Artemis - Gods & Machines - Figthing Game Character Design - ROOKIE AWARDS 2023
The idea behind this project is 'What if Greek mythology plus mecha?'. The character project is set in a fighting game context (it’s just a constraint, there’s no game as of yet). I decided to a different take on Artemis as she's one of my favourite gods. She took me around 2.5 weeks to make. 1 week for research and sketching. 1 week to finalize the design and make her move set. And the final half a week is for the final model sheet and the illustration.
I got Rank A and the Draft Selection award in the concept art category, in THE ROOKIES 2023 international art competition - https://www.therookies.co/entries/21578
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Story:
Embracing human technology on Olympus introduced change into the realms of the gods. Some of them were vastly improved and others were very much harmed. Artemis's hunting grounds were of the latter. Shortly after crushing her syndicate, Hephaestus's machines invaded Artemis’s realm. That's when Artemis realized she had to take the fight to the Blacksmith himself.
Wide illustration
I wanted her illustration to invoke her confidence and strength. I chose a strong pose and used her bow as a framing device. I am also a big fan of smug fighter characters who face every issue with a grin on their face
Model sheet
Artemis is a fast and aggressive fighter. She excels at closing the distance and keeping the pressure on her opponent. She’s weak at range but she has an ace up her sleeve for nasty situations. Her left art transforms into her legendary bow.
Facial shots. Artemis is quite a fiery individual. I really loved her laurel wreath (crown) so it played
a big role in her emotes.
Artemis’s props were a great opportunity to mix Greek/ Roman imagery with the futuristic aesthetic.
From here on out it’s just gonna be work-in-progress sketches. The process was messy and rich in experimentation from the big shapes to the small details. A fast character should feature unstable shapes like triangles and ovals.
Initially Artemis had a more average body type but eventually I settled for a more muscular frame. For the colours chose red, black, and white as main hues, and green as a supporting hue. Red worked
perfectly because it emphasizes Artemis’s fiery attitude
While designing her costume, I had to test out how it might work in practice.
The messy part where it all started. In the beginning, I had an idea in mind but after going through the process the end result was much different and I’d say for the better.
I was honoured to get a rank A which is the highest certificate rank in the ROOKIES - top 18% of the participants