ART WAR 3 | 2D | Heroes | Fugumaru the Unsinkable | jtuffdesigns

Name: Jourdan Tuffan

Email: jtuffdesigns@gmail.com

Website : https://artstation.com/jtuffan
Instagram @jtuffdesigns

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Hey everyone,

Spurred on by the encouragement and participation of my friends, I have decided to join this year's ART WAR!

I joined last year's WORLDS contest and I'm excited to jump into characters this time around.

You can find the link to my piece on my Artstation

https://www.artstation.com/jtuffan

Here is a quick description of my concept

A once rebellious Fugumaru, eldest son of a family of fishermen, becomes the unlikely savior of his village after gaining super powers from eating poorly prepared Fugu, defending his people against the terror of pirates.

I have done some rough explorations based on a mind map I started off with

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I decided that the theme of a fisherman ties in with the narrative best, and gives him the look of a rugged and in-your-face kind of fighter, rather than overly ornate or coming from a more opulent background.

With this in mind, I did further explorations down the direction of a Fisherman

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I played around with different clothing, and weapons. Since he would be a capable fisherman, I thought it would have been cool to have weapons that he had wrought from some sea monsters he had slain. As much as I liked them, I wanted to repeat the motif of the puffer fish and ended up settling with a spiked mace, and a harpoon, to emphasize his profession.

I also ended up going with clothing that looked more ragged, to make him look more battle-hardened, and to tie it back to his humble beginnings.

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I will continue to post up my progress here as the deadline nears, so I hope you all like what I have so far!

Thanks a lot Malcom, I appreciate the support!

Here are some comp explorations I've done to figure out the composition of how Fugumaru would show off his power. Tried out a lot of different angles, but it's definitely tricky to show off the special characteristics of his toxin, and the intensity of a battle.

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Deadline is drawing near, so I figured I would put some updates here

Here are some color roughs I did a while back

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Which I brought to a refined skech with values

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With much feedback and help, I managed to get it to this level

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I initially intended for the illustration to communicate Fugumaru's powers of being able to launch quills that when injected into someone, will cause them to inflate rapidly. He unleashes his power against a horde of invading pirates.

A lot of people have had conflicting readings of it, from the floating guys being mistaken as part of Fugumaru's crew, and that he was punching someone, instead of launching needles. So in an attempt to rectify those wrongs, I decided to redo everything from scratch. Yes, I chose to do everything just a week from the deadline. Let's hope I get to finish this on time.

Stay tuned for the conclusion of this episode!

@karljthiart That would be an honor for me Thanks!
@mr_dessin Thank you so much I'm glad that you think so

Here is my final entry!

ARTWAR-3_Fugumaru-the-Unsinkable_JT.jpg3678x1963 2.04 MB

ARTWAR-3_CONCEPT-SHEET_01.jpg2048x2048 1.11 MB

Thanks for all the support, kind words and help that I have gotten from everyone along the creation of this piece. I really could not have done it without you all!!!

Thank you so much for your kind words