The next assignment for Concept Development for Digital Application requires us to develop a character, a prop and an environment.
Again, I wanted a female character because well, there's a general shortage of those.
I did NOT want a warrior character, although I examined the possibility, focusing for a while on a misguided paladin with a bad stutter; I had a basic concept down when I changed my mind after I found this:
This is Jessica Alba starring in the 2010 feature
The Killer Inside Me.
And those are some rad looking scars. I mean, some rad looking scar SFX makeup. I looked into a number of ways to implement this into different characters, and it had started going SERIOUSLY downhill (into some dark places even I was just not comfortable explaining to anyone else), so I had to stop myself and decide to combine it with something a lot less gruesome, something I enjoy researching and drawing.
So that is how I ended up finally settling on the 15th to 16th century time frame; I really enjoy drawing the fashion. Obviously this is early renaissance. I combined this fact with the crazy scars and it turned into a lady scientist concept, which then developed into a lady alchemist (the lines back then were blurred anyway), but then I felt like it was lacking a fantastical element so I added an occult aspect.
The final idea is now a female court alchemist in late 15th century Europe (Italy, for maximum renaissance mood, although it's possible I'll draw influences from surrounding European countries within the same time frame, as Italian fashions were at the time a tad benign and very extravagant) with some very questionable behind-the-scenes habits. The kingdom is only based on the real life setting, as I didn't want to limit myself to real, proven alchemy instruments and techniques (as well as historically accurate costumes). And also I want some real, bloody magic in the equation when there's a vaguely immoral alchemist involved.
So in summation: awesome scars, awesome gowns, illegal magic.