for inspiration- the base and foundation being a marlin for their sharp and angular features. Though the encounter would be underwater, I gave her a lot of flowing cloth in each rendition not only for an elegant look as they would naturally float within the water, but also to mimic the fins of a betta fish. I also looked into other types of fins that fish had and decided to reflect that into the scarf/cloak of her design. I also gave her other elements that would float underwater as I thought it would be very visually interesting underwater, and give her a more other-worldly silhouette.

I imagined that in her fight, she would have many moves where she is suspended in the water, which would make these flowing elements stand out more.

PRIMEVAL ILYTHIUM AND ILYTHIUM DEVELOPMENT

Lorewise, the Kingdoms of Sol, Selen and the ocean were all previously united, and thus, a special metal-alloy would be made, embedded with the scales of the aforementioned ‘Heart of the Sea’. This certain metal, called Ilythium, or in its purest form, Primeval Ilythium would be used to make armours that could traverse waters effectively without rusting, and could provide extremely protective measures against the original threats of the sea. I experimented with different ways in which pure (Primeval) Ilythium can shine and the overall colours of the metal so that I can apply it to not only Mercedes, but the Tidal Soldier as well, as I planned for him to also have armour in Primeval Ilythium, as it showed his connection to the old civilisations of Sol, Selen and the ocean.

All the other soldiers that work in modern Old Sol’s coast do not have armour made of Primeval (Pure) Ilythium, as it is much rarer to gather the scales of the ‘Heart of the Sea’ due to the lack of ties to the Sea, and the broken ties between Sol, Selen (now the Eclipse Domain), and the Sea. Only the most elite, or more ancient soldiers from the time before the ultimate separation have armour made of Primeval Ilythium. When the player (the Tidal Soldier) explores the Sea and the Tidal Hollow, the player can freely traverse due to their Primeval Ilythium armour, and can even walk.

As I did with the Tidal Soldier, I looked back at the mood-board for reference when concepting the Playwright.

I wanted a very imposing stature for the Playwright, to emphasise his pretentiousness and level of danger. I wanted him to dress very extravagant despite being secluded most of the time, showing his commitment to his craft and also a strange sort of lunacy. I made some initial silhouettes that conveyed what I wanted to see in his character, moving away from colour for the first stage of the Playwright’s concept as I wanted to focus on his silhouette initially the most.

I was most drawn to the aura that one of the silhouettes that I gave the Playwright, as it exuded the imposing, yet higher-class gaudiness/extravagance that I wanted to convey. I further developed this design, tweaking what aspects of it I liked, and doing a colour test to see how I can draw attention to certain parts with accent colours, in this case, I used gold as it exuded a pretentious demeanour. Though he is mostly humanoid, I wanted there to be something eerily off about him, as not only was he acting on behalf of the Eclipse region, he is overseeing the Ecliptic Blight and also slowly being consumed by it himself, thus, I went a more ghost/spectre like direction by omitting his legs, suggesting that he floats around using power rather than walking around. I experimented with the appearance of the mask, giving it three faces all with closed eyes, to symbolise the ignorance and dismissiveness of his character. Though I did add some moon motifs in the design, such as on the lapels of his jacket or subtly on his forehead, I thought that for the pretentiousness of his character, I should experiment with making the symbol of the Eclipse bigger. I also looked to many images for inspiration regarding the details of his outfit as I wanted there to be many extravagant elements to it such as ruffles and puffed or larger sleeves, along with a very exaggerated hat like the ‘Red Death’ costume for the Phantom within the stage production of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, and the elaborate hats seen in many Venetian Carnival outfits.

After developing this design, I was satisfied with the overall concept, and liked the direction that it was going- however I wanted to add more ocean-like motifs within the character, along with making the symbol of the eclipse more obvious on his design. I used the above references to develop some layers of his outfit, and then rendered it in black and white, before tweaking some elements to improve the aspects that I believed were lacking.

I developed many of his designs based off of certain sea-creatures such as octopi, squid, jellyfish and sea dragons, as well as experimenting with the ratio of aspects and elements of the design such as the size of the symbol of the Eclipse and the shape of his layers and outfit. I felt that exploring the design in this way was very useful in gauging what I liked and disliked in the design, what I wanted to keep and otherwise.

When developing the Tidal Soldier visually, I decided to test with concepting on paper first as it forced me to draw from a farther distance. It allowed me to work more loosely and I was able to develop the idea of making his armour resemble a tidal wave in some way, so I curved the visor inwards. Using some of the practices from the concept art I studied, I did several close-ups of important areas such as the gauntlets and the patterns on them, too.

I referred back to the Tidal Soldier’s mood-board when moving back onto digital.

With this as a reference, I drew up a developed concept for the initial rough one I did for my summer work, this time, approaching it in layers, so that I would be able to gauge the logic behind each piece.

I wanted to conceptualise the armour layer by layer, as I planned for the very base of the set to be the standard armour that would be worn by many Tidal Soldiers that protect the coast from any terrors. Through developing the design in layers, I was able to determine what aspects to ‘personalise’ in the standard tidal soldier set, to make it unique to the main character. I still wanted to keep the pirate-like elements of the design by giving it boots, and various aspects of ripped cloth to suggest that it has been worn a great amount of times, and has been through much conflict, I also gave the laces around the boots wrap around the bottom of the boot as I felt it added a level of unique character. I also experimented with an emblem for the Tidal Soldiers’ affiliation, as that was something that I wanted to put on the back of his cloak. They fight on behalf of the Sun, so I incorporated sun-like elements with some sort of spear or trident, both being weapons that are commonly associated with the water/ocean due to spear-fishing and gods of the water like the Greek Poseidon and Roman Neptune wielding it. I didn’t want to corrode or add any markings or evidence on the armour yet as I wanted to figure that out when I had the final rendition of the concept. I then moved onto several colour tests, experimenting with ratios of gold, black and silver to hint at the Tidal Soldier’s connection to Sol and Selen without making it look too much like he was of nobility or looked too wealthy.

I also experimented with an ‘expression’ or more story-oriented piece that gave the character context and broke away from the idle nature of the concept art. I decided that when he woke up, he had a small fragment of the original Seal of the Sun, much like the one that Mercedes would have, but much weaker and had less influence.

WEAPON DEVELOPMENT

The Tidal Soldier was always synonymous with his unique weapon, and was greatly known for his special sword that could harness the power of the Sun and his shotgun. I decided to develop upon this concept and expand it. So, to begin this concept I wanted to combine the element of a common soldier/pirate and mesh it with a refined and noble looking sword. Eventually the idea came in that it would be some sort of fusion weapon comprised of two weapons that could be taken apart, like the various ‘trick-weapons’ used in Bloodborne, such as Ludwig’s Holy Blade, which could be turned from a small, lightweight sword to combine with its handle and then be used a great-sword, and the Whirligig saw which could be used as a baton or club of sorts, but then combine with a circular saw to create a long-hilted saw. These two weapons would then form a bayonet-like fusion of a sword and shotgun which would have to be lightweight for optimal use, I looked through various sword types, and ended up settling on a rapier, as not only was it light weight, and had a refined and noble aura, it also allows for quicker pierces, and it usually had a meter length, which was longer than a shotgun, and much thinner, which would ultimately result in a unique, yet balanced design that was efficient. I also looked at various rapier hilt styles and ultimately settled with a quarter-hilt style that protected the hands, as it produced a better silhouette.

After looking at how shotguns are held, using many stances and pictures as reference, I managed to fuse it in an ergonomic and logical way that didn’t feel too clunky or gaudy.

I mainly looked at the Winchester Model 1887/1901 for reference when it came to the shotgun, and I kept the blade of the sword thin as rapiers are.