Call of the blood
2023 - 2024
Call of the blood is my final project for my concept art and character design degree, where I had to apply all the skills I learned during my three years of education. This project combines all of my interests, inspirations and insight into a fully designed video game concept. For this project I made sure that each character has a connection to a mythological creature from Slavic mythology, or a reference to an old folktale. Designing and rendering the characters was by far the most difficult and the most rewarding part of the project.
Character design
For this project I made sure that each character has a connection to a mythological creature from Slavic mythology, or a reference to an old folktale. Designing and rendering the characters was by far the most difficult and the most rewarding part of the project.
The main character, Sava was based on the myth of half-vampires, people who were given the gift of hunting down monsters and undead. A part of his design was also inspired by the Romanian myth of strigoi, vampire like beings with red hair. The work on his was the most intense, yet also the most enjoyable.
Many of the NPC's were also designed after mythological creatures and historical figures. The inspirations for costume designs came from both Slavic and Celtic cultures.
Prop design
I designed most of the equipment to reflect either the protagonist, the lore of the world or mythological inspirations from the game.
My favorite prop to design were the totems, each reflecting a different god from the Slavic myths. It was a unique stylization challenge, making sure that the design are compact and cohesive, yet recognizable enough to discern which god each totem is meant to recognize.
Environment design
The vision I had of this project consisted of an 3D isometric map, so I had to design the buildings that the characters reside in such a way. The grid-like perspective offered an interesting challenge, especially when it came to the organic elements such as trees, flowers and bushes.
Sketches
Character exploration is definitely my favorite aspects of character design. Seeing characters interact with one another, or with objects or the environment is one of the most enjoyable and interesting sketching exercises in the entire process. For this exploration I primarily focused on the characters of Sava, Vasil and Astra, given that they were the most important characters of the project. This exercise really helped me in honing in on their characters and personalities.
