Concept art Portfolio- 2023

Untitled Mushroom Project-

Here is the work I’ve been finishing off for my final-year project so far. The vague brief I gave for myself with this project was; an open-world adventure game, with a focus on exploration, resource gathering, skill acquisition, with some fighting. 

My main focus with the apprentice, was how I could incorporate the rounded nature of the mushroom she was based on (the wrinkled peach mushroom), into her design. I also wanted to experiment with how I could use props to differentiate her as a student, such as books and journals for studying. 

Another consideration I made, was that the color schemes of both of these characters would stand out from the NPC’s and contrast each other slightly- but still complement each other in a way. This is to visually show their connection of student and teacher. 

Since I am looking into the importance of form vs function when designing for games, I have been focusing on game mechanics with this project. So, my idea with these chest designs, is that the player has to adventure out to find them (an incentive to explore). Though, they are easier to find during the night because of the bioluminescent mushrooms that grow on them. I also wanted the chests to be made of/hidden by nature, as to blend them into the environment of the game.

Above is an example of how the chests would look during the day, compared to nighttime. 

THEOCLYSM-

This work is all for a personal IP, ‘Theoclysm’, that I completed last year. 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).

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. 

Miscellaneous Work-

Enola Holmes 2 Fanart:

The White Rabbit:

Is this Moriarty at work once again? After the events of the match-girl incident, Moriarty manages to escape. Meanwhile, Enola is invited to a tea party, but when she gets there, someone has been poisoned. The only clue; a white rabbit automaton left at the scene.

The challenge I had with these designs, was taking inspiration from clothing of the period, and trying to simplify their shapes to fit a simple silhouette. I was also trying to incorporate rounder shapes into Enola’s design, and more angular ones into Moriarty’s. It was a fun challenge in the end.

Ghostly Priestess Design:

That's it for this year! Thank you so much for viewing my work.