Imagine a desert planet plagued by war, where one resource means the difference between life and death. Water. The Water Medics guard it as they walk the dunes saving the soldiers that will win the great war.
Jan 24, '20
Feb 4, '20
The first sketches I did for the concept. I knew I wanted to go with a water-related medic, so i started looking at shilouhettes and poses just to jot down some ideas.
This was the first pose I tried, I wanted a sense of urgency, but it had such unclear shapes and the silouhette was very weak and not as dramatic as I wanted it to be...
Here I got the idea to maybe have shoes that function like snowshoes, but for sand. You know, to prevent them from sliding too far down into loose sand and also just for general ease of walking. I dont think this would be actually practical, but I come from a cold and snowy country so in my mind. Snow shoes for sand sounds cool. So i thought of camels. Their feet are basically snow shoes for sand. Anyways, that's why these "shoes" are kinda like camel feet, but they look a bit too much like water-lily pads, so I might not keep them looking like this.
Second round of pose sketches. Idk, I liked the shading of the sun with their arm pose, but once again it doesnt showcase the shilouhette, and the second one is just kinda static and boring. Its a war, there needs to be some sense of narrative to the pose. However, I do like the shilouhette much better in that one...
The final sketches
So after much back and forth I essentially combined the two sketches above, hoping to convey a feeling of desolate searching. A simple medic looking for someone to heal.
First i drew the one on the left, which i liked, but I felt i could push the backpack even further. This is sci-fi after all, why would it not be ridicously big. So that's what I did and how I ended up with the sketch on the right. I'm gonna use that as my final sketch I think, but I'll still need to figure out the colours and how the line art will fit together.
Oh and if someone was wondering the backpack is not only a tank of water, but also has basic and advanced medical supplies, defibrilator and basic mechanical bone saw. The tubes are a part of a water cooling system in the armour to prevent overheating. And the rolls and sticks are basic stretchers that can also be used as a make-shift tent.
PROGRESS PICS
I had done some other colour experimentations, but I had to delete them because i reached my layer limit in procreate 
I wanted some sort of pale ish colour pallette, since its a desert enviornment I wanted to use some desert camo colour. For the pants I also added a white stripe in the front as a visual refrence to nurses aprons during the world wars. I imagine this strip of fabric could be easily replaced. Imagine scrubs merged with an old timey nurse uniform.
I also have the red cross on the chest signifiying it's a medic (sue me, the red cross is a universal symbol). But then I also wanted the blue patch on the chest plate kind of as a rank/troupe signifier. So anyone who sees those colours know its a water medic.
I'm always kinda scared of doing line art because so often it turns out more bland than the sketch, so I tried to use different line weights and a textured brush. Revolutionary, I know...
I also wanted a lot of textures cause the desert is very gritty and dusty, and also give the impression that their skin was sunburnt and raw. Also added the holo map, which I imagine is what they use to find wounded and track enemy movement.
But yeah that's essentially it. I'll post the final piece in a separate post with a little flavour text, cause why not! Hope you have liked my process pictures.
The heat warps the sun scorched sands as a lone figure shields their eyes. Rainbows of fractured light dance beautifully over the ground. Their steps are heavy from the weight of the tank. Water is scarce here and the there is honour in being its defender. Far far away they can hear the steady rumbling of war. They're heading towards it. The red blips on the map are steadily multiplying. The Medic picks up their pace, reaching the front line is the only thing that matters, they need to defend those who will finish this war.
