Further Prowler Exploration

 After my last post, I decided to play around with prowler concepts some more, since I was both really enjoying it and learning a lot in the process. Human anatomy is definitely not my strong suit when it comes to drawing so it was really helpful to get the practice in, even if my current aim is to go into environment art. I’ve also found that creating these character concepts has been oddly helpful in immersing myself in the world I’m trying to develop, as in the process of imagining things like the methods they’d use to quietly stalk the streets surrounding the HQ, I’m simultaneously developing a stronger image of the environment surrounding them. 

I'm still working on stripping back unnecessary illustration in my workflow so that I can convey ideas more efficiently without all of the time consuming fluff. I'm still not there yet and find myself getting carried away with pointless details and corrections, but I'd say it's at least an improvement over the pieces in my last post, which in hindsight were more illustration than concept art. I suppose I'm finding it difficult to shake off my background in fine art, but I get that this is all part of the process, and I'm keen to improve my craft.

Workflow optimisation aside, my goal for this set of character concepts was to explore the group identity some more to see what works and what doesn't. I ended up breaking the identity down into two core themes: the well provisioned militant group, and the disturbing, night-stalking 'murder squad'. To explore these core aspects of the Puma identity, I decided to make some character concepts that each lean towards one of the two. From the spread above, concepts 1 and 2 were intended to push the militant side, with the night-stalker aspect standing out in 3 and 4. I'll try to give a brief breakdown of each of the concepts above.

1. 

Out of this set, this was the one I started on, and it was meant to embody what a relatively standard Puma might look like. He is wearing relatively standard protective equipment, not as advanced as either of the two more specialised concepts I created for the previous post. Weapons and condition aside, they might not look that dissimilar to regular riot police or other similar officers. The weapons still reflect a different side though. I chose a spiked bat and what looks to be an improvised knife to retain the feel of crude lethality - after all these aren't actual officers by any stretch of the definition. There's not much else to comment on here, other than that this example shows that not all Pumas wear gas masks, as I mentioned in my last post. 

2. 

As with the first concept, this one also pushes the more militant side of the Puma identity. I gave him an imposing frame and heavier armour than the first example in an attempt to push that core theme further. The sledgehammer weapon choice really came as a result of that, and it cements this design as a heavy unit of some kind. My choice of headgear for this concept was also intended to reinforce the militant core, as it is inspired more by SWAT team equipment than the riot helmet/visor setup seen in example 1. 

3. 

Now onto the more nightstalker-ish designs. With this one, I actually took inspiration from the common, dual axe-wielding berserker fantasy trope, applying it to a post apocalypse setting. Obviously the character is wielding two axes, but aside from this, he is also noticeably less protected than his 'militant focused' design counterparts, resulting in a slimmer profile, and likely a far higher degree of mobility, as well as stealthiness when on the prowl. I also chose this creepy head tilt pose and crazy mess of exposed hair to indicate the character's unhinged temperament, in line with his berserker inspired design. I like to imagine that maybe even by PMA standards this is the sort of individual that is a little too in character, and is thus given a wide berth within the settlement. I see a character like this behaving like a wild animal and presenting an unpredictable, loose cannon type of threat to the player, which could drastically shake up routine PMA encounters.

4. 

I had a ton of fun coming up with this design, and it's probably my favourite. My main aim here was to go full steam ahead on the disturbing, creepy side of things. The character is still wearing protective gear, in his case much the same setup as seen in example 1, lack of helmet aside. However, I had this idea to go with a sort of reaper aesthetic, so i gave him a long, dark, hooded coat to go over his gear. I don't imagine that many PMA would wear a coat or anything over their equipment, so this would be quite an individual case I suppose, and could perhaps even be the design for a prominent character within the PMA. Coat aside, gas masks are just undeniably creepy and I really enjoyed the idea of a shady figure with two big, glassy eyes reflecting from beneath his hood. This was actually the second design I made of the four, and he was initially going to be wielding the two axes, although I quickly came up with what I think is a much cooler concept for both this character and a dual axe wielder, which ended up being concept 3. Instead of the axes, I came up with a pair of weapons I've not seen before in any media: a pair of rusty, old garden shears, separated into its two halves. The shears fit the scythe-wielding reaper trope quite comfortably without being an actual scythe, and I also think there's just something really off-putting about a regular garden tool being converted into this pair of crude, nasty looking weapons.

It's probably evident even just in the amount I wrote for each design that I particularly enjoyed coming up with the darker character concepts, and I'm really glad I decided to explore the Puma identity further. This has now definitely given me a pretty good idea of the kinds of people within my survivor settlement, and so moving forward I hope to be able to reflect their nature through the aesthetics of their camp with my concept work. My plan now is to work on some rough conceptualisation of the settlement, and then produce some key art that would represent the perspective of the player when they first stumble on the settlement and realise the extent of their troubles.

Thanks for reading!