ART WAR 3 | 2D | Villains | Blackout | sparksofdawn

Personal details:
Name: Georgi Madzharov
Email: gmadjarov@abv.bg or gmadjarov7@gmail.com

Some backstory (which might be subject to considerable changes): A veteran soldier whose team was needlessly slaughtered now seeks revenge for their deaths. In the aftermath of the betrayal, she realised she has a much needed power to help her achieve her vengeance.

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FINAL
Concept sheet:

Illustration:

Some obligatory tragic villain backstory to those interested:
'At long last the dust settled and the fire ceased. Her mind was foggy, close to blacking out. Everyting went so very wrong after they were ambushed. Her whole team dead. And then this cursed man, who hired them for this mission, stood before her. Her mind was growing ever darker, the shadows lurking close, her body failing. The worm had the audacity to thank her for their sacrifice. He smiled as he told her her they would use this act of obvious agression well. He smiled as she screamed, broken by this betrayal. He smiled, the grin forever frozen on his face, even as she raised her trembling hand and drove a misty blade through his chest. She stood up slowly and the shadows rose with her. She would exact vengeance for her team and crush anyone in her way. Her heroes were dead, their light dimmed. To her, only darkness remained.'

Here's the first rough sketches to find a sillhouette and feel that I like.
I'm still not sure whether I'm going with fantasy or near-future, yet I know I want the character to be stylish, arrogant and evoke a feeling of strength. Also, I'll try to limit the facial features as much as I can to make him/her harder to read and a bit more alien.
My current idea for a super power is that he/she can control shadows and manifest them as physical objects.

Some of the sketches turned out having a bit of a Destiny vibe imo (I blame my recent playtime and the helmets, yet I want the horn :D) but I think I'll break out of it soon enough when I start polishing the design.
I, personally, kind of like 5 with the trenchcoat (right one) and 3 has some interesting elements as well (and a more fantasy themed totem-weapon).
I'll explore some female variations as well and see where it goes.

As per usual - all comments and critiques are greatly appreciated!

Here's a couple of female versions as well, a bit more painterly to get a better feel for the whole character.
I added a necklace from the dogtags of her fallen team that's going to be a rather omnipresent element between versions.
Between the male and female options, I'm gravitating more towards the female for now. I just like the thinner sillhouette and believe a 'rapier' feel for the character would fit more with the physical shadows theme. The helmet from A grew on me, yet I'm kinda torn between B and D at the moment as a final(-ish) choice.

I'd most likely go with the last version (D) as a base for the more ragged look (and who doesn't like a good coated villain :D)

Thanks Looking at them again, I agree with B being better...I might just push both B and D a step further and then decide, B does seem to have a more appealing design and recognizable form

Thank you, while 6 on its own is too alien imo, the more fluid feel is something I'll try to capture in the character (and yeah, it's going to be female for sure, the more I imagine the illustration, the more I dig the female ones)

So here's the more refined design for female B, I like how she's starting to look.
I decided to go for an unstable smoke rapier as her main weapon and added some faint smoke wings so she can gracefully float towards her prey.
As for the visual effects I'm gonna go for, I'm thinking of something reminiscent of volcanic lightning and smoke.
Due to her past as a soldier, she knows not to count completely on technology or magic, thus she carries a trusty gun on her as well.

I'm still not sure, however, on the amount of horns appropriate for her and whether I want her to have a hood or not

Next up - Illustration time

To begin with - thanks for the kind words @rgdraw and @Bruck

(Insert smooth transition) Illustration sketches:

Some thoughts:
My personal favorites are 1 and 4 (which are almost the same thing anyway, so I'll combine them ;D). I like the tighter composition and feeling of grandeur in 1 and the action and wings in 4, so I'll be trying to fit the dangling guy in 1 so that he doesn't obstruct the main character.

2 feels a bit generic and lackluster (too much empty space).
3 is a backview of 4 and I don't think the back would showcase the character too much (even though it's a bit more ominous).
I tried a couple of more crouching poses (as if she's lunging or screeching at enemies), yet it didn't resonate too well with the whole elongated sillhouette I'm going for so those were completely scrapped.

Here's the rough 'victim placement' exploration. I'm also thinking about breaking the symmetry of the character a bit by removing/changing one of the pauldrons and possibly giving her a mech/shadowy arm (nothing too crazy) but that's yet to be tested.

As for the sketches at hand - I'm leaning towards 3, but opinions are welcome

Finally managed to work on the illustration some more.
Started thightening the perspective a bit (not too much yet :D). I decided to make the cathedral background a little assymetrical, as it felt too mirrored, but I'll see where it goes when I actually start fleshing it out.
Also removed one of the pauldrons and tweaked the pose for a better flow (and hopefully a better telegraphed condescending expression). The sword feels too bright and messes with the focal point so that goes on the to-do list as well.
Proper material rendering coming soon (Also have to decide on the horn design)

Thank you for the kind words!
@nevs38 that was a nice read and is pretty much what I'm going for, thanks

I decided to go back to the concept to update it a bit and check the sillhouette again. I think I could make the spikes on the shoulder a bit bigger but I'll decide in the illustration. Also attempts were made on a logo... it could use some more work

@PeterH thanks ^^ and yeah, that was my feeling as well. At least I'm mostly happy with the overall look and feel, so accentuating elements and some proportions to make her stand out won't really interfere too much with the illustration.
So here's a version with some bigger spikes and added smaller elements all around, tried making it completely smokey below the waist (like a ghost, but I didn't like it, I want to retain the human inside)

Started rendering the illustration, so here's a progress shot

Ok, after a break from looking at the character, I decided I can push the shapes even more and add some more flavor elements all around. At long last I'm kind of happy with how the design and the thumbnail sillhouette look.
I'd be happy with some critiques, as I've been looking at her for too long
(Left -old; Right - new)

And another illustration WIP:

Yeah, you're right I'm planning on making it just 'dark' instead of black but I was still playing around with the design and the focal area (head and torso), general hue adjustments are next on the list. Thanks for the heads-up!

Thank you , I'll try to push it further back with some atmospheric perspective

After a busy week - finally managed another update!
Most notably (aside from some more rendering :D), I decided to add hair sticking from under the helmet to make her a bit more 'layered' and physical. Some 'exoskeleton' pieces/mech augments were added around the waist/under her arms to go with the helmet (they need some more structure but that'll be the general direction).
Also, I changed the overall ambient hue, faded the background a bit and eliminated most of the near-black colors. I'm also thinking of getting rid of the middle belt knife, because they feel too crammed as of now.