THEOCLYSM- Concept Art

This work is all for a personal IP, ‘Theoclysm’. I really wanted to work towards a brief, so, I came up with an idea for a fighting game where the playable characters are beings from global folk tales, myths and legends. This gave me some guidance on what I should and shouldn’t include in my designs, but in the end, it also allowed me to totally geek out and delve deep into the research behind each of the characters.

Going into each design, the obvious first step was to research the origins of the deity, how they were/are perceived, how they are depicted in folk lore and the arts. 

The biggest thing connected to Benzaiten, was her connection to water. And in a lot of traditional art depicting her, she is accompanied by a dragon. So, I did aim to include both of those things in her design in some way. She is also a goddess of quite a lot of things, though I focused on literature, because I thought that I would be able to do something interesting in terms of her in-game attacks (with a huge calligraphy brush).

What I found helpful for Sun Wukong’s character specifically, was the inspiration that I was able to take from traditional paintings of Chinese warlords. It gave a valuable insight into how powerful men may have dressed, or at least, this was how powerful men were depicted. 

Ereshkigal did pose some challenges, since she is from such an ancient belief system, finding lore and depictions of her was an interesting challenge. Since I knew modern-day Mesopotamia is now known as partly: Iraq and Syria, I started from there. I did take inspiration from traditional Iraqi and Syrian clothing, and tried to incorporate aspects that could be connected to the Underworld. 

I did have a bit of fun with this design, since there were a few different ways this yokai has been depicted over time. Though, since I did want to aim for a creepier look, I decided to just go for it, and give the lantern a face. This would allow for it to emote and really show how angry it is while attacking players. 

I wanted to round out this project with a final illustration that could be used for the hypothetical loading screen for Theoclysm. Since I haven’t gone to this extent for an illustration before, and not in this more detailed style, it was an interesting challenge. But ultimately, I had a lot of fun. 

Illustration without UI.

Initial ideas for the final illustration. 

Thank you so much for viewing my work!