Macarena Castillo - Concept Art 2021-2022

ADARA Visual Project

ADARA is based on visually developing a narrative about several interstellar nations trying to establish themselves in a mysterious galaxy that is strangely devoid of other sapient lifeforms, despite having an unusual number of habitable worlds. This is all centered around a single space station.

Origin Station

Origin Station is the setting's most important mystery. Transmitting a signal repeating 'Adara', the station is surrounded by debris and nearly impenetrable defenses in its star system.

The station is based on mix of radio towers and existing space stations and habitats. A 3D model of the station was made for mock-up purposes in Blender while exploring the composition. Once established, it was passed to Adobe Photoshop, where the painting process was completed. While the original idea was to show the station out in space alone, eventually, de system's debris and white dwarf star were included to provide better ambience.

Faction Leader: Ogoul'Oroilith

Oroilith, child of Noble House Ogoul, seeks out honor amongst the stars. They're Daimon, a psychic species that develops into specialized castes. Despite considerable anxiety, they intend to lead their people to fulfill a long-time dream of their civilization- to finally have a permanent home after a history filled with disaster.

Oroilith's design has been revised more than once. While I was happy with my initial design at first, with time, I grew to feel it did not properly reflect the character. They are mostly practical, but have the occasional tendency towards the sentimental, so the fancy cape and shin-guards were replaced by a more practical poncho and pair of boots, and most of the jewelry was removed. Instead, the more ornamental aspects of the design were moved to the shirt pattern and the reflective nature of the scales. The later have also been modified to show take more after some of the Daimon's inspirations- namely, pangolins, boa constrictors, and crocodiles.

The brooch, however, remains as is. As said, Oroilith can be quite sentimental, and the family heirloom with their House's crest is something of a comfort and key item to the character.

Other Portfolio Pieces

Skaleth in the Snow

Illustration of a Skaleth, a fictional creature native to cold, alien climates, for which their insulating coat is perfectly adapted to. They can be domesticated, and a couple of early ideas were to show them as such, but I eventually decided to show a wild variant. Their design is inspired by a mix of dragons, birds of prey and borzoi dogs.

Orc Shaman

Illustration of an orc shaman concept. Most of her design is heavily inspired in Aztec objects. The skull used as reference for the headdress is also that of a jaguar, albeit with much longer, and more numerous, teeth. The glowing  eyes was a last minute addition, but one that fit the spooky ambience well.

The Knight of Sorrows

A wolf knight, bound in symbiosis with a creature that defies the scientific understanding of her world, but functionally acts as her familiar. They are ready to shift to whatever she needs in battle. Much of the color palette was inspired by underwater scenes, as are the multiple pearls the familiar uses as eyes, On the other hand, the ornaments on the armor are based on celtic art.