Concept Art: Malik (Patreon)

The second player avatar on Project Dark Emblem. Malik is the counterpoint to Circe, and has had a rough go of it. Drafted to the army for a perpetual war, he left after years on the battlefield and has been sentenced for dereliction of duty. Malik was described as being essentially severely depressed and a scavenger - cobbling together his attire from what he finds. In addition, his iconic item is actually his eyes, which were described as being a glowing green. 

Step 1: Thumbnails and Finalized Sketches

Malik is intended to be a dexterous fighter, relying on his wits and speed to win a fight. In addition, a motif of bindings were requested by the director to allude to a living mummification ritual from the country Malik hails from. Accordingly, I pulled from a lot of desert Bedouin tradition as well as broader northern African shapes in the layering of the clothing. As with all the characters, I used constellations to help direct the basic silhouettes, focusing on boxier shapes to allude to Malik's stoicism. 

Step 2: Color Palette

An important part of Malik's color palette is that he is the counterpoint to Circe. Since Circe fell more into cool pinks and purples, I wanted Malik to be warmer greens and browns. I also wanted to make sure that he looked scruffy, but not necessarily dirty (despite my affectionate garbage names for him).

Step 3: Finalized

And with that, we have Malik! I think of all the character designs for the game, his is my favorite. His mannerism and outfit felt really cohesive.