Artemis - Gods & Machines - Fighting Game Character Design

The idea behind this project is 'What if Greek mythology plus mecha?'. The character project is set in a fighting game context (it’s just a constraint, there’s no game as of yet). I set out to design 2 characters - Artemis and Hephaestus. I started with Artemis. Artemis took me around 2.5 weeks to make. 1 week for research and sketching. 1 week to finalize the design and make her move set. And the final half a week is for the final model sheet and the illustration.

Story:
Embracing human technology on Olympus introduced change into the realms of the gods. Some of them were vastly improved and others were very much harmed. Artemis's hunting grounds were of the latter. Shortly after crushing her syndicate, Hephaestus's machines invaded Artemis’s realm. That's when Artemis realized she had to take the fight to the Blacksmith himself.

Final Deliverables

Select-screen-illustration:
I wanted her select-screen-illustration to invoke her confidence and strength. I chose a strong pose and used her bow as a framing device. I am also a big fan of smug fighter characters who face every issue with a grin on their face.

Move set:
Artemis is a fast and aggressive fighter. She excels at closing the distance and keeping the pressure on her opponent. She’s weak at range but she has an ace up her sleeve for nasty situations. Her ultimate allows her left art to transform into her legendary bow, launching a powerful plasma blast.

Facial shots:
Artemis is quite a fiery individual. I really loved her laurel wreath (crown) so it played a big role in her emotes. 

Props:
Artemis’s props were a great opportunity to mix Greek/ Roman imagery with the futuristic aesthetic.

Process

From here on out it’s just gonna be work-in-progress sketches. The process was messy and rich in experimentation from the big shapes to the small details. A fast character should feature unstable shapes like triangles and ovals.

Body type and colour scheme:
Initially, Artemis had a more average body type but eventually, I settled for a more muscular frame. For the colours chose red, black, and white as the main hues, and green as a supporting hue. Red worked perfectly because it emphasizes Artemis’s fiery attitude.

Costume design:
While designing her costume, I had to test how it might work in practice. I aimed to combine cyberpunk, mecha, and old-fashioned 20th-century clothing with some Greek/ Roman aesthetics.

The start:
The messy part where it all started. In the beginning, I had an idea in mind but after going through the process the end result was much different and I’d say for the better.

Thank you for reading!