"Phantom" - Character Portrait & Design Journey
Originally having been inspired by the 2009 hit game MW2's Ghost I wanted to create a character roughly based off of him but set in my own world where sci-fi elements and fantasy are mixed and super soldiers and misfits are waging wars on the elvish kingdoms or any magic wielders who would pose as a threat to the united military nation of the Arsenal.
For quite a long time Phantom was put on a shelf gathering dust since I was not comfortable with working with male anatomy or more rough facial structures but as part of my most recent practice series I have started to make portrait of all of my male original characters while I simultaneously tweaked their designs as well. I can already feel the positive impact it had on my improvement and journey and I can't wait to return to this character and give him a proper outfit concept sheet.
Focusing on improving my shortcomings I'm currently focusing on character portraits and redesigns/tweaks. "Phantom" is an original character I have been sleeping on since 2019 and I finally updated his facial features, this man means business.
Generic outfit and hair concept from 2022, so the mysterious soldier would better get by in a world where it is machine vs magic and elves are highly disliked by the military union named Arsenal.
All of these are quick 2022 sketches I will use as bases for the upcoming tweaks in the near future.
Early rework attempt from 2021, I knew I did not want to keep the short haired version but I did not like this enough either to be used for more artworks, hence he was put on a "to be reworked" shelf for almost a year.
2019: I could not find the concept art for his original appearance, but I knew I absolutely despised this and wanted to stray further from my original inspiration of 2009 MW2's Ghost and start adding my own flavours.