Evil Elf Process Book

The evil elfA Character Design process book by

Kaly Davis

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Archetype

As soon as I drew the slip labeled “Evil Elf” from our class randomizer, I knew, without question, that I wanted to steer

clear of the standard “pretty” mold which has become so popular in various fantasy genres. Taking a surreal approach to the

design instead, I tried to not only embrace the standard trait of elven

elongation, but push it to an unattractive and almost feral extreme. With this in

mind, my initial sketch work produced a wiry looking creature verging on

emaciated: hairless, partially digitigrade, and uncomfortably stretched.


The companion

Given the nature of the character, I wanted his companion animal (in this

case, a mount) to have a ferocious presence of its own, far removed from anything passive like a horse or deer.

The design structure wound up rooted somewhere between a primitive canine

(keeping breeds like the bulldog in mind for solid chest structure/”pigeoned” stance) and a rhinoceros, with scaly

reptilian plating and insectoid compound eyes. Not terribly huggable.


Environment

With my general direction established, I went on to create five

different versions of the same “character” idea with environment in

mind to see which one I most preferred. The first would be a

nomadic plains dweller, while the second is conditioned to marsh or swampland. The third would be at home in a volcanic wasteland, the

fourth in a temperate beach area, and the last is adapted for cold-- probably

high altitude.


Final choices

After a little debate and peer polling, I decided to pursue the volcanic wasteland

design, as it presented the highest potential visual interest and technical

challenge. I wanted to try and emulate the appearance of glowing magma across

the evil elf’s skin to make him appear more sinister. For the piece itself, I

planned to use a predominantly cool, deep blue color base to compliment

those hot visual focal pops of orange-- much like some of the reference material

that inspired me.


Rendering the piece

After I hashed out the basic design specs and intended color scheme, the only thing left to do was start rendering my

final piece. I chose a vertical composition to complement the bipedal

(albeit slouched) stance of the elf himself, and placed him on his mount,

weapon drawn and teeth bared, to emphasize how unwelcoming and

dangerous he was. Clothing remained minimal due to his roaming survivalist tendencies, which primed the stage for

some interesting flesh effects!


The final

With some final adjusting and highlights, I completed the piece. Overall, I felt very satisfied with the results, and by

including the elf’s mount in my image, I already hashed out the color design of

my next piece featuring it.


The beast

I threw together a batch of roughly value-blocked thumbnails to test various

compositions for the beast, but ultimately settled for the horizontal composition

that is topmost and right, shown here, as I felt it was most flattering to show both

the form and attitude I wanted to convey.


The final

I was very satisfied with my final as a whole, which (as far as I can tell) managed to convey both the

aggressive nature of the beast and the environment he and his rider live in. The dramatic lava lighting was very useful to help

ultimately define his form.


Evil Elf Process Book

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