ART WAR 4 | 2D | War of the Elements | Grubb | giagiastoons

Entering this years artwar with a 2d submition. Should be fun
Grubb is a humanoid bat bandit with fire powers.
He is the leader of a gang of about 15 other bats. He had to cut a shady deal with some short of dark lord to get himshelf and his gang the fire magic they have :o
I'll keep updating here with sheets, thumbnails, moodboards and everything.

Here's what the concept looks like currently

Cheers

Thanks He is cuter than I intented, he needs to be a bit more aggessive!

hahaha nice

Backtracking a litle bit, here are some of the ideas I sketched before arriving to the anthropomorphic bat. For a while I thought I was going to make a female champion.
Then I drew the creature on the second image and I liked the overall proportions

And here are some iterations of him with different accesories. I'm not feeling the beard or the tattoos but I like the wristbands and sash
Not yet sure how to implement the fire emblem, not a big fan of the badge... Maybe I will place it on his belt instead of the skull. Ideas are wellcome

also here are my artstation and gram if you want to see my work
https://www.artstation.com/cartoongator

hey, thanks for the input man! I'm definately keeping the darker skirt. I want to keep the tattoos as well but I should come up with a better design for them

I didn't like the dager on the character sheet so I sat down to design it a bit.
Began with these symmetrical designs but they looked more like tiny swords. Then I drew numbers 5 and 6 a bit more dynamic. I like both of these but leaning a bit towards 5

Hey, thanks for the tips and feedback mate really apreciate it
I gave his story some more thinking.

Grubb and his bandits lived in a fantasy world torn by a war between two major countries. One of them ruled by an evil imperialist dictator (and wizard). They didn't take part in the war and instead laid low in an isolated forest getting by by robbing travelers and passers. At some point the evil dictator tried to recruit them. He offered them magic fire powers and in exchange they would side with his forces in the war. Grubb made the call to accept the deal out of greed. Though they enjoyed a honeymoon period with their new powers soon they started feeling corrupted and missed their old way of life. Their appearance even changed and they turned a purple color (originally light grey-blue) and got scruffier. Uncomfortable with some of the missions they have to execute, Grubb needs to go on a big redemption arc and find a way to break the bond and free himself and his men.

wow, that's the longest I've ever written, hope I didnt bore anyone to death

Havn't had much time to work on the actual painting, so here's a banch of lunchbreak drawings I made of him to get to know the character.

Also started working on some thumbnail drawings roughing out composition. Will post soon