Diana Manolova - Character Concept Design

"Water Humanoid" Concept Exploration

Some thumbnail sketches of the chosen design. I chose this one because of the challenges I had when designing it and thinking of colour palette and personality traits. 

It was very helpful for me to establish the overall look and values. 

I found this the trickiest one to design. I was aiming for an "alien look" as well as an intimidating looking creature. My idea here was about a humanoid that attracts victims with the shining crystal.

I was thinking of the leafy sea dragon when designing this one. In my opinion, it worked out quite well with the colour choice, maybe not so well with the overall look of the creature. I might have designed differently the body shapes to be close as much as possible to the leafy sea dragon look. 
I also had inspiration from the coral reef snake and try to implement that look when drawing the tail.
My idea here was of a sea life protector; looking evil at first sight but just for warning sign; actually very peaceful if everything is with good intentions.

My idea here was of a blind water humanoid living in the deepest parts of the ocean, using her fins on the legs to swim faster and attack.
I went far from my comfort zone and I think of all three concepts this one is probably the most "unique" I have designed. Combining different corals, animal parts lead up to the final design. 

First thumbnail exploration sketches. 

I started reading about sea creatures and their role in the sea world.  Found out that even the underwater creatures and species have personality and purpose to live there as we humans on Earth. So I wanted to go for a creature that combines the human features in it and think of a personality: is it evil or not, behaviour, etc. It made me think outside of the box which was a great exercise for the creative side of my brain. These might not be the most successful concept ideas but I learned a lot and how to think of a purpose when designing characters/creatures as it was existing in the real world.

Character Concept: Undead Reaper

I had this idea in mind from before being interested in horror and fantasy as well as the classic "Jack The Reaper". But my idea here was to make my own reaper design, combining medieval elements and some tribal look in the masks. I might have depicted the classic reaper look on some of them and now looking at that I'm sure I would have done this differently and striving for more "uniqueness' to avoid the cliche. I was thinking of a reaper of the female gender, who doesn't have an identity. She uses the ones of her victims (as she carries masks with her).

I also realised that the sketches differ a lot from each other and might have worked out even as separate characters too. Decided to choose three of them that look different from each other and approach with colour. 

Concept 1/3.
I chose this one because of the "royalty" that represents and the charming features. When designing them all, I was thinking: "What if I make a pretty version? Not all reapers are meant to have the skull mask and look terrifying? You can be evil without looking like one." 

The chainmail probably didn't work out quite well in the design as well as the face mask split in half but I'm happy with the overall look.

Concept 2/3.
This one is heavily inspired by the Egyptian mummies (especially in the mask and the bandage on the hand). If I have to think about it, probably is the closest one to the classic reaper look. 

The thing that's bothering me about this character is the weapon. It doesn't look convincing enough for such a strong character. 

Concept 3/3.
I experimented the most on that one. The mask turned out quite well; had a lot of time thinking for ideas. Wanted to leave some "human flesh" in the design but also depict something of the classical reaper look. The mask is a mix of Art nouveau and some African culture too.
Probably I wouldn't have restricted myself to only one colour in the clothing but I think of all three this worked out the best in terms of concept design.

This was more of a test sketch before starting the whole undead reaper idea. Later on it occurred to me I could start this as a character concept.

Character Concept: Mage

The whole concept sheet.

I started to gain interest in the Dungeons and Dragons game and the idea of designing my own one based on a background story was quite intriguing to me. I was thinking of a blind but highly-intelligent mage. Might not be the most functional design but it was great practice for my rendering and layout skills.

Characters based on Sci-fi Theme

Pilot character design.
I based the look on the post-apocalypse subgenre.

Steampunk character.

I was thinking of a mixture of history and fantasy but with the sci-fi taste in it. That's what made me look into steampunk.

These ones were more of a quick experiment to dig into the sci-fi theme and familiarise myself with a topic that is different from fantasy. I must admit, it was tricky but I might refer to them in the future.

"Post-Apocalyptic Vision".

More of an experimental illustration I did when started to dive into the topic.

Fan Art Comic Character

I'm a big fan of comics also and really pay tribute to all the concept artists out there that have contributed to the creation of this whole universe.
This is a Marvel-inspired character, probably a mixture between Black Widow and Wolverine.  

Thinking of the pose was tricky.