Latest update (02/28/08) :
Hey everyone!
It’s my first Dominance War and my first project in a while. I’ve been working in previz for the last 4 years so, I’m not really in the low-poly/game art scene, but I wandered, watched and learned a lot these past years. I’ve done some hi-poly characters in the past, but the standards are so high now that what I did isn’t really usable for a portfolio anymore. 
So, I thought this comp would be the perfect reason to catch up and learn the new techniques and tools.
Ok, so here’s my character for the war.
Name : Celeste
Race : Birdmen/birdwomen
Class : Invoker
Weapon : Orb (air/lightning artifact) + Wind Blade(non-magical weapon)
Backstory
When she was just a kid, Celeste was peacefully living with her tribe, on a bunch of islands far on the ocean. She was a playfull child and was always looking for adventure. One day, she was flying around the cliffs and lost consciousness. She fell 500 feet and “landed” into the ocean, broking her left leg and damaging one of her wings. Her friends took her back to the village’s nursery where her leg would be amputated and her wings taken care of. During the surgery, the doctors found a black spongious matter just under her skin, near the root of her wing. After many hours of discussion with the elders, it was decided that she would be exiled with no hope of returning, to protect the other people from catching the virus(or something) that obviously created that black matter, made her loose consciousness and may kill her eventually. So, her wings were amputated too, to prevent her from flying back home.
She was dropped in front of an orphanage far east, on the main land where she would be taken care of from now. She never died of the disease/curse, but her body was left stigmatised and black veins were growing slowly on her body. She felt something was different in her, but she didn’t know what exactly. She became friend with brother/sister Kenjiro and Aiko. Together, they planned what they would do when they would be in age of leaving the orphanage. They would look for adventure, searching a cure for Celeste and looking for the parents of Aiko and Kenjiro. Many years later, the day finally came and they left the orphanage. They travelled from villages to villages for a while, doing every job they could find. They bought light armors, clothes, weapons, etc. While Celeste was in a little shop, looking for a weapon, she felt one was calling her. She bought it and left. That night, she almost killed Kenjiro. Her new weapon helped her gather the energy from inside her body and she accidentally sent a bolt of lightning in his direction. With this new discovery, they felt confident(but mostly freaked out!) for the next part of their adventure.
Weeks later, the CGSociety discovered a portal to another world. Enemies started coming from it, so they called for every warriors, magicians, peasant with forks available to push them back. They answered the call and joined the troops near the portal in wait of instructions.
Later, during the war, Celeste will eventually turn into a lightning dragon, the black veins tearing most of her skin apart to shape into giant black wings. Since we need to keep the gore at a reasonable level, I will stick with the pre-demonic/almost-normal girl.
Here’s my first sketch. Concept/design is not my cup of tea, so any comment will be appreciated. By the way, on the first image, she has a mechanical leg(old dwarves knowledge). I think it looks really cool, but I guess it’s kind of against the rules, even if I would say it purely gears and pneumatic, reacting to muscles movement, no electronic. What do you think? The second image is with the other leg mirrored. I also think the arms are a bit naked right now, maybe some leather wristbands.
Any comments?
I look forward to working with you, everyone! That will be a great war!!
