The Roaming Woods
For the second character of the Green Team, I decided to use
another element which sends a strong visual message which alludes to nature and
the earth: stone. For while it's true that shaped stone (such as a statue, for
instance) might hint to artifice or civilization, a rough, unpolished,
randomly-shaped rock can only be indicative of the natural processes which
helped form it.
I thus started with a block of such rough stones to form the
body of the next character. The issue with this was that it didn't allow me to make
use of the team's specific green colour, which would have made the character
seem out-of-place.
In trying to find solutions to this problem, I considered
several possibilities, such as using a piece of green cloth or flag which might
have accidentally gotten caught on a sharp piece of rock jutting from the
character's back, thus sticking haphazardly to him, but this idea would have
suggested the use of the colour was unintentional and uncharacteristic of the
character, so I discarded it.
I also considered having the component pieces covered in
moss, which apart from allowing the use of the colour, also help reinforce the
visual message of the theme of nature. With this idea I felt I was on the right
track, but I feared that the resulting look would be too unassuming or uninteresting
and - more importantly - easily forgettable by the viewer. As I believe it is
important not only for concept artists, but for any visual artist to be able to
create images which can make an impression on the audience, I decided against
the use of moss, and eventually opted to have a thicket of trees growing on the
character's back and forming its head, which retained the theme-enforcing
aspects of the moss, while also granting a better visual stimulus and opening
up an interesting avenue for the in-game story component.