ART WAR 3 | 2D | Villains | Noueon | threees

TL;DR HERE BEGINS ACTUAL TALK ABOUT THE CHARACTER
I intend Noueon (nous is greek for reason or mind, hence the working name) to be a human, who ascended and became a godlike creature, wielding the power to control minds of people he touches. Details of his origin will appear along the creative process i guess . I did a little brainstroming session and came up with some character features/ elements of illustration that i think would fit the theme:
1. jester
2. samurai-style
3. scarred/damaged cheeks
4. scars(maybe glowing?)
5. occult
6. warped physique
7. kusarigama/kyoketsu-shoge hybrid(axe/spear on a chain basically)
8. skull/wings throne
9. multiple personalities/haunted/possessed
10. exotic facial features
11. asymmetrical silhouette
12. tattoos/seals
13. heads on spikes (? )
14. waterfall (?)
15. storm(lightning)
16. metal supported jaw/neck
17. hood ?
18. Acrobatic
19. hurt/drained/in pain/sacrificing
20. spiritual
21. power (king/prince/overlord)
Now I'll pick some of these and make some quick sketches to find out what I in fact like and what doesn't really go with my vision.

From these sketches I've come up with some points that I would want to follow from now on.
I am completely adamant that I don't feel very good in the samurai theme, and what is more I think it's too generic, so I'm taking the mask motive away and I may come back to this theme for inspiration later on. The jester thing also feels too generic, however I think about incorporating that sort of insane person grin on my character later on, also the cut out eye looks quite cool, though I would need some more experimentation. I definitely like the "dried out" arm from the other sketches, as well as the face tatoo thing and I'm almost sure some facial scarring is what I need on my character. The metallic jaw could turn out nicely, but I will need to put some more work into that vision, deformed eyes also seem like a possible option.
I think I'm pretty much done with cycling through the points I've written down, although if I get a good idea I might still go back to that, and now I'll focus more on the outfit/ armament/ body shape and try to use digital means on that one .

Sorry for my absence Last few weeks were hectic in terms of studying unfortunately :\ But, I'm back and hoping i can finish the piece in what time i have left, also hoping that it wil not get labeled as "last minute" entry. I sketched out three character concepts to figure out more about Noueon's outfit/ special features. I'm quite happy with the results. I really got convinced to the idea of tattoos, because without them the character felt empty, also because i worked simultaneously on those three, I realised at the end that I should probably merge 1 and 3 (counting from the left), so I'll do that later today. Once i decide which of the two i take for the run to the finish line, I'll post character background. Hope for some feedback and wish me luck

I merged two of my concepts nad slightly tweaked the third. At this point I ran out of ideas as to what can i add to the more tribal/occultic one to make it stand out, it feels more like a NPC than a hero rn, and because i'm severely time limited I picked the fallen king character as my Noueon Should post some backstory soon, also I will work this into a character sheet and sketch out the composition of my illustration.

Soooo, as to who is he:
Miners digging for magically infused crystals found a cavern, buried deep below the surface. In that cavern was a sigil guarding the entrance further into the cave. Mages have been called in to see if it could be broken and to find out what's inside. The price they paid was great. The seal was protecting a tomb of a king from ancient times who achieved immortality through experiments with magic that left his body scarred. After ruling for a very long time, he found life more and more boring and started going insane. His immortality turned out to be his greatest curse. He tried to reverse the spell s that granted him eternal life, but after many attempts his mind broke and the magic he was working with burst into his brain and gave him the power to control other people's minds upon touching them also making him even more insane from the physical pain he now felt at all times. Furious with his helplessness he ordered to summon the greatest minds in his vast empire, he penetrated their heads one by one and after they provided to be no use to him he killed them. Fear struck all men of science and mages living in his lands. They devised a plan to lure him into a cave deep inside earth and ward the entrance with powerful spells that siphoned the magic from everything inside the den, one of them volunteered to sacrifice himself and lead him into the trap under pretence of finding an artifact that will lift the emperor's immortality. The plan worked, and a group of warlocks crafted a net of enchantments trapping the king inside, before the seal started working at full pace putting him in a state of torpor as there was not enough magic to keep him alive, he fought the hero who lured him into the trap, a skillful warrior and magician though very capable in combat was no match for the emperor, however before his death he managed to burn Noueons right arm. But it wasn't enough to kill him, he stayed in magically induced coma until the seal was now broken. His mind sparked with magic and he woke up and dispatched of the ones that broke him out of his eternal prison. Noueon set out once again with his only purpose being to end his life, he now looks for both heroes and villains to find the one that is powerful enough to put him down, this time forever.

TL;DR He can completely control the minds of creatures upon touching them and also casts out an aura that imposes emotions upon those inside it's range who don't have a trong enough will to combat it's effect. He's also skilled in melee, wielding two long daggers.

Holy shit that's long XD I didn't realise

I planned out the illustration, it will depict Noueon fighting the sorcerers who broke the sigil.

Did a color study for the character and i honestly don't know which to pick I like all three, so if anyone likes one of them you can let me know it will help I put this away for a sec, when I decide what colors i use I will draw the back of the character and move on with character sheet.

Character front and back. I picked 1 eventually because it was the most refined color palette,2 was too geneeric for my liking and 3 although i was very hyped for turned out to be quite a puzzle to refine and would take too much time. I will move on from sketch phase now and work to finish character sheet. 30 hours on the clock :\\

Whoooa, I refined the front of the character, it still needs some tweaks but i'm overally happy with it. Need to catch some sleep now cause i'm exhausted, but there is still a lot of work to do :o 22 hours to go i think so i'll give myself 15 hours to do the illustration, so that's still maybe four on character sheet, i'm positive but it's gonna be hard. Wish me luck

Done with rendering the back, it could still use a brushup but the end is nigh! Onward with the illustration! Cross your fingers!

Working on the background of the illustration rn. Already changed the tint of the walls of the cave like 4 times :o really prefer doing characters to ladnscapes ;\ Nevertheless i keep going, will post after is tart adding in the characters.

In the process of adding characters to the scene, did some changes to the background. 9,5 hours till deadline, don't know if i can still make it We'll see, if not than it's a shame and i guess i make a comeback next year, and maybe do 80% of work over a period longer than 72 hours for a change XD Gonna be drawing till deadline without breaks though.

Damn i forgot that there were supposed to be two more characters in the scene :o It seems i failed then.